70 billion dollars – that’s how much the world’s wetlands are worth in annual goods and services, according to a report from the World Wildlife Fund. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams has more:
Transcript
Seventy-billion dollars – that’s how much the world’s wetlands are worth in
annual goods and services, according to a report from the World Wildlife
Fund. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams has more:
The report says wetlands provide goods and services such as water filtration,
habitat, flood control and food production. The authors analyzed all the
studies that have been done on the economic value of wetlands.
They say billions of dollars are spent each year to drain wetlands for
immediate economic benefits.
Chris Williams is a conservation manager with the World Wildlife Fund. He
says decision-makers don’t always understand the long-term benefits of
wetlands.
“And if you’re, say, an official in a local jurisdiction, you’re thinking,
what is the immediate return of developing this area? There might be tax
revenues, there might be employment benefits, there might be increased
housing. Now those are important, and those should be thrown into the mix.
What we are mainly saying is, fine, but when you’re balancing those short-term returns, balance
them with the long-term value of the resource that
you’re developing.”
Williams says governments might try to restore wetlands when an area has
been paved over. But he says it’s much more expensive to build a wetland
from scratch than to take steps to preserve it.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Rebecca Williams.