April 2012: The UK’s Natural History Museum, in partnership with the Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future and the British Council, organized the “Earth Debates,” a series of four debates that focused on the key issues of the green economy agenda of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20).

The debates were held at the Natural History Museum, in London, UK. The first debate, titled “Ecosystem economics – can we put a price on nature?” was held on 25 January 2012. Panelists highlighted the need to value all ecosystem services, noting that this value goes beyond monetary issues, and includes socioeconomic, intrinsic, religious, cultural and mental health issues. They underlined the need to show that climate change, land degradation and biodiversity loss reduce valuable economic assets and that the green economy is the right way to address these problems. Panelists further called for: increased knowledge exchange, technical cooperation and financial transfers; environmental protection systems that preserve environmental value and stimulate efficient use of resources; and reform perverse subsidies.

The second debate, titled “Beyond GDP – how can we measure progress?” was held on 22 February 2012. Panelists pointed out that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a financial measure and was never meant to measure natural capital or to serve as an indicator of a good society. Some highlighted the need to move completely away from GDP, while others said it should be used in combination with other indicators of progress, such as metrics for measuring carbon footprint and water use. Panelists also underscored the need to engage economists and accountants, and to determine how formal accounting systems can account for climate.

The third debate, titled “Green cities in a green economy – how to pioneer a sustainable transition?” was held on 14 March 2012. Panelists highlighted various ways of achieving the transition to a green city and addressing climate change, such as: transforming the transport system, particularly the public transportation system; addressing waste, energy, water and air quality issues; planting trees, using green spaces and green walls; and engaging with the private sector.

The fourth debate, titled “Food security – how do we feed 9 billion people in 2050?” was held on 11 April 2012. Panelists highlighted the problems of “massive over-consumption” in many parts of the world, combined with food wastage, stressing that these must be addressed to ensure food security. Others also called for resource use efficiency and enhanced knowledge use efficiency, underlining the need for effective communication across the different world views. [Earth Debates Website] [Stakeholder Forum Earth Debates Website]