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About the author
Pavan Sukhdev is Founder-CEO of GIST Advisory, a specialist consulting firm which helps governments and corporations discover, measure, value, and manage their impacts on natural and human capital. He is a Visiting Fellow at Yale University, where he was awarded the 2011 McCluskey Fellowship and wrote his book “Corporation 2020”. Earlier, he was Special Adviser and Head of UNEP’s Green Economy Initiative, and lead author of their report “Towards a Green Economy”. He was also Study Leader for the G8+5 commissioned project on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (“TEEB”). Pavan was appointed to lead TEEB by the EU Commission and Germany, and delivered its “Interim Report” whilst still working full time at Deutsche Bank in 2008. A career banker, Pavan then took a sabbatical from the Bank to lead TEEB & the Green Economy Initiative for UNEP. While at Deutsche Bank, Pavan had founded (2006) and then chaired Global Markets Centre – Mumbai, a leading-edge front-office offshoring company. Pavan was a speaker at the World Economic Forum meetings at Davos in 2010 and 2011. He serves on the boards of Conservation International and the Stockholm Resilience Centre.
Dear Pavan,
I read your website with great interest. Have you heard of Jacques Fresco at the Venus Project? (www.thevenusproject.com). There is a 2006 film about him and his ideas called Future by Design. We could solve all energy and most environmental problems in 10 years if his methods were enacted. While he is not an accepted part of mainstream academia, if you examine his ideas with an open and critical mind, I think you will find them of great interest.
Yours sincerely,
Tom Martyn
Hello,
My name is Janet Ginsburg and I edit TrackerNews.net, a very quirky news aggregator that focuses on health issues, humanitarian work and relevant technology. It was incubated at InSTEDD, a small indie spin-off of Google.org. Basically, it’s a demo project that developed an interesting following so we’ve kept it going.
Recently, I began experimenting with some new software called webdoc. This is a link to a post about your work re TEEB that has been flying all over twitter today. Although I flagged @TEEB4me, I thought perhaps I should send you the link directly as well:
http://www.webdoc.com/documents/C4D58097-0EF0-0001-F91A-1C708DAD15B8
best,
J.A. Ginsburg
* webdoc is still in beta. the video have been glitching on iPad, though that should be addressed soon.
Dear Sir
I am writing on behalf of the Plastic Oceans Foundation. We are a UK based charity concerned about the impact that our disposable lifestyles and obsession with plastic is having on our environment and our health, particularly in the oceans. The idea for the Foundation was conceived by Jo Ruxton, an award winning natural history film maker. Her intention was to produce a high end documentary film, for cinematic release that would demonstrate the extent of the problem, especially on ecosystems and biodiversity about which I know you are so passionate. The film will aim to educate society in an incredibly effective way, and through this it just might be possible to make think and change their attitudes, cultures and behaviour. I studied your work with TEEB, indeed I was so inspired that I have embarked on a 4 year research PhD into the role of business in resolving the issues of plastic pollution in our oceans. The film will educate through the eyes of charismatic and amazing animals, many of which have never been filmed before. In March this year we filmed the rarte Pygmy Blue Whale off the coast of Sri Lanka and obtained some incredible footage. We have recently returned from Sardinia where we were looking at problems with Fin Whales and Dolphins. Later in the year we will be exploring the deep trench off the coast of the Mediterranean hopefully with world renowned Oceanographer Sylvia Earle, and Jean-Michel Cousteau, both of whom want to be a part of this project. In October we will be filming research in the Indian Ocean which we believe is going to be a considerable problem in the future.
The film is not one of despair, but of hope. As well as the problems we are also telling people about some of the solutions. We will show them how new technologies can reduce the impact of our waste on the environment. We will explain how simple choices, such as small design features, can reduce our burden on increasingly scarce resources and our impact on the environment. Like you we believe that we should not just take of the gifts that nature provides, but ensure that the business strategies developed ensure that what we take is sustainable. We believe it is not just how much money you make, but how you make it that is important.
We already have the support of celebrities, explorers and academics. Prof. Mike dePledge, Prof. Richard Thompson, Sir David Attenborough and Jean-Michel Cousteau are just some of them.
We need £2.9 Million to make this film. So far we have raised £1.5 Million. I am aware that you are extremely busy, but was hoping that you might consider a role within the Foundation of Patron. Your contacts and knowledge would be invaluable to us and help us achieve our aims and objectives not only in the film production, but also into the future. With you as a Patron we would be able to raise our profile significantly. There would be little onus on you, except perhaps to promote what we are doing when ever you saw the opportunity. At the same time we would very much like to develop and generate specific ocean based data for TEEB. My PhD studies are one element, but we are also starting to get undergraduates and post graduates to undertake research to provide us with more valuable information, which we would of course want to share with you.
