# Why put a Value on Nature?

The [Appendix](https://docs.basin.global/appendix) references thousands of sources as to why and how to value nature.  

These two quotes ground us in the ***why***:

> "***Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish been caught, and the last stream poisoned, will we realize we cannot eat money.***"
>
> \- Osage saying, circa 1893

> "***…by bringing economics and ecology together, we can help save the natural world at what may be the last minute – and in doing so, save ourselves.***"
>
> \- Sir David Attenborough  \
> The Dasgupta Review: the Economics of Biodiversity 2021

The RealValue of Natural Capital expresses the value nature in a language everyone understands: dollars.

***

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"*BASIN is not financializing nature, we are naturalizing finance.*" - Jeff Stephens
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