LEAN is campaigning to get the ALP to make an informed and resourced and high priority commitment in its 2018 policy platform to create new environment laws, and found an independent, fully resourced, public agency for the environment, within its first next term of Government We are doing this because of incontrovertible evidence of ongoing environmental degradation and because we understand there is evidence of the importance of environmental health to the well-functioning of the economy and society. Therefore, LEAN understands that if Australia fails to protect and build its natural assets there will be long-term costs to the economy well beyond project-by-project considerations. We assert that it is high time for a new generation of environmental laws and institutions fit for the 21st Century, and that this should be a core reform of the next Federal Labor Government. Making the reform will produce more jobs, more economic prosperity and lead to greater community and social well-being than not making the reform. As such the reform should be at the core of a Labor government’s progressive economic and social agenda in the national interest. The reform that LEAN is campaigning for should be high priority core business for the ALP programme for its first next term of government.
Our natural environment is an asset that underpins our properity, and well being. It needs to be invested in. Dr Martin Parkinson, TREASURY SECRETARY 2011 Sustainable wellbeing requires that at least the current level of wellbeing be maintained for future generations. In this regard, we can consider sustainability as requiring, relative to their populations, that each generation bequeath a stock of capital - the productive base for wellbeing - that is at least as large as the stock it inherited. As wellbeing is a multidimensional concept, going beyond material living standards - and even the environment - we can see that the stock of capital, or the productive base for wellbeing, should include all forms of capital: • physical and financial capital - the value of fixed assets such as plant and equipment and financial assets and liabilities; • human capital - the productive wealth embodied in our labour, skills and knowledge and in an individual‘s health; • environmental capital - our natural resources and the eco-systems which include water, productive soil, forest cover, the atmosphere, minerals, ores and fossil fuels. In other words, all the natural resources that support life and other services to society; and
• social capital - which includes factors such as openness and competitiveness of the economy, institutional arrangements, secure property rights, honesty, interpersonal networks and sense of community, as well as individual rights and freedoms. https://static.treasury.gov.au/uploads/sites/1/2017/06/ shann_2134.pdf
Professor Frank Jotzo, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY Environmental protection benefits our economic prosperity. Production of quality food including for export, the tourism industry, the attractiveness of Australia as a location for global service industries, and people’s health all depend on an intact environment. As a society, we cherish and take pride in Australia’s natural features. Yet all too often little explicit value is placed on our natural capital, and large or lasting environmental damage is caused for small or short-term material gain. There are big benefits to be had from investing in cleaner technologies and using better practices in agriculture, mining, manufacturing, transport and housing.
Professor John Quiggin, UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND All economic activity depends ultimately on a stock of natural capital, including land, water, forests and natural
ecosystems. Important sectors directly affected include agriculture, fisheries and tourism. Indirect effects arise through the dependence of our physical and mental health on a healthy natural environment. Independent of any such effects, our heritage of natural capital is of great value in itself.
We need to manage our natural capital with the same diligence that we manage our financial capital. This means accounting for the condition of our environmental assets, including the availability of clean water, the quality of biodiversity and the condition of our soils. And it means an integrated national approach to natural capital management.
KEN HENRY, CHAIR NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK
Natural capital is not a footnote in a business plan, it is a core asset on the balance sheet. That’s true for an individual business; and it is true also for the nation.
As our population grows, degradation of our natural capital becomes ever more expensive; posing significant challenges for our economic prosperity. Turn that around: by investing in building our natural capital, we can enhance business resilience and productivity, and satisfy the aspirations of a growing population.
Henry, K. 2016. Advancing Australia’s Natural Capital. Dr Ken Henry AC, Chair National Australia Bank. The Fiona Wain Oration. 27 May 2016, Sydney. p18.
FURTHER RESOURCES From an Australian Perspective
The Value of The Great Barrier Reef https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/au/Documents/Economics/deloitte-au-economics-great-barrierreef-230617.pdf https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/ea14e16d-15c1-4599-ac4a-53b9f1375f59/files/reef-2050investment-framework.pdf A Victorian economy underpinned by healthier natural capital will outperform (over the medium to longer term) an economy where natural capital is degraded. http://www.futureeconomy.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Future-Economy-Group-Final-Report-Nous-June-2014.pdf ABS 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2009–10 http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/
[email protected]/Previousproducts/1301.0Feature%20 Article12009%E2%80%9310?opendocument&tabn NABs Environmental Agenda https://www.nab.com.au/content/dam/nabrwd/About-Us/corporate-responsibilty/docs/environmental-agendaobjectives-and-strategy.pdf From the International Perspective
The Second report of the UK’s Natural Capital Committee to the Economic Affairs Committee, March 2014 http://www.naturalcapitalcommittee.org/ The International Renewable Energy Agency. http://www.irena.org/publications/2016/Jan/Renewable-Energy-Benefits-Measuring-the-Economics and http://irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2018/Apr/IRENA_Report_GET_2018.pdf The Natural Capital Declaration by the Natural Capital Finance Alliance on the Roadmap to a Green Economy and the Importance of Natural Capital http://www.naturalcapitaldeclaration.org/declaration-full-text The International Labour Organisation
International Labour Organisation. Working towards sustainable development: Opportunities for decent work and social inclusion in a green economy, 2012 http://www.ilo.org/global/publications/ilo-bookstore/order-online/books/WCMS_181836/lang--en/index.htm
Researched by Nick Withers, LEAN Victoria
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