Three key services provided by coral reefs and mangroves in Belize are worth an estimated US$395 million to US$559 million per year, according to a report released today by the World Resources Institute and the World Wildlife Fund. Annual Economic Contribution of Coral Reefs and Mangroves in Belize“Putting a dollar value on the goods and services provided by reefs and mangroves helps to translate them into a language that everyone speaks,” said Lauretta Burke, a senior associate at WRI. “Hopefully, these findings will contribute to well-informed decisions regarding the management of these critical resources.” The report, Coastal Capital: Belize, estimates the annual economic value of coral reef- and mangrove-associated tourism in Belize at between US$150 million and US$196 million, accounting for between 12 and 15 percent of the Caribbean nation’s GDP. Benefits from reef- and mangrove-dependent fisheries contribute a further US$14 million to US$16 million to the economy.   Reefs and mangroves also protect coastal properties from erosion and wave-induced damage. WRI estimates that Belize’s coral reefs provide an estimated US$120 million to US$180 million in avoided damages per year. Mangroves protect the coastline from both waves and storm surge, providing an additional US$111 million to US$167 million in protection annually.  Despite growing recognition of the economic importance of coastal resources, reefs and mangroves face growing threats from unchecked coastal development, over-fishing, and pressures from tourism. Climate-related changes such as warming seas and fiercer storms will compound these impacts in the future. “The goods and services offered by coral reefs and mangroves are frequently overlooked or underappreciated in coastal investment and policy decisions,” said Emily Cooper, a research associate at WRI and lead author of the study. “The amount currently invested in protecting Belize’s coral reefs and mangroves is very small when compared to the contribution of these resources to the national economy.” Belize’s Marine Protected Area (MPA) system is widely hailed as an example of forward-thinking in marine conservation. Consisting of 18 protected areas managed primarily by the country’s fisheries and forestry departments in collaboration with local NGOs, the MPAs are an important draw for divers, snorkelers and sport fishermen, and contain no-fishing areas that help to maintain stocks of key commercial species. The system, however, is under-funded, and staff, fuel, and equipment limitations make it difficult to curb illegal fishing and monitor visitation in most of the reserves. “Belize’s reefs and mangroves offer crucial socio-economic benefits but are already threatened by overuse, degradation and fragmentation. Climate change will undoubtedly compound these through increased frequency of impacts from mass bleaching and storm occurrences, as well as coastal erosion and sedimentation,” said Nadia Bood, Mesoamerican reef scientist and climate change officer for WWF Central America. “This makes urgent the need to act now to alleviate human threats and increase the resilience potential of these very important ecosystems.” WRI’s Coastal Capital project receives key financial support from the Oak Foundation, the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, SwedBio, the Campbell Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation. The full report can be accessed on WRI’s website at http://www.wri.org/publication/coastal-capital-belize . 

Despite slow progress at COP-14, the national climate action plans of several key countries announced this year are signs of progress. Coverage of the United Nations conference on climate change, which ended last week, has been understandably negative: the thousands of negotiators, analysts, companies and civil society groups that converged on PoznaÅ„, Poland, resulted in very few concrete decisions. Spending for climate change adaptation using already available funds was authorized, but even there the scale of support is small compared to the resources needed. And this was just about the only area of agreement. On a problem as urgent as climate change, such limited progress is frustratingly slow. However, while it is true that the meeting in PoznaÅ„ yielded little progress, this was hardly surprising. After all, this meeting is held at year one in an agreed two-year negotiating process. Typically, nothing is agreed in these processes until a final deal is struck encompassing every issue. Furthermore, the world is waiting for new leadership from the incoming U.S. Administration, and it made little sense to reach important agreements with a lame duck team. Despite the limited extent of formal agreement, progress is being made in tackling climate change. The last 18 months has seen most of the major developing economies, including China and India, bring forward significant plans for limiting emissions through aggressive energy efficiency, renewable energy, and forestry programs. The European Union has now agreed to a new round of emissions cuts (PDF) aimed at reducing emissions at least 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. Australia and Mexico have both announced targets. To be sure, these efforts will be only a down payment on the global emissions reductions required to forestall massive global climate damages; actions by all nations will need to be strengthened to meet necessary emissions goals. Here too, U.S. reengagement is likely to be critical. A strong U.S. climate policy might not only encourage other countries to go further, but also set the stage for a collective effort that can create and distribute critical climate-friendly technologies, provide resources for adaptation, and support capacity building, particularly in the least developed countries around the world. While expectations were high in PoznaÅ„ that the new U.S. team would re-energize the climate negotiations, the economic crisis was the second topic of almost universal discussion. At a meeting of finance ministers held in Warsaw directly prior to the UN climate session, it was clear that nations are increasingly worried that the global economic crisis will limit investment—and the capacity of governments to act. Here too, with President-elect Obama stressing that the economic crisis is reason to press ahead with building a green economy, U.S. leadership could be critical. No observers have ever suggested that negotiating a new global agreement would be straightforward, and the very modest PoznaÅ„ outcomes underscore the difficulties. However, nations are beginning to act, and while it remains unclear if their action will be aggressive enough (or soon enough) to offset the trend of increasing climate damages, we are finally moving on a more positive track. Ultimately, it is these national commitments that will be reflected in a global deal; it is not the global agreement that drives national policy. From that perspective, the PoznaÅ„ meeting, while not reaching formal agreement on any new treaty text, provided a forum for nations to announce their new national efforts, and give the rest of us room for hope.

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) today released a first-of-its-kind consumer guide that compares the carbon footprints of a range of domestic travel options, including motor coaches (intercity buses), trains, planes, cars, and SUVs.

Through a few simple steps, you can reduce the environmental impact of your holiday season.