As part of its Environmental Studies Seminar Series, Krea University hosted a virtual knowledge session on the need for an Ecological Economic approach for Biodiversity Conservation, by Dr. Madhu Verma, Chief Economist, World Resources Institute India, New Delhi.
Dr. Madhu Verma spoke about nature-based Solutions (NBS) and nature-based / ecological infrastructure emerging as cost effective, low risk and ‘no regret’ options that provide more positive consequences than those that are engineering-based, especially with the negative impact of climate change, biodiversity loss and the need for securing livelihood security and human wellbeing.
“NBS reiterates the Sustainable Development Goals as they support vital ecosystem services, biodiversity, access to fresh water, improved livelihoods, healthy diets and food security from sustainable food systems. In the current context, NBS can also be used as a response to the COVID-19 crisis and would help ‘building forward better’. Though the usefulness of NBS is being understood, their use of values and contributions to the economic system and GDP calculus are still invisible to attract desired investments in NBS for their sustainability,” she explained.
The Krea Environmental Studies Seminar Series is a forum to share research and ongoing work in the broad domain of environmental issues and climate change. It invites speakers to explore these themes from multiple dimensions including, but not limited to, climate science, conservation, policy, culture, social movements, and more.