Transforming the economic landscape for global sustainability

Abstract

The economic system’s interdependent relationship with nature is fraught with contradictions. While over half of global GDP moderately or highly depends on nature and subsidies to sectors driving nature’s decline, e.g., agriculture, fossil fuels, forestry, amount to trillions of dollars annually, funding for biodiversity conservation and restoration remains woefully inadequate. Bridging the biodiversity funding gap is crucial but alone does not ensure ecosystems’ health. Beyond innovative economic instruments and the elimination or reform of harmful subsidies, a selective downscaling of production and consumption has been proposed as a transition strategy to lower the overall ecological footprint of the economic system. Only by aligning economic flows with the biophysical limits of the planet can we envision a future where human well-being coexists with ecological integrity.