Policies Biodiversity

 

Biodiversity conservation and Macroeconomic Policies

 

Dr. Marina Rosales Benites de Franco

  

 All major pressures on biodiversity were increasing, as loss, degradation and fragmentation of natural habitats; overexploitation of biological resources; pollution; the impacts of invasive alien species; and, climate change (CBD, 2014). Humanity’s Ecological Footprint 1.5 Earths would be required to meet the demands humanity currently makes on nature. For more than 40 years, humanity’s demand has exceeded the planet’s biocapacity – the amount of biologically productive land and sea area that is available to regenerate these resources (Global Footprint Network, 2014). As a result, a broad range of services on which people depend for their livelihoods and well-being, are threatened. All societies and economies are affected. The Governments and society should to coordinate actions to addressing the direct and underlying causes of drivers of biodiversity loss.

The global economy as an international exchange of goods and services needs to evolve as an effective and efficient global market. The global economy develops on ecosystems and on social space, they are inseparable. The world economy is judged in monetary terms, but there are certain goods and ecosystems services that do not have economic values in the market. This leads to macroeconomic policies should maintain the economic growth within safe ecological limits. Countries with a high level of human development tend to have higher Ecological Footprints. The challenge is for countries to increase their human development while keeping their Footprint down to globally sustainable levels.

 The global market has externalities since societies and governments regulate market to varying degrees. The negative externalities costs are paying the present and future generations while natural capital depreciates. On the other hand, the global Gross Development Product is $ 75,62 trillion (current US $) (World Bank, 2015). Despite these achievements, there are differences between and within countries, and much unfinished business remains to realize all of the Millennium Development Goals. Close to one billion people continue to live in extreme poverty.

Urge self-regulate the safe ecological limits and the planetary boundaries, a green global tax on global trading. Furthermore, developing an initiative on responsible financing standards, the Nations should pull together and strengthen the various existing initiatives and proposals, and help ensure that standards are properly implemented.

References

 Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (2014) Global Biodiversity Outlook 4 — Summary and Conclusions. Montreal, 20 pages.

Global Footprint Network accounts. 2014. Edition. Available at www.footpreintnetwork.org [10 June 2015].

World Bank. Data. 2015. Economic growth. Available at http://data.worldbank.org/[10 June 2015].