Economy on Top, Nature on the Brink? A
Closer Look on the Relationship Between
Economic Power and Threatened Nature
Thomas Gaens, Volker Müller-Benedict, and Carsten Hobohm
Sorry, did I say nature? We don’t call it that any more. It is
now called natural capital. Ecological processes are called
ecosystem services because, of course, they exist only to serve
us. Hills, forests, rivers: these are terribly out-dated terms.
They are now called green infrastructure. Biodiversity and
habitats? Not at all à la mode my dear. We now call them
asset classes in an ecosystems market. I am not making any of
this up. These are the names we now give to the natural world.
George Monbiot 24 July 2014
Put a price on nature? We must stop this neoliberal road to
ruin. The failure of the markets hasn’t stopped the rise of the
gobbledygook-filled Nature Capital Agenda. (https://www.
theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot; accessed 3/1/
2020)
Abstract With this contribution we want to take part in the analysis of the relationship between economy and environment/ecology. We analysed the relationship
between indicators of economic power, affluence, inequality, and pressure to the
biological diversity of countries.
Furthermore, we ask the question about the responsibility of national governments for the nature inside and outside of countries with respect to their economic
potential. The systematic developed here may contribute to the discussion about the
relationship between economy and ecology.
Main questions are:
T. Gaens · V. Müller-Benedict (*)
Interdisciplinary Institute of Environmental, Social and Human Sciences (I2), University of
Flensburg (EUF), Flensburg, Germany
e-mail: vbenedi@uni-flensburg.de
C. Hobohm
Department of Ecology and Environmental Education, University of Flensburg (EUF),
Flensburg, Germany
e-mail: hobohm@uni-flensburg.de
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
C. Hobohm (ed.), Perspectives for Biodiversity and Ecosystems, Environmental
Challenges and Solutions, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57710-0_9
195
Closer Look on the Relationship Between
Economic Power and Threatened Nature
Thomas Gaens, Volker Müller-Benedict, and Carsten Hobohm
Sorry, did I say nature? We don’t call it that any more. It is
now called natural capital. Ecological processes are called
ecosystem services because, of course, they exist only to serve
us. Hills, forests, rivers: these are terribly out-dated terms.
They are now called green infrastructure. Biodiversity and
habitats? Not at all à la mode my dear. We now call them
asset classes in an ecosystems market. I am not making any of
this up. These are the names we now give to the natural world.
George Monbiot 24 July 2014
Put a price on nature? We must stop this neoliberal road to
ruin. The failure of the markets hasn’t stopped the rise of the
gobbledygook-filled Nature Capital Agenda. (https://www.
theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot; accessed 3/1/
2020)
Abstract With this contribution we want to take part in the analysis of the relationship between economy and environment/ecology. We analysed the relationship
between indicators of economic power, affluence, inequality, and pressure to the
biological diversity of countries.
Furthermore, we ask the question about the responsibility of national governments for the nature inside and outside of countries with respect to their economic
potential. The systematic developed here may contribute to the discussion about the
relationship between economy and ecology.
Main questions are:
T. Gaens · V. Müller-Benedict (*)
Interdisciplinary Institute of Environmental, Social and Human Sciences (I2), University of
Flensburg (EUF), Flensburg, Germany
e-mail: vbenedi@uni-flensburg.de
C. Hobohm
Department of Ecology and Environmental Education, University of Flensburg (EUF),
Flensburg, Germany
e-mail: hobohm@uni-flensburg.de
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
C. Hobohm (ed.), Perspectives for Biodiversity and Ecosystems, Environmental
Challenges and Solutions, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57710-0_9
195