Destroying Biodiversity May Cost the World $2.7 Trillion a Year
- World Bank says existing economic models are too optimistic
- Bank warns on risks to food from fisheries, forestry timber
Xi Jinping inspects achievements made in protecting biodiversity at the Qinghai Lake, in Gangcha, Qinghai Province, June 8.
Photographer: Xie Huanchi/Xinhua/Getty Images
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The global economy could lose as much $2.7 trillion a year by 2030 if countries continue to destroy biodiversity, impacting wild pollination, food from fisheries and timber from forests.
That’s according to the World Bank, which warned that existing economic projections are too optimistic because they fail to take account of a decline in nature’s services that’s already happening. In a business-as-usual scenario, the world is set to lose about 46 million hectares (114 million acres) of natural land and fish stocks will continue to fall, it said in a report.