An evening with Pavan Sukhdev
UK Nature and Landscape Office (UKNLO) held an
evening reception at the Residence of the UK Ambassador to the
European Union. A large number of guests from the European
Commission, European Parliament, Member States governments and
other key organisations in Brussels enjoyed a wonderful evening
with Guest of Honour Mr Pavan Sukhdev.
Pavan Sukhdev is the Managing Director &
Head of Global Markets, Deutsche Bank India. He is also the study
leader for the G8+5 initiative to review the economics of
ecosystems and biodiversity. The interim report was announced only
the week before in Bonn at the 9th Conference of the
Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Introduced by Peter
Bridgewater, Chairman of JNCC, Mr Sukhdev highlighted some of the
key points from his report. He explained how all the essentials of
life which come from ecosystems and biodiversity have no market and
no price. He suggested that, while we can demonstrate their value,
it will only be when we “capture” their value and give it a price,
that we will be able to persuade society and governments to attach
sufficient priority to protecting these vital services for
ourselves, our children and grandchildren. He said that his hope
for the future was that “the business community and society will
get together at a very fundamental level to redefine their
cooperation in order to secure these resources”.
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The UK Nature and Landscape Office is the Brussels office for
JNCC and the nature conservation agencies for England, Northern
Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Hugh Laxton, Head of the Office said:
“The evening was a great success and while I am sure it reflects
the importance of our Guest of Honour, it is also reflects the
respect JNCC and the country agencies have among the EU
Institutions with regard to their advice and support”.
Further information on the UK Nature and Landscape
Office
The overarching aim of the UK Nature and Landscape Office is
to enable JNCC and the agencies, either jointly or individually, to
enhance the quality of advice provided to the UK Government, the
devolved administrations for Scotland and Wales and the European
Institutions. The office provides advice and intelligence on the
full range of the nature conservation and natural heritage
interests of the agencies and aims to promote their collective
views, policies, programmes and other information relevant to their
remits.