Our Uncommon Heritage

Charles Perrings is Professor of Environmental Economics at Arizona State University, where he directs the Ecoservices Group. He was for several years vice-chair of the international biodiversity science research program, DIVERSITAS, and more recently represented the International Council of Science in negotiations with national governments to establish the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

• Foreword; Preface; 1. Biodiversity change; Part I. Diagnosing the Biodiversity Change Problem: 2. Biodiversity in the modern world; 3. Biodiversity and ecosystem services; 4. Biodiversity loss, sustainability and stability; 5. Biodiversity externalities and public goods; 6. Poverty alleviation and biodiversity change; 7. Globalization: trade, aid, and the dispersal of species; Part II. The Search for Solutions: 8. Getting the prognosis right; 9. Understanding what is lost; 10. Managing risk, uncertainty, and irreversibility in biodiversity change; 11. Conservation incentives and payments for ecosystems services; 12. Paying for International environmental public goods; 13. Strengthening the biodiversity-related multilateral agreements; 14. Genetic resources and the poor; 15. Redirecting biodiversity change; Index.

'Our Uncommon Heritage is comprehensive in its range and incisive in its treatment. In his analysis of changes in biodiversity, the author straddles, with expert understanding, different sciences. He then excels in employing and extending the metaphors of economics to capture the concerns of natural scientists. Arguing for integrated models and analysis that can enable realistic social policy experiments, the volume drives home the compelling need for forward looking decision making in the interest of conservation of humanity's 'uncommon heritage' for future generations.' Kanchan Chopra, former Director and Professor, Institute of Economic Growth, University of Delhi