Countryside and oceans should be considered along with economic growth, major new report says 

Forests, countryside and clean seas need to be added to measures of economic growth to protect nature, a major report backed by Sir David Attenborough has warned.

The 600-page review will be launched today at an online event attended by Prince Charles and Sir David.

Author Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta argues that nature is a ‘blind spot’ in economics and it needs to have a value to help safeguard it. 

He warns that current economic growth and prosperity has ‘come at a devastating cost to nature’.

Declines in biodiversity and the environment’s ability to provide food, clean water and air, regulate the climate and absorb pollution are ‘fuelling extreme risk and uncertainty for our economies and well-being’.

The review calls for humanity to change food production and consumption, and invest in natural solutions such as restoring forests and protecting habitats.

Professor Dasgupta wrote: ‘Nature is our home. Good economics demands we manage it better.’ 

Sir David said: ‘The survival of the natural world depends on maintaining its complexity, its biodiversity.

‘Putting things right requires a universal understanding of how these complex systems work. That applies to economics too.

‘This comprehensive and important report shows us how by bringing economics and ecology face to face, we can help to save the natural world and in doing so save ourselves.’

Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomed the review, commissioned by the Treasury, and said the UK would be ‘leading by example’ in regard to nature.