The benefits of nature:Oceans absorb 93.4% of the heat produced by climate change.
Some facts and figures about Nature
- Ecotourism is the fastest-growing area of the tourism
industry. In 2004, this market grew three times faster than the industry as a
whole.
- Wetlands store 20% of the Earth’s carbon.
- Londoners consume of 72,000 tonnes of fish
each year, much of it from the North Sea but also from the coastal
waters of the Pacific Ocean.
- Native bees from tropical forests boost yields in adjacent
coffee plantations by 20%, helping farmers meet demand for the
second most legally traded commodity after oil.
- Malagasy rainforests have a high diversity of plants with
great medicinal and pharmaceutical properties such as the Rosy Periwinkle which
is used by traditional healers in Madagascar and as a source of
anti-cancer drugs.
- Forests support the livelihoods of almost
a quarter of humanity.
- In Vietnam planting and protecting nearly 12,000 hectares
of mangroves cost US$ 1.1 million but saved annual expenditures
on dyke maintenance of US$ 7.3 million.
- In the USA in 2006, private spending on
wildlife-related recreation such as hunting, fishing and
observing wildlife amounted to US$ 122 billion – just under 1%
of GDP.
- Oceans absorb 93.4% of the heat produced
by climate change.
- Coral reefs provide a critical range of services – for
natural hazard management (worth up to US$
189,000/hectare/year), tourism (up to US$ 1
million/hectare/year), genetic materials and bio-prospecting
(up to US$57,000/ha/year) and fisheries (up to US$ 3,818 /ha/year).
- The Te Papanui Conservation Park in New Zealand’s
Lammermoor Range provides the Otago region with water for free that
would cost NZ$ 136 million to bring in from elsewhere.
- Many products in the biotechnology industry are derived
from genetic resources (enzymes, microorganisms). In 2006 the sector was worth
US$ 70 billion - public companies alone.
- In Venezuela the national protected area system prevents
sedimentation that if left unattended could reduce farm earnings by around US$
3.5 million/year.
- It has been estimated that conserving 20-30% of global oceans through a
network of Marine Protected Areas could create a
million jobs and sustain a marine fish catch worth
US$70-80 billion/year.
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