One Planet Pictures went to Barcelona at the beginning of the month to follow the IUCN World Conservation Congress. Robert was moderating two events, one of which I was helping to film, and we also used the opportunity to research more ideas for the next series of Nature Inc.
This year was the first year that the private sector was welcomed into the IUCN fold, reflecting a wider move within the conservation movement to integrate with the market in an attempt to situate itself within mainstream policy discourse. Such a context obviously proved a very fertile environment for looking into topics about the economic value of nature.
We came away with lots of information on the rapidly ballooning area of REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), as well as good leads on episodes about sustainable tourism, Biotrade and Biomimicry. At the moment we’re following these leads and the next series is shaping up nicely.
I think it is important for the shows to have a really positive spin – there is indeed a lot to be worried about out there but these new developments do offer real hope that the global system could change for the better. I can often be incredibly cynical about the capitalist market but I think that these initiatives are significant because, to work properly, they necessitate transformations within the market itself.
So all in all the Congress went very well for Nature Inc. Watch this space because soon we’ll be putting up some of the footage we shot when recording ‘The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity’ talk that Robert moderated. This theoretical work underscores much of what we try to show in the series.
