Biodiversity in a post-growth environment

Evidence submission to the UK Environmental Audit Committee’s Possible Future Inquiry
April 2020

The challenges facing the world and the UK today are unprecedented. A global health emergency, a global climate crisis; and a catastrophic loss of biodiversity, are undermining the basis for future prosperity in the UK and across the world. These impacts represent an urgent threat to human health and to the viability of our food chains and agricultural systems.

The UK Environmental Audit Committee’s remit is to consider the extent to which policies and programmes of UK government departments and non-departmental public bodies contribute to environmental protection and sustainable development, and to audit their performance against sustainable development and environmental protection targets.

In early Spring this year, written submissions were invited to aid the Committee in prioritising its future programme of work. CUSP director Tim Jackson submitted evidence, making the case for necessary innovations in governance and a realistic and responsible approach to the management of the economy: Sustainable Development Goals and the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity cannot be achieved without transformative change, the conditions for which have to be put in place now. The Committee should prioritise an inquiry on post COVID-19 recovery which addresses in particular the ‘growth dependency’ of the UK economy, he argues. Understanding policy in a ‘postgrowth’ environment is absolutely essential in the context of a global health crisis, climate change, biodiversity crises; in particular against the background of secular stagnation in global growth rates and trade patterns.