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FRAMEWORK AND GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR THE POLICY RESPONSE
Key Messages of Chapter 2
TEEB shows that we sustain economic values if we reduce biodiversity loss and ecosystem
degradation. Neglecting biodiversity in decision-making is economically inefficient and socially
inequitable. When economic values inform policy, we improve the quality and durability of the
choices we make across all sectors and levels.
Changing the tide: using economic information to improve public policies
Economic analysis needs to make visible and explicit the full value of ecosystem services and biodiversity to
society, in order to expand understanding and integration of the issues at all political levels and demonstrate
the risks and costs of inaction.
Economic information should be fed into each stage of the policy-making and review process to:
• identify opportunities to build on successful practices developed elsewhere;
• evaluate and improve existing biodiversity policies so that they reach their full potential;
• prioritise and guide the design of new policies;
• provide a solid basis to reform policies and consumption patterns in other areas that are shown to
cause damage to ecosystem services and biodiversity.
Guiding principles for policy change
Policy makers need to consider four key factors to maximise social acceptance and meet policy objectives
efficiently and fairly:
• address the right actors and balance diverse interests between and within different groups,
sectors and areas, supported by robust coordination mechanisms;
• pay attention to the specific cultural and institutional context when designing policy to ensure
that proposed solutions are appropriate, timely, harness local knowledge and can deliver policy
goals efficiently;
• take property rights, fairness and equity into account and consider distributional impacts of
costs and benefits, including on future generations, throughout the policy development process;
• base all policies on good governance: economic information leads to increasing transparency and
supports good governance practices, while good governance opens the field for economic information.
TEEB foR NATIoNAL AND INTERNATIoNAL PoLICy MAKERS - ChAPTER 2: PAGE 2