What’s the Value of Nature? Try $16 Trillion to $54 Trillion Annually
From Times staff and wire reports
Mother Nature is giving humanity $16 trillion to $54 trillion worth of services a year around the world, a new report says. That’s bigger than the global gross national product, which the World Bank estimates was $28 trillion last year.
The services include things such as providing water, lumber, fish, game and recreational sites; making soil; treating waste; controlling soil erosion; and even supplying bees and other creatures to pollinate plants. Researchers from the University of Maryland gathered data from previous studies, made some more calculations and presented the results in the May 15 edition of Nature.
