Speech at Natural Capital Summit

Check against delivery

 

Madam President,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to commend the World Bank and the Government of the United Kingdom for putting the issue of natural capital on the agenda here in Rio.

Norway strongly endorses the message of this summit that we need to go beyond GDP to ensure sustainable development and a greener economy.

I therefore welcome the campaign launched here in Rio to further develop and implement natural capital accounting.

Nature has great value for humankind.

It provides us with natural resources.

It provides ecosystem services like carbon capture and storage and the provision of biodiversity.

And nature also adds to our quality of life by providing areas of natural beauty and wilderness where there is peace to rest our minds.

This is part of the intrinsic value of nature.

Being able to measure something helps us to take it into consideration when we make decisions. This also applies to the value of nature.

Deforestation, overfishing and pollution are all evidence of a lack of ability to take into account the real value of nature.

They are expressions of a failure to consider the value of natural capital, in other words of fundamental market failure.

To correct this market failure, we need proper natural capital accounting.

Natural capital must be acknowledged and reported on by both the public and private sectors.

We must start valuing natural capital and reporting on its use.

Norway has a long tradition of measuring and managing our natural resources and the environment.

We introduced accounting for resources such as energy, fish and forests decades ago.

Measuring the fish stock has helped us to secure sustainable fisheries.

Natural capital is a global good as well as a local good.

Deforestation is another example of market failure due to lack of proper valuation of nature.

The logging and timber industry generates revenues in the markets and is counted in national accounts, whereas the value of forest carbon sequestration and biodiversity is not.

Deforestation accounts for a significant proportion of global emissions of greenhouse gases.

By reducing deforestation, we can achieve some of the largest, cheapest and fastest emission reductions.

Through the Amazon Fund, Brazil has established a mechanism for external support of these efforts, based on payments for verified reductions.

And I commend Brazil for having reduced its deforestation in the Amazon by almost 70 % over the last few years.

Norway will contribute up to one billion US dollars to the Amazon Fund, depending on verified reductions.

We have established a similar partnership on climate and forests with Guyana, and we are developing partnerships with Indonesia and Ethiopia.

An excellent way to give natural capital a real value is to start paying for it, whether these payments are made within or between countries.

Thank you.