Nimra Riaz, GC University, Pakistan

Capitalism signifies an economic structure in which the country’s trade and industry is managed by the private holders rather than the government, for the sake of profit. Capitalism itself initiates the biodiversity loss as it highly encourages the commodity production and makes its own ecological parameters that prefers artificial input over instinctive ecological pattern. Biodiversity refers to the productivity of the life on Earth. There is nothing more complex than the remarkable change in the diversity of species which characterizes the Earth.

   Do You Know?

Ø  About 1/3 of the world’s land surface and nearly about 75% of freshwater reservoirs are devoted to livestock production.

Ø  Land degradation has decreased the output of 23% of the world land surface and 100-300 million people are exposed to the hazard of floods and hurricanes because of removal of coastal habitats.

Ø  33% of marine fish stocks were being garnered at unsustainable levels in 2015.

Ø  Plastic pollution has been enhanced ten times since 1980, 300-400 million tons of heavy metals, solvents and toxic waste are dumped yearly  into the marine water.

Ø  Fertilizers inflowing coastal ecosystems have shaped more than 400 ‘dead zones.

 

Capitalism is considered to be a leading economic model, which is characterized by cost-benefit analysis of capital, but nature must pay for this. The construction of road in a residential seems to have great inclusive effect on the wealth which resultantly increase economy, but it is accomplished at the loss of forest (natural capital) i.e., loss of biodiversity, habitat loss, climate fluctuations and increased pollution. The Living Planet Index (LPI) of global diversity has dropped to 35% and the cost during this time is about 1.2 percent species per annum.

Biodiversity is seen as a commodity. Industrial agriculture is also an intensive farming technique shaped by capitalism as the use of chemical fertilizers on crops and the antibiotics injected on the animals are contributor to the loss of species. WWF uses two term “natural assets” and “ecosystem services”  to denote the living world surrounded by capitalism. Presenting natural resources to fulfill the need of economy does not assure sustainable approach.

   “We’ve designed to feed the planet also takes a serious toll on its health”

The economic downfall of Greece provided them a chance to take capitalism as an opportunity.  Fine furs were the prestige symbol among the European elects so many animals i.e., sable have furs were hunted to extinction. Many intensive farming methods were adopted to achieve considerable income. Invasive species have been introduced in the environment that exterminate the local biodiversity. Now, the new labor-oriented term is the exploited labor system, which promotes the monocultural customs of plantations as productive but compensable.

The solution from a green capitalist perspective is to factor the value of nature into the way markets operate to encourage producers to become more efficient and innovative in the

way they use natural resources. Rather than relying on state or international regulation (so called “command and control” strategies) or demanding radical cultural, political, and economic changes, green capitalism is based on the premise that private property, entrepreneurial business, and economic growth can be good for the environment (Beckerman 1974). Green capitalism is also referred to as “natural capitalism” (Hawken, Lovins, and Lovins 1999), “free-market environmentalism” (Anderson and

Leal 1991), “blue-green environmentalism,” or “eco-capitalism.

Green capitalism is a method that encourages the proponents of the market to repair the broken environment. Green business must be supported in which anyone who damages the environment must have to pay the green tax. Green tax ensures the cost of products must have long term environmental cost. Green capitalism assures a flourishing economy that extracts less from the biosphere. Many authors of Natural Capitalism concluded if DuPont(chemical company) implemented the objectives of Kyoto Protocol; the Green House Emission would be less than half of 1991 and there would be a total saving of $6 for each ton of CO2.Furthermore Cost/price integration is becoming the conventional environmental movement; according to it flourishment of economy and sustainability of environment go side by side. For this case if a producer utilizes less energy sources, he will sell it at a cheap rate and vice versa. Subsequently the consumers will move towards cheap and least resource-intensive good. Due to formula of competition, other producers will track the path directing the aim of conserving the planet via the mechanisms of the market.

About the Author: Nimra Riaz is an influential environmentalist. She is passionate to work for nature in a prospective way.