The report said humanity must ensure its demands on nature do not exceed its sustainable supply and must increase the global supply of natural assets relative to their current level. For example, expanding and improving management of Protected Areas; increasing investment in nature-based solutions; and deploying policies that discourage damaging forms of consumption and production.

It said almost all governments were exacerbating the biodiversity crisis by paying people more to exploit nature than to protect it. A conservative estimate of the global cost of subsidies that damage nature was about USD 4 trillion to USD 6 trillion a year, it said.

“Humanity faces an urgent choice. Continuing down our current path presents extreme risks and uncertainty for our economies,” the review said. Brian O’Donnell, Director for Campaign for Nature, told IANS that the review is the most comprehensive economic case for a new path forward ever compiled. “Now that we have entered a climate and ecological emergency, it is urgent that we update our economic systems at all levels to fully include nature.”