The financialisation of nature

Suzanne Fisher-Murray

Financialization describes an economic system or process that aims to reduce all values into a financial instrument. As part of this process, nature is treated as a private resource or financial asset with neo-liberal, market-based approaches increasingly being adopted to protect the environment, such as payments for ecosystems processes.

The School of Global Studies (through the Centre for Global Political Economy), in conjunction with the ESRC STEPS Centre and the Doctoral School at the University of Sussex, held a conference on the Financialisation of Nature last year to discuss some of these trends.

Cecil the lion standing in tall grass.
Cecil the lion in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, before he became a trophy in 2015. Credit: Vince O’Sullivan (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Blogs inspired by the conference debates and discussion:

Risk, Property and the Politics of Nature  by Kelly Kay

Wildlife or domestic animals?  by Amos Ochieng

Looking at people’s everyday behaviour, is it a good idea to put a price on nature?  by Lavinia Ioana Udrea