Economic value of Reefs By Latoya Johnson

Montego Bay, 4 October 2004 (Panos): The Reefs at Risk in the Caribbean Report, which was launched in Montego Bay, Jamaica, on Wednesday 29 September, reveals that shoreline protection offered by natural Caribbean reefs saves countries between US$700 million and US$2.2 billion annually. Coral Reefs in the Caribbean span an estimated area of 26 thousand square kilometers, which the authors say dissipates wave and storm energy when hurricanes approach the Caribbean, as well as Florida. This economic information was calculated through a special threat measurement index developed by the authors who are scientists at the World Resources Institute (WRI) in Washington, DC. According to co-author Jon Maidens, continuous degradation of the reefs can lead by 2015 to loss in revenues from dive tourism by as much as US$300 million per year. In 2000, approximately 2.1 billion US dollars was earned from this industry. The threat index was first introduced by WRI in 1998 to determine reef degradation throughout the world. It now was applied for the first time in the Caribbean. Lead author for Reefs at Risk, Lauretta Burke, says that although Caribbean reefs are less threatened than for instance those in South East Asia (nearly two-thirds or 64 percent of Caribbean reef area threatened against 88 percent of that in South-East Asia), the threat of coral diseases is greater in the Caribbean. This factor has not been included in the model. Coral reef protection was a main issue of focus at the 11th bi-annual intergovernmental meeting on the Caribbean Environment Programme and the 8th Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean, which was held last week in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The meeting was attended by representatives of 25 of the 28 States in the region, as well as of many international governmental and non-governmental organizations. It reviewed regional progress in a great number of environmental initiatives, looked at how countries enforce environmental management, and decided on new joint projects. The Reefs at Risk report is a result of collaborative effort between twenty organizations, coordinated through the International Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN) in close collaboration with UNEP. It was implemented by WRI, an environmental research and policy organization that aims to go beyond research to create practical ways to protect the Earth. The report features an analysis of human threats to coral reefs and evaluates the types of coral reef degradation leading to negative economic impact. "Many reefs are subject to multiple threats such as over-fishing and runoff of pollution and sediments from the land", Burke says. Additional threats are coral bleaching from warming oceans and coral disease from new pathogens. In addition to threats from human activities, there are those from hurricanes as well. This is exemplified by the pieces of corals washing up on shores, such as at Little Bay in Westmoreland, Jamaica, during the passage of hurricane Ivan on 11 September. Battering from hurricanes is a natural occurrence, according to Maidens, but the threat to reefs increases when hurricanes become more frequent. "Two thirds of the Caribbean reefs are threatened and if they are lost, replacing such natural protection by artificial means would cost coastal communities millions of dollars." Burke believes that the Caribbean governments are not investing enough in these areas. Coordinator of the UNEP Caribbean Environment Programme, Nelson Andrade Colmenares, believes that determining the potential impact of land-based activities on the coastal and marine resources is critical for the economic sustainability of the region. "The report includes the first regionally consistent detailed maps of threats to reefs. This should help environmental organizations set priorities for conservation and natural resource management. It is expected to be very helpful to countries implementing the Cartagena Convention and its protocols," Andrade says.