Wetlands' importance now made clear

By DENNIS HIRSCH
Published on: 09/12/05 in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Environmental issues often get framed as a choice between economic prosperity and environmental protection. Hurricane Katrina demonstrates the fallacy of that view. Wetlands on the Gulf Coast once served as a natural buffer against hurricanes. Had we invested in protecting them, they could have significantly lessened Katrina's damage, now estimated at more than $100 billion.

What can we do to ensure that we do not miss such opportunities in the future? One answer lies in the field of ecosystem services. This growing movement seeks to better understand nature's valuable services and to develop regulatory mechanisms for protecting them.

For millennia, the Mississippi River deposited millions of pounds of sediment daily into the Gulf outside of New Orleans. This created millions of acres of wetlands that slowed hurricanes, reduced storm surges and, until modern times, protected the city from flooding. These wetlands were producing an "ecosystem service" to society. Other examples include bees that pollinate crops, soils that purify water, insects and birds that control pests, and forests that sequester carbon and so stabilize the climate.

Despite their great value, ecosystem services are seldom protected. The Gulf wetlands are a case in point. Government levees have channeled the Mississippi away from the wetlands, leaving no opportunities for controlled flooding to replenish the essential sediments. Private companies have sliced waterways through the wetlands to get at energy sources buried there. Starved of essential soils and weakened by a thousand cuts, the wetlands shrink by the size of Manhattan Island each year. New Orleans is being stripped of its natural shield and left naked to weather the storms of the Gulf.

Similar stories can be told about other ecosystems throughout the world. Because their contributions are hard to see it becomes difficult to rally political support for preserving them.

What can be done to protect ecosystem services? The answer lies in policies that enable people to see the value these natural systems provide. New York City's recent decision to invest in conserving watershed lands is a good example. The city derives much of its drinking water from the Catskills. Due to increased development in that area, the city found itself close to violating federal drinking water standards and having to build a $4 billion water treatment plant. Instead, it opted to invest $1 billion in land acquisition and restoration in the Catskills, thereby ensuring clean water.

The ecosystem services field seeks to identify such opportunities. These include government-funded restorations such as the $7 billion federal effort in the Florida Everglades; health standards that allow regulated parties to comply through ecosystem preservation, as in the New York City example; subsidies for those who act to protect ecosystems such as farmers who set aside a buffer of land to prevent fertilizer runoff; and fees for those, such as energy companies who slice through wetlands, who damage important ecosystems. The ecosystem services approach is stuck between environmental purists who argue that nature must be treated as priceless, and shortsighted developers who insist all environmental protections hurt the economy. Drowned out by such voices, the idea that environmental protection could be essential to the economy has attracted little attention.

Until now. The horrific flooding of New Orleans provides a unique opportunity to see, in bold relief, the value that wetlands and other natural systems provide to human society. Katrina could be the catalyst that jump-starts the field of ecosystem services. That would help to prevent other such catastrophes and so would draw something positive out of the recent tragedy.

This article appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on September 12, 2005. Click here to view the article on ajc.com.