Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Blencathra (Conservative). It was answered on Tuesday, 13 September 2011.

Rainforests

Question: Does my noble friend agree that biodiversity and loss of species are even more important than climate change? With a huge amount of resources and tremendous effort, it is possible eventually to reverse climate change, but once a species is lost, it is gone for ever, and the damage could be irreparable. Does she also agree that this is not just a matter of polar bears, tigers or even red squirrels, but that many of the boring little unsexy species that could be lost by deforestation could actually be valuable to human life and existence?

Answer: My noble friend has put the case perfectly for why we need to work incredibly hard. That is why the UK has supported developing countries to participate in the United Nations study on the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity which estimates, as I have said, that the huge financial cost is immense but the cost to species is even greater, and the initial long-term impact will be on us.

Secondary information