It is well documented that reefs and mangroves reduce the impact of waves hitting coasts, thus decreasing the risks of flooding and erosion. But until now, the economic argument for investing in such habitats has been less clear. Managing Coasts with Natural Solutions: Guidelines for Measuring and Valuing the Coastal Protection Services of Mangroves and Coral Reefs seeks to address this evidence gap and to reorient the cost-benefit analysis between built or "gray infrastructure," and "green infrastructure" based on environmental processes.
In a ground-breaking approach to measuring the benefits of ecosystem services, Lead Marine Scientist at The Nature Conservancy, Michael Beck—who co-led the report with Glenn-Marie Lange, Technical Advisor for the World Bank Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES) Global Partnership, with support from the University of California (UC) Santa Cruz, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, and Resources for the Future—applied assessment techniques commonly used in the engineering and insurance sectors.
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Published By
Funded By
- Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation
- Lydia Hill Foundation
- Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES)
- Science for Nature and People (SNAP) Coastal Defenses Project
- Kingfisher Foundation
Copyright
- Copyright 2016 by The World Bank. All rights reserved.