1. Global Futures: “‘How do people see’ the big picture on sustainability and what are we all doing about it?”
Benjamin D. Neimark, Ph.D.
Lecturer in International Development & Natural Resources
Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC),

2. How do people see?

3. How do people see?

4. Historical ways of seeing nature wild, pristine, untouched, rare, fragile…

13. Sustainable Development Earth summit in Rio, 1992

14. Rio +20 – Shift form Nature to Natural Capital

15. From Sustainable Development to Natural Capital in The Green Economy
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) & ‘de-carbonization’ initiatives
Payments for Ecosystems Services (PES)
Natural product bioprospecting & bioeconomy
Biodiversity “offsets”
Alt. energy - bio/agrofuels
Ecotourism
Fair-trade conservation programs

16. Visualizing natural capital
Figure 1: Natural capital, through the functions and services which it provides, is critical for human wellbeing – it underpins 'headline' global requirements, such as food, water, energy, carbon capture and storage (

17. The green economy is a political project
“Relax, we’re from Conservation, Inc.” (Chapin, 2004)
“This one’s habitat was completely taken over by conservationists.” (Chapin, 2004)