Ecosystem infrastructure

=== Green Economy Initiative ===
Environment Infrastructure Investments and REDD - not starting from ground zero
Over the past 300 years, the global forest area has shrunk by around 40 per cent; half the globe's wetlands have been lost since 1900.
=== Some estimates of returns on natural infrastructure investments ===
An annual investment of $45 billion could conserve services from protected area ecosystems which deliver an estimated $5 trillion a year-a good cost benefit ration of 100:1.
Coral reefs, whose fishery, tourism and flood protection services are estimated at between $100,000 and $600,000 per square km, could be conserved for an investment of close to $780 per square km or 0.2 per cent of the value of the ecosystem protected.
Deforestation contributes close to 20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions-$17 billion to over $30 billion annually could halve this while securing livelihoods and boosting conservation-related employment in tropical countries.
A global marine protected area network, involving the closure of 20 per cent of total fishing grounds could result in profit losses of an estimated $270 million annually.
But could sustain fisheries worth $80-100 billion a year; assist in conserving an estimated 27 million jobs while generating one million new ones and protect food supplies for over one billion people, especially in developing countries whose main or sole source of animal protein comes from fish..
=== Related topics ===
References
*United Nations Environment Programme, October 22 2008
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