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Articles on Natural capital

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Establishing the financial worth of a river’s fish is complicated when many people don’t sell the fish they catch. Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP via Getty Images

How much is the world’s most productive river worth? Here’s how experts estimate the value of nature

Putting a dollar value on nature has staunch opponents who say it’s morally wrong, but without it, building dams and other infrastructure can run roughshod over vital ecosystems.
Framing nature in terms of kinship can motivate people to care about the loss of biodiversity. from www.shutterstock.com

Why a sense of kinship is key to caring about the living world

Our prevailing relationship with nature is based on framing the living world as a set of natural resources. This utility-based worldview perpetuates the drivers of ongoing biodiversity loss.
The latest Australian Environmental-Economic Accounts tell us waste production is rising with GDP, but the information is incomplete and widely ignored. Estormiz/Wikimedia

You probably missed the latest national environmental-economic accounts – but why?

Water and energy use are becoming more efficient, which is good news for both the economy and the environment. But Australia has yet to realise the value of national environmental accounting.
We bailed out the banks – our food is worth even more, but working out exactly how much more is tricky. Louise Docker/Wikimedia Commons

If dollars rule the world, why don’t the bees get a bailout?

Is it worth trying to put a price on the natural world, when things like water and food are priceless? Yes, says Paul Sutton - without knowing the value of the environment, we might not value it at all.

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