Sir David Attenborough has said that “this is probably one of the most important films of our time” On behalf of the Foundation, I hope that you feel the same way and will be able to support us in some way.
Thank you for your work in Economy and Nature. Over the past year I’ve been reading and watching your work from your website and TEEB, originally sent to me by a colleague. Your work of translating nature into economy and visa verse is essential for humanity to re-orient to more efficient realignment within nature’s greater capital and production.
I haven’t seen ‘Indigenous’ (Latin = ‘self-generating’) Economic and Governance traditions explored in your work yet and would like to add as a complement through our Sustainable Development Corporation and affiliate Indigene Community http://www.indigenecommunity.info We are compiling indigenous knowledge for sustainability today including a number of sections on indigenous economics such as Polyculture Orchard Food Production Efficiency https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/design/1-article-on-indigenous-welcome We are working on various fractal scales including Multi-home community design in the Longhouse and Pueblo traditions and economics in the Stringshell accounting and Production Society organisation and governance Economic Democracy traditions.
We’ve put a link to your work under https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/relational-economy/participatory-accounting
All of humanity from every place on earth is originally indigenous. Humanity is alienated by ‘exogenous’ (L. = ‘other-generated’) institutional imperial and colonial top-down values. You may be surprised to learn that the advocacy you are making for Economy and Nature is well outlined as a set of governance and economic practices by indigenous peoples worldwide. We have placed 53 sections on http://www.indigenecommunity.info
Douglas Jack, ou-ee-ii-jay-ii douglasf.jack@gmail.com LaSalle-Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H8R 1X9, project coordinator
I would like to offer you a copy of EcoCommerce 101: Adding an ecological dimension to the economy. A book I recently released that builds the economy’s ecological dimension from an agricultural platform. http://www.ecocommerce101.com
Hi,
Are you doing any work related to restoring the environment except for the conservation.
Dear Mr Sukhdev,
Your TED talk was inspiring and I wanted to share with you a great environmental project that I have been working on.
We are the Rainforest Rescue Coalition (RRC), a nonprofit organization based out of Chicago, IL. RRC was started by a group of environmentally conscious college students, and we support conservation initiatives through direct action. Our mission is to conserve and protect rainforest land around the world and to support sustainable relationships between humans and nature. We work with the Rainforest Conservation Fund (RCF), a very successful Chicago-based 501 (c)(3) organization, and for our first initiative we are financially sponsored by RCF. This summer we are hosting a 1,200-mile cross-country bike trip, from New Orleans to Chicago, to raise funds for two amazing projects. After funding the bike trip, fifty percent of contributions will be used to purchase and protect land in the endangered Rawa Kuno Legacy Forest on the island of Borneo, which is home to over two hundred of the last wild Orangutans on the planet. The other fifty percent will be used to fund a sustainable agroforestry program for the native communities living in the buffer zone of the Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo communal conservation area in the Peruvian Amazon. We hope to obtain many sponsors for our dedicated bike riders, and all contributions will support a beautiful blend of pure land conservation, and community-based conservation. Please visit our website, and consider sponsoring us on our journey to save the rainforest!
Sincerely,
The Rainforest Rescue Coalition team:
-Adam Bauer-Goulden, Mary Kate Sperduto, William Heineke, Ross Sullivan
Please visit our website at http://rainforestrescuecoalition.org/ and don’t hesitate to contact us at abg@rainforestrescuecoalition.org
I can not access the website and i am doing research for a school visual activist project about global society and the effects of a mass production consumer market. I was wondering when the site will be up again, thank you.
-JQ (USA)
“Notice: This domain name expired on 12/28/11 and is pending renewal or deletion
gistadvisory.com
This page is parked free, courtesy of WebsitePalace.com”
Does the excellent TED.COM lecture exist in a written format, e.g as a word-text?
I plan to write an article on TEEB and would like to include a few quotes.
