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| In putting a price tag on endangered species and degraded ecosystems, ecologists and economists have joined forces to formulate a new rationale for environmental issues: restoring natural capital  © Erich Schlegel/Dallas Morning News/Corbis Ecological restoration is expensive. The United States government is slated to spend almost $8 billion restoring parts of the Florida Everglades as wetlands between 2000 and 2030. The Army Corps of Engineers had a plan to spend $14 billion to restore New Orleans' barrier islands before Hurricane Katrina arrived. On a smaller scale, South Africa, whose gross domestic product (GDP) is 4% that of the United States, is spending $450 million to restore native vegetation and increase water supply. Can countries afford to spend such sums on ecological restoration? A new school of economists and ecologists answers with another question: Can the world's economies afford not to? Consider New Orleans: Ecological engineer William... |
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