Economist - Bulk Of "Cost" Of BP's Macondo Disaster Will Be Paid By Ecosystems - AFP

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The Gulf of Mexico oil disaster is likely to cost far more than cleanup and compensation for lost income once damage to ecosystems is factored in, a top expert said Tuesday.

In an interview coinciding with a UN-sponsored report on the link between business and biodiversity, economist Pavan Sukhdev said the BP debacle underscores the need for a sea change in how the "natural capital" upon which human wellbeing depends is measured and valued.

"The economic invisibility of ecosystem services and biodiversity -- clean air, fresh water, healthy oceans, fertile soil, stable climates -- must be addressed with urgency," he said from London by phone. "We have to move into a society where both public and private wealth are recognized as important. But today, how many people understand 'natural capital' as compared to financial
capital?"

Part of the problem is not knowing how to quantify things that have long been assumed to exist in unlimited quantities. "We cannot manage what we do not measure, and we are not measuring either the value of nature's benefits or the costs of their loss," said Sukhdev, lead author of the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) for Business report.

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Ed. - emphasis added. Oh, and "duh".

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Ecosystem_damage_to_show_true_cost_of_Gulf_spill_expert_999.html