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This is a utility site to download documents related to the Economic Evaluation of Coral Reef Management in South East Asia, funded by the Economy & Environment Program for SE Asia (EEPSEA). The larger documents are available in a standardized 'PDF' format. To read PDF files, you will need Adobe Acrobat, which is available through http://www.adobe.com/ as a free download. If your browser has a PDF-compatible plug-in, you can read the documents directly.
Copyright notice and acknowledgments
The text of this article is under copyright of the International Development Research Centre [Copyright © 1999 IDRC]. Map and graphics material in the annexes has been extracted and modified for EEPSEA presentational purposes with the kind permission of ReefCheck (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UK), with copyrights for that material being retained by those agencies.
April 1999
Citation:
Ruitenbeek HJ (1999) Blue pricing of undersea
treasures needs and opportunities for environmental economics research on coral
reef management in South East Asia. Paper presented to the 12th Biannual
Workshop of the Environmental Economics Program for South East Asia, Singapore,
11-14 May. IDRC, Singapore.
Main Text (PDF format, 114K)
Annexes (PDF format, 712K)
[The maps in this version are displayed at a low resolution format suitable for
fast downloads and for viewing on screen or for printing using Adobe Acrobat
Version 3 or later. High resolution files (>2M) are available upon request to
the author, and require Adobe Acrobat
Version 4 to view.]
Links to:
o EEPSEA
o World Conservation Monitoring Centre
From 1994 to 1998, EEPSEA approved some 65 research projects in environmental economic analysis. Of these, 38 related to "brown" environmental issues, 23 to "green" issues, and four to other issues. None pertained to coral reefs. This relative dearth of coral reef analysis is mirrored in the broader literature; only seven separate environmental economic studies have been undertaken that address policy concerns in SE Asia or nearby areas on Papua New Guineas and Australias Great Barrier Reef. This paper calls on researchers to pay greater attention to the "blue" dimension of our global environment, commencing with the coral reef ecosystems.
Coral reefs in SE Asia represent about 30% of the worlds reefs. They are currently undergoing unprecedented levels of degradation from stresses such as sedimentation, pollution, blast and cyanide fishing, and coral bleaching. Institutional weakness is pervasive and the proliferation of "paper parks" marine protected areas with no effective protection is alarming. Economic valuation of the coral reef asset, and of the damages wrought by institutional failures and various direct stresses, is thus of substantial policy interest. The paper provides a simple "benefit transfer" calculation using conventional methods, calculating a value of US$1.4 trillion for SE Asias coral reefs. The flaws inherent in such an analysis, however, are discussed in some detail; they underline a greater need for original site-specific empirical studies that reflect local system complexities and local policy needs.
The paper summarizes conditions in the EEPSEA maritime countries Cambodia, China (including Taiwan), Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam and outlines potential policy priorities in each of these. Environmental economic analysis can assist in addressing some of these priorities through: (i) increasing awareness of absolute and relative economic values; and, (ii) providing valuation estimates that can assist in coral reef management.
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