Ecosystems are capital assets argues report

Global ecosystems should be treated as capital assets argues a new report released today by the World Resources Institute (WRI).

“We must urgently expand the climate debate beyond reducing greenhouse gases to focus on how climate change is altering ecosystem services,” said Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute. “Lima in Peru, for example, is entirely dependent on water from glacial melt. The glaciers will be gone in 20 years. Their options range from energy intensive desalination to a pipeline to the Amazon River – also threatened by climate change. Such decisions have huge implications for people and ecosystems.”

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