Remarks by Steve McCormick for the Launch of Where is the Wealth of Nations? book at UN World Summit
Conservancy President/CEO Lauds new World Bank Publication Linking Healthy Ecosystems with Healthy Communities
New York, NY—September 13, 2005—The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) made, for the first time at such a scale, the inarguable case that healthy ecosystems are essential for human well-being. Where is the Wealth of Nations further substantiates the realization that if we can’t get a handle on the deconstruction of natural systems, then we will seriously jeopardize our efforts to make lasting, substantial progress on improving the standard of living of the world's poorest people. Put simply, healthy ecosystems are the foundation of healthy economies.
Arcoiris Waterfall, Noel Kempff Mercado, Bolivia
© Hermes Justiniano
Wealth of Nations further distills what conservationists have long theorized, that when ecosystem services are given economic value, the value of those services is greater than the value of produced capital. Natural capital, together with the intangible capital of good governance and a healthy workforce, represent the lion’s share of economic assets to developing nations.
For this reason, it is critical that we act on our understanding of the link between healthy environments and human wellbeing. Productive, biologically diverse, sustainably managed ecosystems support not only wildlife, but the intangible capital – the human capital. When coupled with successful government supports – the foundations for true economic success are laid.
The Nature Conservancy is committed to helping governments, businesses, communities, development organizations and other partners create a world where Earth’s natural systems are conserved and managed to create a lasting, sustainable future for people and for nature.
We are doing this:
- Through partnerships like those in Komodo National Park that engage the public sector, private industry, local communities. Organizations like The Nature Conservancy are creating an integrated mosaic of protected and productive landscapes and seascapes that contribute to reducing poverty, improving human well being, and increasing economic stability.
Water-front houses in Komodo National Park, Indonesia
© Jez O'Hare
- Working with governments like Costa Rica to develop national level conservation strategies that fully value the benefits and services received from our lands and waters. These strategies recognize the role that individual decision making plays by providing compensation for protecting and managing communal or private lands so others can benefit from the clean water and stable climate those lands provide. This compensation in turn contributes to reducing poverty and improving livelihoods.
- Developing policies that enable human and natural communities to survive compatibly now and into future generations. In Papua New Guinea, where economic and political instability have hampered past conservation efforts, the Conservancy has helped tribal communities establish land tenure covenants that prevent outside commercial logging of their forests. Where efforts that ignored the needs of local communities failed in the past, the collective power of local people is now succeeding and ensuring access to the lands and waters that provide for their livelihoods.
- Building capacity for the effective management of natural ecosystems, including protected areas and productive landscapes. Through innovations in valuing ecosystem services and developing ecotourism opportunities, The Nature Conservancy, power companies and national and local partners are providing real economic improvements for the communities surrounding Bolivia’s Noel Kempff Mercado while sequestering carbon in the region’s rich forests.
Komodo islands, Indonesia
© Jez O'Hare
Creating the necessary financing flows to ensure sustainable funding for the long-term benefit of people and natural systems. From Colombia to Jamaica, Panama to Peru, The Nature Conservancy has helped to foster debt-for-nature swaps and other creative tools to provide resources to improve economic stability and human well being in critical conservation areas.
Each of these examples of our work, focuses on valuing the relationship between people and their environment to the long-term benefit of both.
The vast amount of effort that went into the creation of this text, and of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment is the fundamental framework of a sustainable future for our world.
At The Nature Conservancy, we thank you for your efforts, and look forward to being a part of the solution.
For More Information:
- Joint Statement by Environmental Community at UN World Summit
The environmental community believes that protecting the world’s ecosystems and their component species is vital to human well-being, particularly the impoverished who are the most vulnerable to environmental disasters such as floods, hurricanes, landslides, disease and water pollution.
- Press Release: Statements by Nature Conservancy President/CEO Steve McCormick at 2005 UN World Summit Gala Dinner
The Nature Conservancy is committed to helping governments, businesses, communities, development organizations and other partners create a world where Earth’s natural systems are conserved and managed to create a lasting, sustainable future for people and for nature.
- Our Partners: Indigenous People and Traditional Communities
Effective conservation cannot be achieved unless the people who live and rely on those lands are an integral part of the conservation process. For more than 50 years, The Nature Conservancy has depended upon partnerships with local communities to conserve some of the most biologically critical and threatened ecosystems on Earth.
- Where We Work: Papua New Guinea, Costa Rica, and Bolivia
The Nature Conservancy works in all 50 United States and 27 countries, protected more than 117 million acres of land and 5,000 miles of river around the world. Learn more about where we work.
- Places We Protect: Komodo National Park
Although famous for its unique land-dwelling Komodo dragons, Komodo National Park features one of the world's most biologically diverse marine environments.
- Places We Protect: Noel Kempff Mercado National Park
Through a unique partnership with the Government of Bolivia, Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza (FAN) and three U.S. energy companies, this Nature Conservancy climate action project is helping protect 1.5 million acres of Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world.
- How We Work: Debt-for-Nature Swaps
Debt-for-nature swaps create a link between a country's external debt and financing for biodiversity conservation. Working with partners, The Nature Conservancy has helped to facilitate debt-for-nature swaps in many countries, including Jamaica, Panama, and Peru.
- How We Work: The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA)
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment is the largest mobilization ever to assess the current state of the world’s ecosystems, and the services they provide to support life on Earth.
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