What happens to economic output if we expand protected areas to 30 percent of land and sea worldwide? Anthony Waldron, the lead author of a new study about the economic benefits of land conservation, posed this question at a recent Wilson Center virtual event on the role of Latin America in global biodiversity conservation.

The new study from Cambridge University, which Waldron worked on with 100 international scientists and economists, found that biodiversity conservation increases economic output. In protected areas, economic growth would expand at 8 to 10 times the rate of other competing sectors, Waldron said. This is primarily because the ecotourism sector would expand, paralleling the growth in protected areas. Tourists will stay in local hotels and eat in the local restaurants, Waldron said. They’ll attend tours and create jobs in the area.

Additionally, protected areas save millions of dollars in the tropics by preventing damage from flooding and storm surges. Waldron showed a slide of a storm surge engulfing houses. In the next slide, he showed a mangrove forest that could dramatically reduce the impact of the waves and save money that would otherwise go to either building artificial barriers to block the waves or repairing damage done.

The study represents a departure from the traditionally held view that biodiversity conservation and economic growth are inversely related, said Waldron. The common perception is if we prioritize the protection of nature, and subsequently slow the effects of climate change, then surely the economy will slow down, he said.

While a working report of this study was only recently released, both Costa Rica and Chile have years of experience in protecting and prioritizing their natural environment. In the 1990s, before biodiversity loss and the climate crisis were widely discussed, Costa Rica implemented a collection of policies that drew environmental and economic development together, said the Honorable José María Figueres, former President of Costa Rica. Several policies focused on investing in renewable energy (the country now relies on 100 percent renewable electricity), creating a system to pay for environmental services, such as implementing a fossil fuel tax to pay for reforestation throughout the country, and, most directly correlated to this study, developing Costa Rica’s vast national park system.

“About 30 years ago we began developing our national park system, and then a few years later discovered that the national parks were the economic engine of our ecotourism which allowed us to brand the country in that direction,” Figueres said. Up until the COVID-19 pandemic, ecotourism was the second largest contributor to the Costa Rican economy, and the greatest source for job creation in rural areas.

Similarly, Kristine Tompkins, Co-founder and President of Tompkins Conservation and former CEO of Patagonia, spearheaded the establishment of more than 14 million acres of protected land across Chile and Argentina, including the creation or expansion of 13 national parks and two new marine national parks.

The goal of Tompkins Conservation is to create permanent protection for long-term ecosystems, said Tompkins. “Fifteen years ago, we began to look at our work with absolutely new eyes,” she said. When somebody mentioned to us that landscape without wildlife is just scenery, it was an epiphany for us. From that point forward wherever we work, we analyze who’s missing, she said. In northern Argentina, the organization is bringing jaguars back to an area where they had been wiped out since the 1930s.

Decoupling Economic Growth and Environmental Degradation

The World Economic Forum now ranks climate threats and accelerated biodiversity loss among the major long-term risks to the global economy. In order to ensure an environmentally and economically sustainable future, the world must recognize that conservation efforts and economic development are not mutually exclusive. “We need to decouple carbon emissions right now from development that have always been parallel and allow development to move forward while carbon emissions come down,” Figueres said.

Rather than allow the destruction of natural resources for economic advancement, said Figueres, economic growth must be paired with a vision of protected land and renewable energy. In the south of Chile, Tompkins Conservation helped stop a major hydroelectric dam project that the country had previously perceived as a huge economic growth project. As the Honorable Marcelo Mena, former Minister of Environment for Chile, described it, converting this area from a hydroelectric dam project to a national park was a “revolution” in Chile’s energy identity.

We still need to decide what development should look like in this region, said Maximiliano Bello, COP26 Oceans Champion and Wilson Center Global Fellow. In Patagonia, a massive salmon farming industry still dominates a large portion of the region’s economy. Bello asked, are we really going to sacrifice these ecosystems in this ecologically diverse area?

Planning for the Long Term

While the creation of national parks and the use of renewable energy has repeatedly demonstrated its economic productivity, Tompkins said, sometimes people hesitate when taking the long-term, holistic approach that conservation efforts demand. Protecting land and sea demands forward thinking, even amid the constant immediate pressures governments face.

“I think it’s very important at this juncture of the present crisis, when we’re all concentrating on short term solutions to our health challenges, that we at the same time do not let go of a medium- and long-term vision,” Figures said.

An Urgent Issue

For generations, humans have taken nature for granted, said Dr. Sylvia Earle, President and Chair of Mission Blue. We have failed to take into account our depletion of natural resources. From the standpoint of the ocean, the fish are still considered free. “There’s an investment in going out to catch them, kill them, and send them to market,” she said. “But we don’t put on the balance sheet the loss when something is taken from the sea.”

If we ran a business the way we treat the natural world, Earle said, we would go bankrupt.

We are far behind on addressing global climate change, Bello said.

Action must be taken now, said Earle. “This is the first time in history that we can know the magnitude of the problems we face, and maybe the last time that we have to do something about it,” she said. “This is more than an economic issue. This is a survival issue.”