Nature™ Inc? Questioning the Market Panacea in Environmental Policy and Conservation
International Conference, 30 June – 2 July 2011, ISS, The Hague, The Netherlands

Nature is dead. Long live Nature™ Inc.! This adagio inspires many
environmental policies today. In order to respond to the many
environmental problems the world is facing, new and innovative methods
are necessary, or so it is argued, and markets are posited as the ideal
vehicle to supply these. Indeed, market forces have been finding their
way into environmental policy and conservation to a degree that seemed
unimaginable only a decade ago. Payments for ecosystem services,
biodiversity derivatives and new conservation finance mechanisms,
species banking, carbon trade, geoengineering and conservation 2.0 are
just some of the market mechanisms that have taken a massive flight in
popularity in recent years, despite, or perhaps because of the recent
‘Great Financial Crisis’. [Read more →]