Nature provides essential inputs to the economy through ecosystem services. In Asia and the Pacific, accelerating biodiversity loss is eroding these services, increasing vulnerability to shocks, and creating new risks for investors and governments.
In the 1990s, India’s vulture population collapsed due to the unintended knock-on effect of a veterinary drug for cattle, with some vulture species suffering losses of 91-98 percent. Given the keystone role of vultures for natural sanitation, their disappearance raised human mortality rates. Between 2000-2005, this led to an estimated 100,000 additional human deaths annually and estimated losses of nearly $US 70 billion per year. Many similar stories have been occurring throughout Asia and the Pacific. In Southeast Asia’s Coral Triangle, coral bleaching and habitat degradation threaten the livelihoods of over 100 million people.
