The Natural Capital Declaration Highlights Sustainable Finance at Rio+20

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), the three-day conference also known as "Rio+20" to mark the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Earth Day, also held in Rio de Janeiro, starts on June 20.

The meeting, which brings together representatives from governments, academia and the private, non-profit and civil society sectors to develop the global sustainability agenda for the next decade, has been described by U.N. General-Secretary Ban Ki-Moon as "one of the most important global meetings on sustainable development in our time."[1]

The delegates have their work cut out for them. Humanity has made little progress in making any significant reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and shows little sign of moving off of a carbon-based economy to a low-carbon economy based on renewable energy in time to prevent what the International Energy Agency (IEA) called "irreversible climate change" by 2016.

PUTTING A DOLLAR FIGURE ON ECOSYSTEM HEALTH

One of the primary methods that has been proposed to help get the world on track is to attach an economic value to maintaining the health of the world's ecosystems.

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