How a simple question in a Cambridge lecture room led to an extraordinary conversation about the future of our planet
What began as an engaging discussion in Professor Bhaskar Vira's natural capital lectures has culminated in one of the most significant conservation conversations of the year. On 28th July 2025, the David Attenborough Building welcomed Sir Partha Dasgupta for a fireside chat exploring "The Price for Everything, the Value of Nothing" – a student-led event organised with CCI colleagues.
Sir Partha Dasgupta, Professor Bhaskar Vira, and students Candaze and Michael
During the Michaelmas term, our students attended Professor Vira's lectures on "The Political Ecology of Conservation" and "Accounting for Natural Capital – The Role of Biodiversity." These sessions explored how conservation is fundamentally social and political, involving choices about who can do what to non-human nature, and why biodiversity values are often under-represented in natural capital accounting.
Inspired by these discussions, students Hyeseon Do and Rosebell Abwonji approached Professor Vira with a question: might it be possible for Sir Partha Dasgupta to visit and share his insights directly with the cohort?
Professor Vira's response was immediate and characteristically generous. Within minutes of the students leaving his office, he had contacted Sir Partha, who readily agreed to the visit. The timing worked perfectly – the event coincided with the official release of Sir Partha's new book, "On Natural Capital: The Value of the World Around Us," on 24th July.
The resulting dialogue between Sir Partha Dasgupta and Professor Vira was nothing short of extraordinary. Sir Partha, author of the influential Dasgupta Review on the Economics of Biodiversity commissioned by HM Treasury, discussed how his new book makes the complex economics of nature accessible to a broader audience.
"Economics does not have nature as a factor of production," Sir Partha explained, highlighting a fundamental flaw in how we measure economic progress. "We're looking at flows like GDP, but it's the stocks – what we now call natural capital – that matter."
The conversation revealed the profound challenge of our times: whilst global economies have delivered unprecedented prosperity, we are simultaneously living through an ecological crisis. Sir Partha explained that we are demanding more from nature than she can regenerate – a gap he describes as the "impact inequality."
Our students organised the main aspect of the event and engaged Sir Partha with thoughtful questions about leadership, policy barriers, and the limits of economic valuation in conservation.
Sir Partha Dasgupta signing copies of his new book
The conversation transcended academic discourse, addressing practical challenges facing conservation leaders worldwide. Sir Partha's discussion of asset management approaches to natural capital, the importance of demographic considerations in sustainability, and the role of social norms in shaping consumption patterns provided invaluable insights for our future conservation leaders.
Particularly compelling was his emphasis on stocks versus flows – encouraging us to think like households managing assets rather than governments obsessing over GDP growth. "Households worry about their stocks of capital constantly," he observed. "We've moved away from that, largely because of our successful move towards market economies."
The conversation has been recorded and is now available on our official YouTube channel, ensuring Sir Partha's insights reach an even wider audience of current and future conservation leaders.