Kashmir’s economy rests on a ledger that few people read.

Beneath the GDP figures lies a portfolio of glaciers, watersheds, orchards, alpine pastures and wetlands that generates water, food, energy, tourism revenue and disaster protection for millions. These assets remain invisible in public accounts.

Natural capital, the accumulated natural wealth that produces goods and services, constitutes the region’s true balance sheet. Measuring prosperity while liquidating the foundation that makes prosperity possible produces a false accounting.

Economists have long argued over whether societies face scarcity or achievable abundance. The classical tradition treats land, water, minerals, forests, fertile soils, clean air and time as strictly limited against expansive wants. The abundance discourse counters that shortages stem from poor governance, underinvestment, over-regulation, weak infrastructure and slow technology diffusion.

Both camps hold partial truth. Climate change, biodiversity loss, degraded soils and water stress confirm biophysical limits. Unsafe housing, poor sanitation, congested cities and inadequate clean energy prove that scarcity is avoidable.

The World Bank’s wealth-accounting work advances a critical insight: GDP alone falls short in judging prosperity because it tracks current income rather than the underlying asset base. Produced capital, human capital and natural capital demand joint management.

Development economists argue that nature functions as an economic asset rather than only an environmental concern. Humanity has expanded produced capital while running down natural capital, weakening the portfolio upon which future prosperity depends.

This explains the rising importance of........

© Kashmir Observer