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The Value Of Our Natural Environment
Scientists and economists recently collaborated in a study of five natural habitats converted for human use and commercial
profit.
A tropical forest in Malaysia was razed for intensive logging, a tropical forest in Cameroon was converted to oil palm
and rubber plantations, a mangrove swamp in Thailand was turned over to shrimp farming, a freshwater marsh in Canada was drained
for agriculture, and a coral reef in the Philippines was dynamited for fishing.
The researchers came up with some surprising results. Had those five natural habitats been left in their wild state,
their long-term economic value to the community would have been from 14 to 75 percent more than after conversion. In fact,
an ecosystem loses, on average, half its value as a result of human interference, and each year, environmental conversion
costs $250 billion. By contrast, preserving natural systems would cost $45 billion. The researchers say that "goods and
services" - in the form of food, water, air, shelter, fuel, clothing, medicine, and storm and flood protection -provided
in return are worth at least $4.4 trillion, a 100-to-1 benefit cost ratio, reports London's newspaper The Guardian. Dr Andrew
Balmford of Cambridge University, England, who led the study said: "The economics are absolutely stark. We thought that
the numbers would favour conservation, but not by this much."
Sadly, even since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, 11.4 percent of the earth's natural environments have been
converted mainly because of ignorance of what is being lost and a desire for short-term financial gain. Ten years later at
the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg, no clear solutions were forthcoming to resolve the dilemma.
Dr Balmford expressed his concern, saying: "One third of the world's wild nature has been lost since I as a child and
first heard the word 'conservation' That's what keeps me awake at night".
Researched by Kate Ward (wishintreeUK)
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