Natural Capital Is our planet bankrupt?

Definition Natural Capital can be defined as the world’s stocks of natural assets which include geology, soil, air, water and all living things.( World Economic Forum) With financial capital, when we spend too much we run up debt, which if left unchecked can eventually result in bankruptcy. With Natural Capital, when we draw down too much stock from our natural environment we also run up a debt which needs to be paid back, For example by replanting clear-cut forests, or allowing aquifers to replenish themselves after we have abstracted water

What is the situation with Bees Click on the picture below to find out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYI8oQhS6Wk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7TF8PvAdnE

If we keep drawing down stocks of Natural Capital without allowing or encouraging nature to recover, we run the risk of local, regional or even global ecosystem collapse. The most obvious ecosystem services include the food we eat, the water we drink and the plant materials we use for fuel, building materials and medicines.

There are also many less visible ecosystem services such as the climate regulation and natural flood defences provided by forests, the billions of tonnes of carbon stored by peatlands, or the pollination of crops by insects. Even less visible are cultural ecosystem services such as the inspiration we take from wildlife and the natural environment http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/sciencefair/2017/01/10/bumbl e-bee-endangered-species/96394450/

Pavan Sukhdev Chair, TEEB Advisory Board UN Goodwill Ambassador “There are both serious risks to business, as well as significant opportunities, associated with biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. There is also a need for business to quantify and value its impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems, in order to manage these risks and opportunities and enable a better future for all”

Click on the frog to find out Threats to Frogs. The primary causes of amphibian extinctions are pollution, loss of habitat, climate change, invasive species, road mortality, over- harvesting for the pet and food trades, and the infectious disease chytridiomycosis, which is spread by human activity. Click on the frog to find out click

The Thin Green Line – click on the Frogs to find out

Ultimately, nature is priceless. However it is not valueless and there are now many studies around the world which have tried to calculate Natural Capital in financial terms. So, for example it is calculated that avoiding greenhouse gas emissions by conserving global forests would be worth US$3.7 trillion, or that insect pollination is worth US$190 billion a year to global agricultural output. Click on the picture to find out about “Silence of the Bees”

Frogs are an integral part of the food web Tadpoles keep waterways clean by feeding on algae. Adult frogs eat large quantities of insects, including disease vectors that can transmit fatal illnesses to humans (i.e. mosquitoes/malaria). Frogs also serve as an important food source to a diverse array of predators, including dragonflies, fish, snakes, birds, beetles, centipedes and even monkeys. Thus, the disappearance of frog populations disturbs an intricate food web, and results in negative impacts that cascade through the ecosystem

https://www.ted.com/talks/pavan_sukhdev_what_s_the_price_of_nat ure A report published in April 2013 by the TEEB for Business Coalition, Natural Capital at Risk: The Top 100 Externalities of Business, estimates the world's primary production and processing sectors are responsible for ‘environmental externality’ costs totalling a staggering US$7.3 trillion annually. https://www.ted.com/talks/pavan_sukhdev_what_s_the_price_of_nat ure

Extinction https://www.quora.com/What-animals-went-extinct-in-2016 https://www.slideshare.net/michalCsharp/natural-capital https://www.slideshare.net/quercuscymru/resources-and-natural- capital https://www.slideshare.net/bmkremer/ess-topic-32-resources-as- natural-capital?next_slideshow=1

http://imgur.com/gallery/AR8Xt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_extinct_animals_of_New_Zeala nd#Extinctions_since_mid-19th-century_European_settlement

Frogs are also an indicator species Frogs are also an indicator species. This means that if the air, water, or food source in a frog's environment is polluted, the frogs will have symptoms, including prone to diseases and abnormalities in offspring that let people know that something is wrong. Frogs are important to human beings.