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By Richard Waite on June 16, 2011
Coastal Capital: Jamaica finds that coral reefs provide significant value to the Jamaican economy. Reefs help build and protect Jamaica’s beautiful white coralline beaches, which attract millions of international tourists each year. Reefs provide critical habitat for Jamaica’s artisanal and industrial fisheries, and they also protect Jamaica’s coastline—including coastal communities and tourist hotels—from the destructive force of tropical storms. Unfortunately, Jamaica’s reefs are severely at risk, from overfishing, poorly planned coastal development, and pollution from land and sea. Climate change—which triggers warming seas and ocean acidification—is also taking its toll and its impacts are likely to increase in the future. Jamaica’s economy stands to lose if its reefs decline further.
Our key findings include:
Coral reef-related fisheries contribute US $34.3 million to Jamaica’s economy each year, and that this number could be much higher if Jamaica’s fisheries were sustainably managed.
Reef-related fisheries support between 15,000–20,000 fishermen, and contribute directly and indirectly to the livelihoods of at least 100,000 Jamaicans (or nearly 5% of the population) island-wide.
Further loss of coral reefs could more than double beach erosion rates in Jamaica’s major beach resort towns. Beach erosion rates could increase by more than 50 percent in Montego Bay, 70 percent in Ocho Rios, and 100 percent in Negril over a 10-year period.
Increased beach erosion could drive between 9,000–18,000 foreign tourists away from Jamaica each year, costing the country up to US $19 million in lost tourism revenue per year, and up to US $23 million in lost revenues to the wider Jamaican economy.
Coral reef degradation leads to increased wave heights during storms and thus leads to more widespread coastal flooding. For example, in Discovery Bay, severe reef degradation could cause the number of buildings flooded to more than triple.
The fates of Jamaica’s economy and of its natural environment are closely intertwined. Although the view under the water was sobering, we came home energized and cautiously optimistic. The enthusiastic participation and healthy debates at our two events in Kingston gave us reason for hope, and reassured us that meaningful change—driven by well-intentioned and better informed individuals from all sectors of Jamaican society—is indeed possible.
WRI produced Coastal Capital: Jamaica in collaboration with UWI’s Marine Geology Unit, the Mona GeoInformatics Institute, The Nature Conservancy and Texas A&M University, with generous support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. For a summary and the full technical reports, including the valuation methodology, please visit www.wri.org/coastal-capital.
http://pdf.wri.org/working_papers/co...ca_summary.pdf
More at :
http://www.wri.org/stories/2011/06/j...k-report-field
Coastal Capital: Jamaica finds that coral reefs provide significant value to the Jamaican economy. Reefs help build and protect Jamaica’s beautiful white coralline beaches, which attract millions of international tourists each year. Reefs provide critical habitat for Jamaica’s artisanal and industrial fisheries, and they also protect Jamaica’s coastline—including coastal communities and tourist hotels—from the destructive force of tropical storms. Unfortunately, Jamaica’s reefs are severely at risk, from overfishing, poorly planned coastal development, and pollution from land and sea. Climate change—which triggers warming seas and ocean acidification—is also taking its toll and its impacts are likely to increase in the future. Jamaica’s economy stands to lose if its reefs decline further.
Our key findings include:
Coral reef-related fisheries contribute US $34.3 million to Jamaica’s economy each year, and that this number could be much higher if Jamaica’s fisheries were sustainably managed.
Reef-related fisheries support between 15,000–20,000 fishermen, and contribute directly and indirectly to the livelihoods of at least 100,000 Jamaicans (or nearly 5% of the population) island-wide.
Further loss of coral reefs could more than double beach erosion rates in Jamaica’s major beach resort towns. Beach erosion rates could increase by more than 50 percent in Montego Bay, 70 percent in Ocho Rios, and 100 percent in Negril over a 10-year period.
Increased beach erosion could drive between 9,000–18,000 foreign tourists away from Jamaica each year, costing the country up to US $19 million in lost tourism revenue per year, and up to US $23 million in lost revenues to the wider Jamaican economy.
Coral reef degradation leads to increased wave heights during storms and thus leads to more widespread coastal flooding. For example, in Discovery Bay, severe reef degradation could cause the number of buildings flooded to more than triple.
The fates of Jamaica’s economy and of its natural environment are closely intertwined. Although the view under the water was sobering, we came home energized and cautiously optimistic. The enthusiastic participation and healthy debates at our two events in Kingston gave us reason for hope, and reassured us that meaningful change—driven by well-intentioned and better informed individuals from all sectors of Jamaican society—is indeed possible.
WRI produced Coastal Capital: Jamaica in collaboration with UWI’s Marine Geology Unit, the Mona GeoInformatics Institute, The Nature Conservancy and Texas A&M University, with generous support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. For a summary and the full technical reports, including the valuation methodology, please visit www.wri.org/coastal-capital.
http://pdf.wri.org/working_papers/co...ca_summary.pdf
More at :
http://www.wri.org/stories/2011/06/j...k-report-field
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