English  |  Español  |  Français
Knowledge Base

Search criteria

Information Types

  • Side Events (38)

Meetings

  • SBSTTA 15 (38)

Subjects

Aichi Targets

Date

Side Event

Investing in Ecological infrastructure – the economic rationale for ecological restoration

Organizer
Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) with the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER)

Date and Time
7 November 2011 13:15 - 14:45

Meeting
Fifteenth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice

It is estimated that ecosystems deliver essential services worth between $21 trillion and up to $72 trillion a year, comparable to the 2008 World Gross National Income of $58 trillion. Yet in 2010, nearly two-thirds of the globe’s ecosystems are considered degraded as a result of damage, mismanagement and a failure to invest and reinvest in their productivity, health and sustainability. Well-planned, appropriate restoration, compared to loss of ecosystem services, may provide benefit/cost ratios of 3–75 in return on investments and an internal rate of return of 7–79 per cent, depending on the ecosystem restored and its economic context, thus providing in many cases some of the most profitable public investments including generation of jobs directly and indirectly related to an improved environment and health. Ecological restoration can further act as an engine of economy and a source of green employment. In this side event key persons from the Society for Ecological restoration and TEEB present case studies on economic rationale for ecological restoration.