China’s efforts to restore its depleted mangrove forests along the South China Sea are now supported by economics. From Business Report:
Natural scientists and economists, trying to work out the economic value of ecosystems, have come up with an astonishing figure of $5.1 billion a year for the mangrove swamps in the South China Sea.John Pernetta, director of the UNEP/GEF project that did the economic assessment, said the project, begun in 2002, had charged nine economists with determining the regional value of certain ecosystems in the South China Sea. [Full Text]
See also the China Mangrove Conservation Network’s work to teach mangrove conservation in schools.
[Image: Mangrove coastal shelter belt in Hainan, from Xinhua]
