Dear Colleagues,

As you know, coastal ecosystems provide a range of valuable goods and services to people and economies across the Caribbean, including tourism, fisheries, shoreline protection, and more. Despite their importance, these ecosystems are highly threatened from numerous human pressures including overfishing, pollution, and climate change.

Economic analysis is a widely used approach to inform investment and development decisions, and ecosystem valuation can help make the economic case for protection and sustainable use of coastal resources. While more than 100 valuations have been conducted for the Caribbean’s coastal ecosystems to date, only a minority have actually helped to inform policy, management, or investment decisions. Why have some valuations had more impact than others, and what can we all do to increase the likelihood that future valuations will help safeguard the Caribbean’s valuable coastal resources?

The World Resources Institute (WRI) and partners recently released the newest publication in our Coastal Capital series, a guidebook called Coastal Capital: Ecosystem Valuation for Decision Making in the Caribbean. This guidebook is intended for economic valuation practitioners-both economists and non-economists-who would like to conduct coastal ecosystem valuation to achieve influence and inform real-world decisions. Summarizing best practices from previous coastal valuations that have successfully informed decision making in the Caribbean, our guidebook leads practitioners through the scoping, analysis, and outreach steps of a valuation effort.

This guidebook grew out of conversations with a broad partnership of organizations working on the protection and sustainable use of coastal and marine ecosystems in the Caribbean. We build upon existing economic valuation guidelines and tools to fill three main gaps in the literature:

1. Step-by-step advice on conducting coastal ecosystem valuation with a specific emphasis on informing decisions.
2. Examples of best practice studies that use valuation to address the most pressing coastal policy questions in the Caribbean.
3. Best practice reporting and outreach guidelines for new coastal valuation studies.

We will give an overview of the guidebook and facilitate a discussion about it during a webinar on March 18 at 1PM EDT in collaboration with the Marine Ecosystem Services Partnership.

If you would like to receive a hardcopy of the guidebook, you may order directly here (search on “Coastal Capital”) or send us an email at ReefsatRisk@WRI.org. Please feel free to forward this message to your networks.

Sincerely,
Rich, Lauretta, and Erin

Learn more:

* Download the guidebook PDF – Coastal Capital: Ecosystem Valuation for Decision Making in the Caribbean
* Read our blog – “Making Economic Valuation Count for Coastal Ecosystems in the Caribbean”
* Visit our project page – Coastal Capital
* Sign up for the March 18 webinar

Richard Waite
Associate – Food, Forests & Water Program
World Resources Institute
10 G Street, NE, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20002 USA
WRI.org

Tel: +1 202-729-7734
rwaite@wri.org | Skype: richard.a.waite

WRI focuses on the intersection of the environment and socio-economic development. We go beyond research to put ideas into action, working globally with governments, business, and civil society to build transformative solutions that protect the earth and improve people’s lives.
Special thanks to Coral-list