Regards Arild Molstad
Oslo, Norway
Señor Pavan Sukhdev:Un Saludo Muy Cordial,Desendo Lo Mejor para Usted y los Suyos.Todo el que Lucha por El Medio Ambiente y por La Vida en este Precioso Planeta,es un SOLDADO DE DIOS.Para Mi,usted es UN SOLDADO DE DIOS.Soy un Finquero del Altiplano Norte de Antioquia(Colombia).Mi Finca esta hubicada en La Vereda “El Chaquiro”,del Municipio de Santa Rosa de Osos,a 2800mts.s..n.m. a 100mts.de La Troncal del Norte,Via a La Costa Atlantica. Es Hermosa,Rodeada de Bosques Nativos(Robles,Palmas de Cera,Sietecueros,etc.), Aves,Animalitos de Monte en Via de Extincion y sobretodo(Aguas Puras de las cuales Dependen Muchas Tierras,Personas y Animales).Hace ya mas de Ocho Meses,que Vecinos se han Dedicado a Perjudicar Mi Finca y por ende a Perjudicar Los Bosquecitos y sus Aguas Puras.Me han cojido La Propiedad de Desaguadero de sus Propiedades y de Basurero,Afectando Gravemente Uno de Los Nacimientos Principales,provocando Erosion,Perdida de Bosque y Contaminacion en el Agua.Por Otro Lado de Mi Finca,Tiraron Un Cerco a las Malas,Apoderandose de Terrenos de Mi Finca,Afectando Otras Tres Micro Cuencas(Las Aguas Mas Altas del Departamento de Antioquia,Colombia).Estos hechos los he Denunciado desde que Comenzaron a las Autoridades del Municipio de Santa Rosa de Osos(Ant.), (Corantioquia,Inspeccion de Policia,Juzgado,Fiscalia) y No me han Ayudado,por el Contrario,han Pizoteado Mis Derechos como Ciudadano de Bien,que Lo Unico Malo que hago es Cuidar Los Pocos Bosques que Aun quedan en el Altiplano Norte de Antioquia y Sus Hermosas Aguas Puras y Los Derechos de La Naturaleza,en estos momentos los estan ARRASANDO y Contaminando Las AGUAS a pasos Gigantes.Las Autoridades se Prestan para este Crimen a La Humanidad,a Ellos si Les hacen Prestamos El Banco Agrario,les Prestan a Los que ARRASAN LA NATURALEZA Y CONTAMINAN LAS AGUAS,Corantioquia,les Conceden Permisos y Fuera de eso,NO estan Protejiendo NADA El Medio Ambiente,ni siquiera Hacen Respetar La Propiedad Privada.Señor Pavan,No me explico que Piensan Los Irracionales por un Lado y Los Corruptos por Otro,¿Sera que Ellos No Tienen Hijos?,El Futuro de la VIDA en este Planeta,depende del Agua,Sin Agua No Hay VIDA,¿Como van a Vivir Sus Propios Hijos y Las Proximas Generaciones, sin Agua Potable? y ¿Nuestros Hijos,Nietos,Bisnietos que?. Estos Bosquecitos y sus Aguas Puras, del Altiplano Norte de Antioquia(Colombia), son de TODOS,son Un Pequeño Pulmon de Antioquia para el Mundo.Ayudenos Por Favor a SALVARLOS,SOLDADO DE DIOS,Los estan Exterminando y Nadie hace NADA.He Gastado mucha Plata en Abogados y Los Mismos Abogados me han Engañado, he Denunciado en Muchas Partes Gobernacion,Fiscalia de Antioquia,Ministerio del Medio Ambiente,Procuraduria Ambiental y Agraria.En este momento esta en Procuraduria General y estoy a la Espera,pero me Preocupa Mucho porque Cada Dia que pasa las Afectaciones Son Mayores y esto No da mas Espera.Hace como Once Años que me vine de Medellin a Vivir a Mi Finca,con el Proposito de Cuidar Estos Bosquecitos Hermosos y sus Lindas Aguas Puras y he Tenido Problemas por Esto,me han hecho Terrorismo,me han Robado Tierras,hasta Mi Propia Vida ha estado en Riesgo,porque he dado con Personas Irracionales,que no les Interesa para Nada La Naturaleza,el Derecho del Projimo,Ambiciosos y he dado con Autoridades CORRUPTAS,que Les Interesa mas La Plata, que El DERECHO DE TODOS,Que EL DERECHO DE LA VIDA,EL DERECHO DEL CREADOR,EL DERECHO DEL FUTURO EN ESTE PRECIOSO PLANETA.SOLDADO DE DIOS,DIOS Lo Bendiga Hoy y Siempre.Seria Un Honor para Mi, contar con Su Amistad y Poder Aportar a la Humanidad con Defender algo Muy Hermoso que DIOS nos ha DADO, Saludes desde Colombia…..Tengo Videos,Fotos,Testigos,Documentos que respaldan Mis Denuncias. Mi Facebook esta a Su Disposicion.
