The ICLEI CBC team was represented by Sarah Birch at the TEEB 2012 Conference in Leipzig, Germany from 19-22 March, 2012. The aim of ICLEI CBC’s involvement in this conference was to present on the TEEB – Manual for Cities which was developed by the ICLEI CBC team and partners. The presentation focused on giving a summary of the manual, its aims and approach. A number of case studies were highlighted, with a particular focus given to the case study of Cape Town which is highlighted throughout the manual as it follows the six steps of the TEEB process. The manual can be downloaded here.

The conference covered numerous topics related to valuating ecosystems and biodiversity, under the following themes:

i) National and international initiatives,
ii) Local and regional initiatives (where ICLEI presented),
iii) Knowledge Sharing, Networks and Databases,
iv) Biomes,
v) TEEB and the Marine Environment,
vi) Instruments.

There were also some exceptional key-not speakers in attendance, such as:

Pavan Sukhdev (TEEB pioneer and author),
Thomas Elmqvist (Stockholm Resilience Centre),
and Stephen Polasky (University of Minnesota, Natural Capital Project).

Pavan Sukhdev welcomed and opened the conference with some inspiring and insightful words, one comment was particularly apt: “We use nature cause we value it and lose it cause its free”.

Representatives from all around the world presented on how TEEB is being included and profiled locally and nationally in order to raise the profile of biodiversity and ecosystems to policy, planning and decision-making levels. As nations and cities start moving towards transitioning to Green Economies, it needs to be realised that the skills from TEEB are vital in this process – i.e. to value nature and ecosystem services such as water provision, to record footprints on nature, to understand what poor people get from natural capital. Any country or city wanting to embark on a transition to a Green Economy needs to understand TEEB.

In the words of Herman Mulder at the conference “To TEEB or not to TEEB is not a question, it’s imperative”.  

Visit our Facebook page