Environment & Energy

Dead_Parrot

(14,478 posts) Thu Feb 23, 2012, 02:38 PM Feb 2012

Conservation meets capitalism in Florida

Off the coast of Florida, huge coral nurseries are being cultivated to restore the region’s reefs. But as a government grant for the work runs out, an alternative approach to securing funding is being explored.

Much conservation work has been predicated on the idea that habitats such as rainforests and coral reefs are of immeasurable value, but the concept of 'payment for ecosystem services' is now coming to the fore, with scientists looking to put a monetary value on ecosystems. Earlier this month, researchers and conservationists met in Florida to discuss applying this strategy to the coral reefs that surround the state's famous Keys and make up the third largest barrier reef in the world.

Since 2009, fuelled by money set aside to stimulate the US economy, researchers working off the coast of Florida have successfully established nurseries containing thousands of corals in the hope that they can be used to repair damaged and valuable reef habitats. But the stimulus money is running out, and if the nurseries are to survive they will have to become self-financing.

Enter Brett Howell of Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. Howell has been studying the idea of payments for marine-ecosystem services and organized a meeting in Key Largo earlier this month to explore whether private money might fill the government-funding gap.

More: http://www.nature.com/news/conservation-meets-capitalism-in-florida-1.10101

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Conservation meets capitalism in Florida (Original Post) Dead_Parrot Feb 2012 OP

I think it's entirely reasonable that private money help restore these resources tech3149 Feb 2012 #1

In the failed attemp to save the Baiji... Dead_Parrot Feb 2012 #2

tech3149

(4,452 posts)

1. I think it's entirely reasonable that private money help restore these resources

Reply to Dead_Parrot (Original post)

Thu Feb 23, 2012, 05:09 PM

Feb 2012

Unfortunately, those responsible for the damage will likely be the last to help save these resources.
In a just world the ag and extraction industries would be levied a surtax to help mitigate the damage they do.

As a reminder of the possibilities, I was watching Logans Run early this morning. If you recall not just aquatic life but pretty much everything else was killed by overuse and poisoning.

Dead_Parrot

(14,478 posts)

2. In the failed attemp to save the Baiji...

Reply to tech3149 (Reply #1)

Thu Feb 23, 2012, 05:22 PM

Feb 2012

...the Chinese tried something along these line. From "Last Chance to See":

First, they said, they had persuaded the local brewery to use the baiji as their trademark. Had we tried Baiji Beer? It was of a good quality, now much respected in all of China. Then others had followed. The committee had entered into…

Here there was a bit of a vocabulary problem, which necessitated a little discussion with the interpreter before the right phrase at last emerged.

They had entered into licensing agreements. Local businesses had put money into the project, in return for which they were licensed to use the baiji. symbol, which in turn made good publicity for the baiji dolphin.

So now there was not only Baiji Beer, there was also the Baiji Hotel, Baiji shoes, Baiji Cola, Baiji computerised weighing scales, Baiji toilet paper, Baiji phosphorus fertiliser, and Baiji Bentonite.

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