Valuing Nature
When economic payoffs justify conservation
By Ben Harder
Around the edges of the Mabira Forest Reserve in Uganda, farms and woodlands are locked in a battle, and the woodlands are losing ground. Scores of bird species face an increasingly desperate situation. Yet according to a new economic study, most of them could be saved. By attracting enough tourism revenue to justify the preservation of their habitat, the birds just might rescue themselves.
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Ecotourism—as well as hunting, fishing, timber harvesting, and other human activities—requires nature. Healthy ecosystems provide a range of public services, too, such as water purification, greenhouse-gas absorption, and protection from coastal-storm surges.