Should we put a price on nature?

While there are few environmental issues upon which environmental scientists, activists and communicators universally agree, there are none as divisive as the question of whether or not a price should be put on nature as a way of protecting it. The concept that the value of healthy forests, rivers, animals and insects to the global economy could be monetised, and indeed prove crucial to the continuation of economic activity, sparked off a debate that continues to this day.