BLOGGING FOR BIODIVERSITY
The editor of Nature Inc. kicks off the producer’s blog for Season Two.
The lens are being dusted off. The Lonely Planet guides are coming out. Experts are being consulted. Treatments written. Locations scouted.
I.E. the Nature Inc. crews are getting ready to film the second instalment of the series that puts a price tag on ecosystem services.
The last series in 2008 went down pretty well with BBC World News viewers – certainly well enough for us to come back again with six new TV half hours. It’s been a bit of a struggle to get the cash together, but we have reached our target – I hope.
We haven’t been idle since the last series went out. We have been tracking developments in the world of eco-economics, and have been pleased to see that the consensus is growing that nature does have a dollar and cents value.
There is still plenty of scepticism about the rigour of the economics, but in the face of overwhelming evidence that abusing nature costs us dear, this is an idea whose time has arrived.
At the IUCN General Assembly we filmed the IUCN Director-General’s debate on the financial value of ecosystem services which can be seen on our website here.
In February we filmed expert discussions on the content of UNEP’s ’Green Jobs: Towards decent work in a sustainable, low-carbon world’ report. We’ll hopefully have these posted on the website soon. We also made a 6 Minute opener for the UNEP Governing Council on the New Green Deal (see here ) on this website.
Out of these developments we have devised six possible programmes for transmission on the BBC in June and July 2009. We are currently consulting our informal advisory board on this content:
· Natural Prevention – Looks at the crucial role costal ecosystems play in reducing the costs of natural disasters around the world. Protecting these hotspots could help save literally billions of dollars every year.
· Biomimicry – A new kind of entrepreneur is taking advantage of the lessons nature has to teach the business world. These innovations inspired by nature could be lost forever if we don’t protect our biodiversity now.
· Spud-U-Like – How the humble potato is becoming the world’s most important crop and why – from Yunnan to Kenya – this is good news for nature and our shopping baskets.
· Standing Profits –From the Bolivia to the Veldt new initiatives suggest more money can be made from leaving forests standing than by destroying them. But will this innovative market in forest carbon credits really help our threatened woodlands?
· Green Jobs – The business world is beginning to prepare itself to meet future environmental challenges. We take a look at the jobs being created in these rapidly expanding green industries to see what they offer the workers – and the planet.
· The Politics Of Green – Around the world politicians are waking up to the emerging realities of green markets. But how will they promote their environmentally friendly policies to a sceptical electorate?
I have started to assign the production crews for each story and will be asking them to ‘blog for biodiversity’ on this site.
So keep watching this space.
Robert Lamb
Editor of Nature Inc.
