Economic value of nature to be measured

A pilot program to measure the economic value the ecosystem provides to human society will be launched in the Kubuqi desert in the northern Inner Mongolia autonomous region, the seventh-largest desert in China.

The program will see a new standard - the Gross Ecosystem Product - be adopted for the first time. The standard will measure the total economic value of all ecosystem products and services that nature provides for human well-being, according to a statement at a news conference in Beijing on Feb 25.

The program will be jointly launched by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the Elion Foundation.

The program will develop a pilot program to establish an evaluation framework for GEP and identify practical policies, technology and institutional arrangements for establishing a GEP accounting system, according to the statement.

"If we only measure economic growth using GDP, we do not capture the vast environmental costs incurred, thus creating a false impression of economic prosperity," said Huang Yi, a professor on environmental science at Peking University.

"Besides the current GDP, we hope the GEP accounting system can be used as a new standard to evaluate local economic and social development in future," said Zhu Chunquan, China program officer of the IUCN.