Conservationists seek to quantify reef’s economic value

It’s Reef Week in Belize and institutions and activists from home and abroad are focussing on our marine attractions even more than usual. Today an impressive group of over fifty professionals gathered in Belize City to look at a strategy that aims to convince decision makers that protecting the coastal zone is more than just the right thing to do. News Five’s Stewart Krohn reports.

Stewart Krohn, Reporting
You don’t need to fly in a helicopter or dive forty feet below the surface … to realise that Belize’s barrier reef, patch reefs, and atolls are natural resources beyond price … or are they?

While no one—at least no one in their right mind—is thinking of selling out the reef, there is a growing movement among conservationists to establish methodologies that will actually place an economic value on our coastal ecosystems. The idea is not to sell, but to better appreciate.

Janet Gibson
“And that’s what people understand, they understand things in dollars and sense.”

By changing the appeal from the heartstrings to the purse strings, it is thought that both policymakers and the public will be in a position to make better decisions. Local coordinator for the Wildlife Conservation Society, Janet Gibson, believes a study now being implemented in Belize can provide convincing arguments for action.

Janet Gibson
“And if we hopefully have something done within the next year or so, to me that’s a very, very powerful argument. That’s the value of what these resources are in terms of products and services. And therefore there is great justification for investing more and strengthening the protection of this resource that is bringing in such high value economically to the country.”

Both the study and today’s seminar, which brought together some of Belize’s most prominent scientific minds, are being led by the Washington-based World Resources Institution. Lauretta Burke is a senior associate with W.R.I.

Lauretta Burke, Senior Associate, W.R.I.
“We know everybody cares about coastal resources, but we see rapid degradation and in many cases we see short-sighted decisions that are resulting in increased pressure on mangroves and reefs and coastal ecosystems in general. And we think consideration of the range of economic values and benefits that come from healthy coastal ecosystems will encourage better management that will result in a healthier reef and more long term economic benefits.”

And those long term benefits will require some long-term thinking. Although we have all been raised on the oft-repeated assumption that Belize’s reefs are among the world’s healthiest, recent trends have cast some doubt on that claim.

Lauretta Burke
“It’s a mix. For one thing, the endowment, the natural resource endowment in Belize is phenomenal. The Belize Barrier Reef and the atolls are striking, diverse, rich environments. As we heard from Melanie McField of the Smithsonian Institution this morning, there’s a lot of degradation and there’s a lot of things going on that we don’t understand in terms of the reef not bouncing back from hurricanes and bleaching events. So we see a resource that’s very important but is in decline. And that’s one of the reasons that we see such urgency for action.”

One form of action that Belize has taken is the creation of reserves.

Janet Gibson
“Despite all the threats, we have had some pretty significant accomplishments over the past couple of decades. … The network of marine protected areas that we have in Belize, we still, although we haven’t reached the goal of saying at least ten percent of our marine habitats having full protection, we still have a very, very—it’s looked up in the region as having a very good marine protected area network.”

Some of the threats faced by coral reefs include over fishing, heavy tourist traffic, pollution from mainland watershed runoff, global warming, and hurricanes. Stewart Krohn reporting for News Five.

Research has shown that in 1998 the combination of record high temperatures and hurricane Mitch destroyed as much as fifty percent of Belize’s reef cover. Funding for today’s seminar was provided by the Oak Foundation.