Two-thirds of the world’s “ecosystem services”—where natural areas provide fresh water, food, fibers, biochemical products, pollination, flood control, and other services—are currently degraded, costing the global economy more than US$2 trillion per year.

A comprehensive strategy to protect the world’s remaining natural areas and biodiversity would benefit business and communities alike by:

Optimizing the ability of companies to provide for the needs of a growing global population
The world population is expected to reach 9.2 billion by 2050. Protecting natural resources will help ensure that people have soils to farm in, water to drink, and fish to catch. Conservation protects the environment and people’s livelihoods.

• A comprehensive network of global protected areas would create US$4-5 trillion in economic value per year, about 100 times greater than the cost to establish and maintain this network.
• A network of marine reserves protecting 20 percent of the ocean’s surface would create a million jobs and support fishery catches worth US$70-80 billion a year.

Minimizing risk to supply chains, infrastructure, and market access
Experts project that at current rates of environmental degradation, the loss of ecosystems services will be around 7 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP) by 2050, making it more expensive for businesses and governments to operate.

• Businesses often depend on reliable access to fresh water originating from global forests, yet 40 percent of the world’s forests have already disappeared, with more lost every day.
• Commercially valuable fish stocks have been diminished by up to 90 percent.
• Experts project that 10–20 percent of current grasslands and forests may be lost by 2050, putting at risk supply chains for the wood and forest products, genetic resources, and species that rely on these ecosystems.

Leveling the playing field for law-abiding companies operating in the United States and Internationally
Responsible U.S. companies are being undercut by illegal logging, fishing and mining around the world, which flood the international market with low-cost products.

• Illegal fishers account for up to 30 percent of the catch in some fisheries and sell in the same markets as and at a competitive advantage to fishers that follow the law.
• Illegal timber producers abroad decrease U.S. exports of wood products by about US$460 million per year.

Improving the well being of customers, employees, suppliers, and other stakeholders
While a healthier environment benefits everyone, consumers, in particular, increasingly make choices based on environmental impacts and corporate social responsibility.

• Sales of certified sustainable forest products quadrupled between 2005 and 2007.
• The global market for eco-labeled fish products grew by over 50 percent from 2008 -2009.
• Global spending on ecotourism is estimated to be increasing by 20 percent a year.

Contributing to a more peaceful and prosperous world
As natural resources grow scarce, competition for what’s left can bring conflict and instability.

• The U.S. National Intelligence Council has said that scarcities of water, arable land, and food will increasingly be the causes of international conflict this century.
• A June 2010 report by the Center for a New American Security concluded that environmental degradation will contribute to conflict and instability in key international flashpoints.

The Alliance for Global Conservation—a partnership of Conservation International, the Pew Charitable Trusts, The Nature Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation Society, and World Wildlife Fund—is working to encourage  nations to implement a comprehensive strategy to address ecosystem degradation and species extinction in the developing world. The Alliance is asking the U.S. government to play a leadership role in this global effort.