Prof Bob Costanza, from the Gund Institute at the University of Vermont , is the most well-known ecological economist in the world. He hit the front cover of Nature in 1997 with a paper entitled “The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital”. This paper on 'Pricing the Planet' changed the way the world thought about the value of living things and the services they provide to mankind.
Prof Costanza believes well-being is a more important measure of national performance than GDP. His research shows the US economy, as measured by national well-being, has been in decline for three decades. He believes that this is just as serious a problem as the current decline in GDP.
In a seminar hosted by the Bio-Protection Research Centre in March 2009, he discussed ideas around developing a “quality of life stimulus package” which he feels could be more beneficial than the economic stimulus packages currently being discussed around the globe. Prof Costanza is a key player in a current Bio-Protection Research Centre, FRST-funded programme on Ecosystems Services in Farmland, and referred to recent key advances in this area.