It is time to transition to a new social and economic paradigm of nature valuation
“It is time to transition to a new social and economic paradigm which values the preservation of nature as much as not more than the gross national product” President Munir Akram, President of the UN Social and Economic Affairs Council.
The diverse roles and relevance of nature in addressing a wide array of societal challenges has notably been profound and taking fast trends over the recent times. Among these challenges include; health, disaster risk management, food security, water security among others. The advent and escalation in industrial activity and productivity in various parts of the globe, coupled with high population growth rates has not exempted the exploitation of these natural resource reserves.
Sustainable conservation and utilisation initiatives should be able to address the cross-cutting relationships between the social and economic contribution of nature to the livelihoods of communities adjacent to these natural resources and reserves. The social wellbeing of communities gives an indication of satisfaction and a projected future commitment towards conservation of natural resources and biodiversity. Economic perspectives drive to the financial benefits communities shall derive from natural resource use through financing mechanisms such as the Payment for Ecosystem Services.
Nature contributes diversely to the GDP of most countries around the globe, ranging from both consumptive and non-consumptive means, with Tourism nature based tourism gaining lead as the most prominent regarding contribution to most countries of the African continent. Sustainable conservation efforts on nature can only be successfully achieved through enactment of integrative social and economic inventories of nature.
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