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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 August 2019

By
Partha S. Dasgupta  and
Peter H. Raven
Edited by
Partha Dasgupta ,
Peter Raven  and
Anna McIvor
Partha Dasgupta
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Peter Raven
Affiliation:
Missouri Botanical Garden
Anna McIvor
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

Humanity’s future will be shaped by the portfolio of capital assets we inherit and choose to pass on to our descendants, and by the balance we strike between the portfolio and the size of our population. So it makes sense to include population on the list of a society’s assets and build an overarching study of our relationship with our descendants and with nature by dividing assets into three categories: produced capital (buildings, roads, ports, machines, instruments), human capital (population, health, education, knowledge and skills) and natural capital (biodiversity, ecosystems, subsoil resources). In this Introduction we offer a perspective on the chapters that follow by summarising salient aspects of humanity’s troubled relationship with the biosphere.

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Chapter
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Biological Extinction
New Perspectives
 , pp. 1 - 14
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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