BPPG response - Options for Defined Benefit schemes - 19Apr24.pdf
Is there a case for investing in ecosystem services?
1. Opening remarks at Cambridge Resilience Forum on Ecosystem Services on
the topic “Is there a case for investing in ecosystem services?”
by Martin de Wit
30 September 2010
It was not for nothing that Nelson Mandela fought for permission to grow a
garden on Robben Island.
In his words: “To plant a seed, watch it grow, to tend it and then harvest it,
offered a simple but enduring satisfaction. The sense of being the custodian of
this small patch of earth offered a small taste of freedom.”
The simple act of gardening helped Nelson Mandela sustain his longer–term
perspective, re‐emphasised a sense of responsibility beyond himself and
provided a link to freedom. Powerful stuff!
Nelson Mandela’s garden story is beautiful and gripping, but certainly not
unique. The link between healthy nature and human wellbeing is well‐
documented.
For urban centres, with the combination of many inhabitants and visitors, and
the pressure on natural and environmental resources, the value of ecosystem
services are even more important.
With the supply of ecosystem goods and services limited and decreasing, and
with the demand for ecosystem goods and services rising with urbanisation and
income, economic theory predicts that the prices (as a measure of value) will
start rising and we will make more sensible decisions to invest in nature’s
services.
In the real world, this is simply not the case.
Many ecosystem goods and services are common goods or public goods. In such
cases no person can be excluded from the consumption of these ecosystem
service.
Take for example the view of our own natural wonder, Table Mountain. Nature
provides a free service to us, and these free services have great value.
The problem comes in when Table Mountain is being degraded for various
reasons and needs to be maintained. The services provided by the mountain are
not exclusive enough to trade the full suite of benefits (such as the view) for the
financial ability to maintain Table Mountain.
This is why many ecosystem services are managed by governments, as
custodians of the public good, or through cooperative rules in common
ownership. For such institutions, a key question is how to maintain and expand