A guide for planners and managers - IUCN

FIGURE I-54.
The total economic value of marine and coastal ecosystems.
PART I
Strategies and Tools
As perceptions of the economic value of marine ecosystems have moved forward,
so have a range of new methods been developed to quantify these economic benefits
and express them as monetary values (Box I-11). In turn, these values have provided
an extremely convincing—and much needed—way of demonstrating the desirability
of MPAs in social, economic and development terms,. Economic valuation highlights
that marine protected areas are much more than a static biological or ecological pool
of resources, but should rather be seen as stocks of natural capital which if properly
managed can yield a wide range of economic benefits to human populations—often
to a value which is far higher than the income accruing from unsustainable exploitation
and development.
Economic instruments and incentives: guarding against marine degradation
The preceding paragraphs have described the important role that economic
valuation plays in justifying actions to conserve marine and coastal environments.
However, even if conservation is broadly justifiable to government policy-makers and
decision-makers, the establishment of MPAs often does not make economic sense to
the people whose activities have the potential to impact negatively on the integrity
of marine and coastal ecosystems. Although marine degradation incurs high social
and economic costs, it may still be economically desirable to individual producers
and consumers. It is frequently more profitable for people to degrade marine
ecosystems than to conserve them, because they feel no private cost—and may even
be able to generate higher profits—from doing so (see Box I-12). Fishermen, the
harvesters of mangrove poles, shells, corals, seabirds and other resources, the people
123