Our thinking

Nature’s billions

3 May, 2024

Forget Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, or even Bernard Arnault. Forbes Brazil has crowned a new wealth champion: the Amazon rainforest. This revelation, unveiled in a collaboration between global beauty brand Natura, Forbes, and Africa Creative, challenges our conventional understanding of wealth. 

At the heart of the campaign is the insight that the Amazon is worth $317 billion in terms of the “services” it provides, through regulation of the global climate, it’s astonishing array of plant and animal life, and the livelihoods it supports in the region. By putting it in terms we can all understand and are familiar with – ranking its value against that of (in)famous wealthy people, it starts a discussion and (we hope) fosters a collective resolve for change, underscoring the point that economic prosperity and ecological well-being are not just mutually exclusive, but are inextricably linked. 

We understand the world better when we are given context and frames of reference we understand. A lengthy academic report outlining the social and environmental importance of the Amazon may go unnoticed, but you’re unlikely to forget the “richer than Elon Musk” tagline in a hurry.  

By Tashinga Gwendere