The Economics of the Global Loss of Biological Diversity

Between the 5th and 6th of March, the European Commission and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety of Germany, organized an international workshop on "The Economics of the Global Loss of Biological Diversity".

The objective of this high-level workshop was to discuss the state of the art in assessing the economics costs associated with the loss of biodiversity. Over 100 experts in environmental economics and science from around the world gathered in Brussels (Belgium) to discuss ways of giving a value to biodiversity, and estimating the economic cost of human activities resulting in reduced ecosystem services.

Giovanni Bearzi - president of Tethys - was invited to attend the workshop based on his experience with the decline of short-beaked common dolphins in western Greece, and on the assessment recently done by Tethys of management measures (and related costs) required to mitigate ecosystem damage caused by fisheries.

Silvia Bonizzoni