Natural wonders are often considered to be priceless, but a value has recently been placed on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
Natural wonders are often considered to be priceless, but a value has recently been placed on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
According to a press release by Deloitte, which produced the new report, it has determined that “the total economic, social and icon asset value of the Reef...is $56 billion” in Australian dollars, or the equivalent of more than $42 billion USD.
In fact, analysts determined that in 2015-2016 alone, the world’s largest coral reef system contributed about $6.4 billion ($4.8 billion USD) to Australia’s economy through tourism, fishing, recreation, and scientific research; the Reef also helped create more than 64,000 jobs on the continent.
Based on the figures and intangible values including its iconic status, Deloitte called the landmark “too big to fail.”
However, this call for unified support comes at a precarious time; scientists have been raising the alarm about the damaging effects of climate change which have caused significant sections of the Reef to become bleached with little hope of recovery.
As such, these changes could represent a threat to the 1,700-plus species of marine life that live within the Reef's 14 different ecosystems, notes CNN.
Deloitte says it decided to analyze the financial impact of the system as a way to influence decision-making; as the report states, “Valuing nature in monetary terms can effectively inform policy settings and help industry, government, the scientific community and the wider public understand the contribution of the environment, or in this case the Great Barrier Reef, to the economy and society.”
