The UK National Ecosystems Assessment has just produced a report which highlights the ‘hidden value’ of nature and has produced economic benefits onto various aspects of the natural environment. Highlights of the report which provide further evidence as to the importance of the work of the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, most notably the NHS Forest, is the following: “The health benefits of living with a view of a green space are worth up to £300 per person per year”.
The UKNEA is the first full scale analysis measuring the economic value of nature to the British economy. The report is key to the further discussion and understanding of nature's worth, and highlights the value of biodiversity. Evidence that demonstrates the benefit of nature to health and wellbeing, can be found here on the NHS Forest site. Studies of cholecystectomy patients for example, found that the recovery rates of patients in hospital were much faster, with a view of trees and/ or nature than without.
The report also presents a growing shift in focus in the way natural resources are viewed and prioritised. The idea of natural worth used to consist basically of what could be used, taken. Timber from forests, food from farms, in a sense direct consumables. The NEA and continued work by programmes such as the NHS Forest have helped bring to light the less obvious, less instantly tangible benefits of the environment.
Ian Bateman, an economist of East Anglia University who played a major role in collating the analysis argued that putting a singular value on nature overall was not sensible, stating 'what is important is the value of changes'. Whilst a single value could be seen as a reckless interpretation, any calculated value must be seen as a step in the right direction. Any value is better than none at all, which might otherwise see resources such as our natural environment be taken for granted into the future.
The NHS Forest aims to lead schemes that promote the importance of the natural environment to our health and well-being.
Further information:
The UK National Eco-system Assessment
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