Ecosystem Services: Valuing Nature for A Green Economy and Sustainable Development (Valnat Research Project)
The idea of valuing nature has become a core element of contemporary sustainable development and green economy agendas. This has been enabled by the widespread acceptance of the ‘ecosystems services’ concept, which tries to capture the value of the environment for human wellbeing. The focus of this research project is be on the translation of this concept into different policies that allocate a value to nature, and the policy learning that is taking place across multiple levels of governance (local, national, international, transnational). As the ecosystems services concept becomes increasingly embedded in development planning and economic policy-making, it is essential to understand the opportunities it creates for environmental conservation and social development, and its inherent tensions and limitations. This requires a degree of reflexivity in policy-making to ensure that policies are informed by the historical lessons of ecosystem services experiments, the diverse knowledge of contemporary stakeholders, and self-critical awareness of uncertainty and multiple ontological perspectives.
Climate change poses a profound threat to humankind, which, if not successfully addressed, may have catastrophic consequences. Recent science reveals that the tipping points beyond which dangerous climate change becomes irreversible are close, and that the window for effective climate change mitigation is closing. Accordingly, there is a compelling argument for transitioning to a low carbon economy and for doing so in the shortest possible time. Achieving such a transition will require what the International Energy Agency calls an ‘energy revolution’. In order to achieve this, there will need to be much greater investment in clean energy. This is particularly the case in developing countries in Asia, where rapid population growth and increasing energy demands are anticipated to lead to rising carbon emissions if existing energy production trajectories are not changed. While Pacific nations contribute minimally to carbon emissions, an energy revolution will be vital in increasing resilience.
But who might precipitate such a revolution in clean energy investment? Conventional analysis emphasises the role of governments in mitigating climate change, primarily through national and sub-national regulation and international agreements. However, there is emerging evidence that a very different approach – harnessing financial markets and the private sector to invest in climate change and involving a range of non-state financial actors – can and should play a major mitigation role. What is missing are the appropriate investment climate, financial governance arrangements, informational ‘know-how’ and institutional capacity within the financial sector to exploit viable opportunities for clean energy investment. This project address these issues.
Abidah B Setyowati, PhD 