Polar bears are worth $6.3bn a year, beavers up to $1bn, sharks $944m, dung beetles $380m and Corbett Tiger Reserve $235m – according to a study compiled by BBC Earth and environmentalist Tony Juniper in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The research then compared the value of these ‘natural resources’ with the annual Gross Domestic Product of countries or the yearly value of resources such as fossil fuels.
The UK, in comparison, is worth $2.55tn (that’s about 400 times more than polar bears), while the restaurants in the USA are valued at $709bn – about 700 times more than beavers.
The most valuable resource of all was fresh water – worth a monumental $73.5tn every year – while trees came second at $16.2tn and coral reefs third at $9.9tn. Oil, in comparison, is worth a paltry $3.33tn.