Dear Mr Sukhdev
I work on tobacco control issues and have read your papers and report which prompted me to visit your website and also to write to you.
I am writing to you to share the link between tobacco consumption and deforestation, which is unique to India. I am not sure whether you are aware of the facts that I share, so let me apologise if I am.
Every year from first week of March to mid-May, forests covering 167 districts or 58300 sq.km. of forest land are subjected to plucking of leaves from Diospyros melanoxylon (locally called tendu or temburni). This leaf is used to make a hand-rolled cigarillo called the bidi. After the plucking seasons is over, fire is set at the base of the tree which ensures that suckers from it separates from the “mother” tree and more roots capture new space created by the fire. In effect, a monoculture of tendu tree has emerged over the last sixty years or so.
Studies from Forest Survey of India have showed that an average of 54.7% of forest is affected by fire. In more than sixty years since state sponsored tendu harvesting process was initiated, forests in central India are repeatedly burnt thereby causing irreparable loss to forest cover, biodiversity and excessive loss of carbon and the mechanisms of carbon sinks, especially soil microflora. Burning is widely prevalent and accepted, this perverse practice continues to threaten the ecological stability of forests in India. However there is hope to revive our forests if we can given them to recover. Wherever tendu plucking has reduced or has been completely stopped forests have regenerated (Saha and Howe, 2007). Purely from the perspective of value of ecological services of these forests, the tendu and bidi trade would be minuscule. However, this cost-benefit valuation has never been attempted. A handful of traders of tendu and bidi dominate this perverse trade.
From the perspective of public health, bidis are made from very cheap tendu leaves, and therefore are themselves very cheap for consumers. As a result more than one trillion bidis are made every year. Bidis are in effect the single largest cause of premature adult death in India.
I believe that by eliminating tendu trade and restoring forests by supporting the livelihood of those dependent on tendu harvesting, tremendous gains for local ecology, global environmental and public health can be made.
I was wondering if UNEP or GIST or any other group would like to attempt in reviving the splendour of dry deciduous forests of peninsular India? I would be grateful for any direction and advice you may have for me.
Best wishes,
Pranay
Dear Pranay
Do write to my colleague Kaavya, our unit head in Delhi, to kaavya.gist@gmail.com, wih your contacts. You have raised an important issue
regards
Pavan Sukhdev
Dear Dr Sukhdev:
Apologies for the delay in responding. I will write to Kaavya and take this conversation forward.
Kind regards,
Pranay
Hi Pranay,
The information shared by you was valuable, although I have a question for you. How do you suggest yo eliminate tendu trade ?
Hi Arnab: Apologies for the delay in responding.
There was little or no harvest organised by state governments prior to 1957. Several studies (Bahuguna 1996 and his other work on NTCP, Asian Forest Research Network, Hunter 1978 etc..) suggest that tribal communities gain little from tendu plucking.The dependence on tendu is greater of bidi barons than the people themselves. The bidi trade emerged in 1910 as a response to the Swadeshi movement (please see my articles on this subject in the Current Science)
I have tried to analyse the tendu and bidi sector and found rampant corruption (please see an article by me and Wilson in EPW) on this subject. The exploitation of tendu pluckers and bidi rollers in perverse and deplorable to any state/ society/ country which would like to call itself progressive or civilised. I have also done a small review on the environment perspective (please see my paper titled: Estimating the Size of Tendu Leaf and Bidi
Trade Using a Simple Back-of-the-Envelop Method ISSN 0044-7447 Volume 41, Number 3, AMBIO (2012) 41:315-318).
I am happy to engage with you in a constructive discussion which can find solutions for tendu pluckers and communities dependent of the forests. One obvious observation would be to analyse districts that have stopped or have reduced tendu plucking in the past few years/ decades and my travel and study shows that these places (communities and forests) actually have revived and prospered. Perhaps this can be a study that can be considered?
Respected Sir,
My interest started in TEEB when I saw your TED talk in July 2011 and I agree and fully support the whole ideology behind TEEB and I agree with the fact that the word ‘biodiversity’ needs to be acknowledged and the cost for its conservation has to be raised.
It was such a pleasure to meet you personally at COP11 and I know the youth like me really has to come forward and contribute to a positive change. I respect that at least TEEB is trying to make homo sapiens realise the value of the natural capital.
Regards
Ashutosh