India Launches TEEB Study

During my internship at the Economics of Economics and Biodiversity (TEEB), I had the opportunity to be part of the historic moment when India became the first nation to formally launch a nationwide initiative to study the economic value of its natural capital. TEEB, is an international initiative, first launched by the governments of the G8+5 nations to study the  economic value of ecosystems and biodiversity much like Lord Stern had done for climate change in his seminal work, ‘The Stern Review’. The India TEEB study started when the Environment Minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh, impressed with the results of the TEEB global study presented at COP 10 CBD, Nagoya, Japan and announced a similar initiative for India. So much so that India has decided that from 2015, growth will be reported in terms of Green Domestic Product (GNP) in place of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and will factor in a change in the country’s natural capital. I have had the opportunity to work with Mr. Pavan Sukhdev (study leader, TEEB) and his team at GIST Advisory, Delhi for three months and work on the TEEB India project.