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SUMMARY:Discussion of MacDonald and Corson (2012) 'TEEB Begins Now' - Read
 ing and Discussion session
DTSTART:20130226T130000Z
DTEND:20130226T140000Z
UID:TALK43785@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:RSKD
DESCRIPTION:MacDonald and Corson (2012) 'TEEB Begins Now': a virtual momen
 t in the production of natural capital\, Development and Change 43: 159-18
 4\n\nAbstract:\nThis article uses theories of virtualism to analyse the ro
 le of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) project in the p
 roduction of natural capital. Presented at the 10th Conference of the Part
 ies to the Convention on Biological Diversity\, the project seeks to redre
 ss the ‘economic invisibility of nature’ by quantifying the value of e
 cosystems and biodiversity. This endeavour to put an economic value on eco
 systems makes nature legible by abstracting it from social and ecological 
 contexts and making it subject to\, and productive of\, new market devices
 . In reducing the complexity of ecological dynamics to idealized categorie
 s TEEB is driven by economic ideas and idealism\, and\, in claiming to be 
 a quantitative force for morality\, is engaged in the production of practi
 ces designed to conform the ‘real’ to the virtual. By rendering a ‘v
 alued’ nature legible for key audiences\, TEEB has mobilized a critical 
 mass of support including modellers\, policy makers and bankers. We argue 
 that TEEB's rhetoric of crisis and value aligns capitalism with a new kind
  of ecological modernization in which ‘the market’ and market devices 
 serve as key mechanisms to conform the real and the virtual. Using the cas
 e of TEEB\, and drawing on data collected at COP10\, we illustrate the imp
 ortance of international meetings as key points where idealized models of 
 biodiversity protection emerge\, circulate and are negotiated\, and as sit
 es where actors are aligned and articulated with these idealized models in
  ways that begin further processes of conforming the real with the virtual
  and the realization of ‘natural capital’.\n
LOCATION:Seminar Room
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