Lost subtext of the planetary crisis

Siddarth Shrikanth's book explores the urgent need to prioritise nature and adopt a nature-positive approach in addressing the global environmental crisis

The Case for Nature: The Other Planetary Crisis

Author: Siddarth Shrikanth

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 304

Price: Rs 699

Today’s planetary crisis — and by extension climate, ecological and the entire natural reserve crisis — originates from historical, political and economic agendas of the recent past. Climate change, carbon emissions, air and water pollution, and so on have been hot topics for decades, and grow hotter with each passing year. Conveniently overlooked is the blatantly urban nature of the problems we identify and the same urban mindset with which we attempt to resolve them. Local units of change and crisis — thinning indigenous tribes, marine and coral degradation, deteriorating soil health, biodiversity loss among many others — remain untended; their solutions lie in the roots of nature. In The Case for Nature Siddarth Shrikanth focuses on this lost subtext of the looming environmental crisis.

The co-founder of Working Trees — a Stanford Climate Venture  — and currently an investor at Just Climate — a climate-led investing business focused on the net-zero challenge — Mr Shrikanth answers  the key questions “Why Nature?” and “Why Now?” in his debut book. In 10 chapters, Mr Shrikanth explores the true meaning of the “climate fight”; tries to locate the responsibility and accountability for change; makes a financial case to handle ecological distress; evaluates public funds and private investments; and appeals to public and private partners, businesses and policymakers, development strategists and conservationists, farmers and scientists to collectively cater to and adapt a nature-positive approach.

Growing “eco-anxiety”, promoting eco-tourism, modifying carbon-credit systems, moderating grey infrastructure with green infrastructure, practising regenerative agriculture and working with technology as opposed to against it, are key points of discussion across the book. Among these are two pressing themes: One, of the growing dissonance between man and nature and how we must remind ourselves of the coexistence that fuels survival; and, two, the urgency of investing in nature

rather than exploiting it. To quote the book, we must “keep alive the sense that we live with and as nature” and “monetize ecology as much as we are ecologising money”.

Mr Shrikanth emphasises the importance of adapting complimentary instead of compensatory solutions to climate change and asserts that sustainability is as much a moral choice as it is an economic one. He weighs nature for what it’s worth by quantifying it in terms of its resources, elements and many ecosystems in (estimated) measurable units, and calls for natural capital to be parallel to financial, human and social capital. “Nature deserves a seat at the financial table if we are to avoid relegating flora and fauna to a shrinking patchwork of protected areas at the fringes of the modern economy — museum pieces, in effect,” he writes.

As proof and promise, Mr Shrikanth offers working examples of initiatives  — ideas in action — from across the world such as of local communities, tech giants and the government coming together to protect rich Mangrove wetlands of the Colombian Coast through a pilot scheme “Vida Manglar” (Mangrove Life); of Fiji’s rich marine and coral ecosystems as perfect sites for eco-tourism, where profits return, in part, to the cause of preservation and restoration of the reef, as well as in generating livelihoods; green infrastructure projects in Singapore, defying its colonial pasts; and technologies such as eDNA (environmental DNA) sampling and LiDAR (light detection and ranging) in recording and reporting changing ecological trends, on land and through space. Through these examples, Mr Shrikanth reinstates that there are multiple stakeholders in the cause of environmental justice and that maintaining a balance between them is the way to go.

The book fits in perfectly with the genre of recent writing on environmental consciousness, right beside Ramachandra Guha’s A Global History of Environmentalism  and Amitav Ghosh’s The Great Derangement  — books that record the history of environmental cause and observe its politics. The Case for Nature  offers an economic investigation; perhaps taking a step even further, by applying practical and potential solutions to the commonly known and commonly overlooked (theoretical) significance of nature.

As we celebrate 50 years of World Environment Day and landmark movements such as Chipko Andolan, The Case for Nature marks a reflective moment for our generation. It brings economic questions, ethical dilemmas, and the fine balance between conservation and development/progress to light, in interactive and informative ways.

Mr Shrikanth’s inspiring and global outlook convinces us that the efforts need to be continuous and consistent for one simple reason: “we can’t afford to let perfect be the enemy of good.”

As does the closing chapter of the book, I borrow the words of Walt Whitman to conclude the book review: “After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on — have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear — what remains? Nature remains.” All we have to do is respect, facilitate and let it prosper in efficient and productive ways.

The reviewer is the host of The Green Book Club on Instagram.  @read.dream.repeat