Interim Report - TEEB

André Künzelmann, UFZ
change could accentuate the problems of chronic
water shortage and drive the ecosystem service that
provides a reliable supply of clean water beyond
breaking point.
In many areas, ecosystems provide vital regulating
functions. Forests and wetlands can play an important role
in determining levels of rainfall (at a regional and local level),
the ability of land to absorb or retain that water and its
quality when used. In other words, ecosystems play a
part in determining whether we have droughts, floods and
water fit to drink. The value of this role is often forgotten
until it is lost.
OUR HEALTH IS AT STAKE
People have known the medicinal value of certain plants
for thousands of years and biodiversity has helped our
understanding of the human body. So ecosystems provide
huge health benefits, and thus economic benefits. The
corollary is that losing biodiversity incurs potentially huge
costs, and our knowledge of these is growing (Conseil
Scientifique du Patrimoine Naturel et de la Biodiversité –
in press).
There are significant direct links between biodiversity and
modern healthcare (Newman and Cragg 2007):
• Approximately half of synthetic drugs have a natural
origin, including 10 of the 25 highest selling drugs in the
United States of America.
• Of all the anti-cancer drugs available, 42% are natural
and 34% semi-natural.
• In China, over 5,000 of the 30,000 recorded higher
plant species are used for therapeutic purposes.
• Three quarters of the world’s population depend on
natural traditional remedies.
• The turnover for drugs derived from genetic resources
was between US$ 75 billion and US$ 150 billion in the
United States of America in 1997.
• The gingko tree led to the discovery of substances
which are highly effective against cardiovascular
diseases, accounting for a turnover of US$ 360 million
per year.
Despite the enormous health benefits, plants are
disappearing fast and will continue to do so unless urgent
action is taken. The 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species identified a significant increase in species under
threat during this decade. It estimates that 70% of the world’s
plants are in jeopardy (IUCN 2008).
A recent global study reveals that hundreds of medicinal
plant species, whose naturally occurring chemicals
make up the basis of over 50% of all prescription drugs,
are threatened with extinction. This prompted experts to
call for action to “secure the future of global healthcare”.
(Hawkins 2008).
The biodiversity-healthcare relationship also has a strong
distributional equity dimension. There is often a mismatch
between the regions where benefits are produced, where
their value is enjoyed, and where the opportunity costs for
their conservation are borne. So the plant species that are
the sources of many new drugs are likely to be found in
poorer tropical regions of the world (see Map 2.1). The
people that benefit are more likely to be found in rich
countries where the resulting drugs are more readily
available and affordable. People in these countries therefore
have a great incentive to conserve natural habitats
in biodiversity-rich parts of the world. However, such
conservation has costs for local people in these parts, in
particular the opportunity costs such as the loss in
potential agriculture returns (see Map 2.2) of not converting
such habitats. Transferring some of the rich world benefits
back to local people could be one approach to improving
18 The economics of ecosystems and biodiversity