The Dasgupta Review is an independent, global review on the Economics of Biodiversity led by Professor Dasgupta, commissioned by the UK Treasury in 2019. The review is expected to help set the agenda for the UK Government’s 25-year environment plan.
Professor Dasgupta said “I am of course both honoured and delighted. I am also reassured by the honour that it is now acknowledged that economics, when practised with the respect the subject deserves, accommodates Nature seamlessly.”
The University's Acting Vice-Chancellor, Dr Anthony Freeling, congratulated those being honoured: "How wonderful to see people so closely linked to the Collegiate University being recognised in the New Year Honours list. It’s gratifying to see dedicated service acknowledged and rewarded in this way. My warmest congratulations to those colleagues and friends of the University who have been honoured for their commitment and their achievements."
The Dasgupta Review describes Nature as “our most precious asset” and finds that humanity has collectively mismanaged its “global portfolio”: our demands far exceed Nature's capacity to supply “goods and services” we all rely on.
Professor Dasgupta was also recently awarded Kew International Medal for work to protect nature and stop biodiversity loss. The Economist was selected by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to receive the prestigious award following his ground-breaking report The Economics of Biodiversity.
He has also recently been awarded the Freedom of the City of London by Special Nomination, and has been honoured at the UN Environment Programme as one of four 2022 Champions of the Earth, the first economist to have been awarded this honour.
The report was the culmination of four decades of work in which Dasgupta has sought to push the boundaries of traditional economics and lay bare the connection between the health of the planet and the stability of economies.
The Economics of Biodiversity is the foundation of a growing field of what is known as natural capital accounting, in which researchers attempt to assess the value of nature. Those numbers can help governments better understand the long-term economic costs of logging, mining and other potentially destructive industries, ultimately bolstering the case for protecting the natural world.
A conference in honour of Sir Partha Dasgupta will be held at Newnham College from 20th - 21st April 2023. Organised by Professor Sanjeev Goyal, It will celebrate Sir Partha Dasgupta's contributions to economics at Cambridge.
Further details:
https://www.janeway.econ.cam.ac.uk/event/conference-honour-sir-partha-dasgupta
https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/dasguptareview
https://www.econ.cam.ac.uk/news/dasgupta-awarded-kew-international-medal
