Financiarización de la Biodiversidad

The document critiques the 'financialization of nature,' where biodiversity is converted into financial assets and commodities. It argues that assigning prices to nature ignores its intrinsic value, marginalizes indigenous and local communities, and allows corporations to continue destructive activities through 'offsetting' mechanisms. The author calls for the protection of biodiversity through strong legislation and community-led governance rather than market-based instruments.

• The financialization of biodiversity involves segregating natural elements—such as water, air, and biodiversity—and issuing new property titles for them, which creates new sources of capital accumulation and concentrates the means of production in the hands of corporations.
• The use of economic valuation and pricing for biodiversity is rejected because it promotes the protection of only economically profitable ecosystems, ignores equity, and fails to account for spiritual or traditional knowledge.
• The concept of 'natural capital' is viewed as a tool for commodification that divorces local communities and Indigenous Peoples from nature and is promoted by institutions like the World Bank through its WAVES program.
• Biodiversity offsetting and compensation mechanisms are criticized as 'perverse' because they assume biodiversity is interchangeable, allowing companies to destroy one habitat while funding another, which effectively provides a 'license' for continued destruction.
• Specific financial instruments are proliferating, including biodiversity banks (where credits are sold to developers), limits and trade schemes (similar to carbon markets), and natural capital bonds (such as green bonds or tropical forest bonds).
• The document advocates for a transition toward food sovereignty and community governance of forests and biodiversity as real solutions to the climate crisis and biodiversity loss, contrasting these with market-based 'false solutions'.

APA

Friends of the Earth International (2014). Financiarización de la Biodiversidad. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/06-foei-position-paper-ESP-lr.pdf

Chicago

Friends of the Earth International. Financiarización de la Biodiversidad. 2014. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/06-foei-position-paper-ESP-lr.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Friends of the Earth International |title=Financiarización de la Biodiversidad |date=November 2014 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/06-foei-position-paper-ESP-lr.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{friendsoftheearthinternational2014financiarizacin, author = {{Friends of the Earth International}}, title = {{Financiarización de la Biodiversidad}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2014}, month = nov, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/06-foei-position-paper-ESP-lr.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }