Ignoring ecosystem services will only push us to a faster ecological crisis

OF THE different all-India services, the Indian Forest Service is the one that is marginalized. Its resources are less and its power to influence policy even lesser. It is understandable. As the focus shifted from timber to biodiversity conservation, revenue dipped and so did investment in the sector. This myopic view of the world does not take into account the water and clean air forests provide. Forests also regulate the weather, act as shields against storms, are ecosystems that sustain varied forms of plant and animal life and are the most valued carbon sinks. These benefits, unlike the timber that kept the cash registers ringing, are intangible and not valued by the book keepers.
The fault lies with the political economy that governs our world. Economic prudence advises profit-driven growth while political acumen crafts policies that benefit profiteers. Domestic policy makes it easy for all businesses to source invaluable and finite natural inputs at a low cost so that a higher profit can be booked. Ecosystem services are not factored in when resource costs are calculated.
Environmentalists have been arguing for the market to be fair and value ecosystem services. In spite of the globally accepted economic system that externalizes natural costs showing signs of decay, policymakers are yet to wake up. Since we can