Our Wild World

A critical component of any discussion in wildlife trade that is glaringly missing from major decision making processes such as CITES, is the real-world understanding wildlife markets and pricing. My guest, economist Alejandro Nadal, leads us into deep research on the shifting connections between macroeconomics and the environment, working toward new models reaching crucial objectives of trade in wildlife and endangered species: This concerns the survival of the entire biosphere, including us. With so much at stake, these vital connections have so far received little attention by both the academic and policy-making communities. Major transformations are required in economic structures and policy recommendations, in conjunction with deep and sweeping economy-wide reforms and shifts. The elephant is standing in the room, with ‘Macroeconomic Policies’ stamped on its forehead- while to our detriment and peril, we continue spending billions ignoring it.