The BBC reports that conservationists have found a new method to convey the cost and risk of loss in nature:

…study leader Pavan Sukhdev emphasised that the cost of natural decline dwarfs losses on the financial markets.

“It’s not only greater but it’s also continuous, it’s been happening every year, year after year,” he told BBC News.

“So whereas Wall Street by various calculations has to date lost, within the financial sector, $1-$1.5 trillion, the reality is that at today’s rate we are losing natural capital at least between $2-$5 trillion every year.”

The review that Mr Sukhdev leads, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (Teeb), was initiated by Germany under its recent EU presidency, with the European Commission providing funding.

Sounds drastic, but it seems to me if they are going to make the comparison they also need a way to present a stock ticker-like graphic to illustrate rate of decline and some kind of floor or zero value.