Chapter 1. Using ‘Nature as an Asset’ to Balance Costa Rica’s Farming With Preservation

Costa Rica is recognized globally as a leader in habitat preservation and protection.

Clearing habitat for agriculture is a primary driver of natural habitat destruction.

This video and chapter 6 reinforce the importance of protecting ecosystem services. Ecosystem services can be defined as

This video describes the work that Gretchen Daily, in her role as the Director at the Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford University, is doing to quantify “ecosystem services”. The video highlights each of the following as an important ecosystem service except for:

Gretchen Daily makes the point that in light of the need for increasing agricultural output to support a growing global population, we need to value nature and view natural processes as an economic asset. Provide several examples, either presented in this video or in your text, of how protecting biodiversity can potentially increase agricultural production. What is the value of protecting intact forest systems surrounding agricultural fields?

Chapter 12 of your text cites a study done by Robert Costanza in which he estimated that the annual value of global ecosystem services to be around $44 trillion, or twice the annual gross domestic product of the world. From the video or your text, what are 3 or 4 other benefits, not related to food production, which provide value to humans, and are the direct result of preserving intact and healthy ecosystems?

The Costa Rica government is somewhat unusual in that it provides economic incentives (or pays) individual farmers to leave portions of their land in its natural state, and out of agricultural production. What is the benefit to the government which makes this practice economically feasible? Can you think of other money generating ventures, such as their tourism industry, which might benefit indirectly from results of this incentive plan?