See also: “The Economic Case for Restoring Coastal Ecosystems” by Michael Conathan, Jeffrey Buchanan, and Shiva Polefka
Healthy coastal ecosystems provide critical social and environmental benefits. While the existence of these benefits is not in dispute, estimating their economic value is challenging. Yet calculating these dollar values is crucial for the efficient management of coastal resources. The Center for American Progress and Oxfam America collaborated with researchers from Abt Associates to analyze the economic benefits provided by 3 of the 50 coastal restoration projects that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, funded with grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA, of 2009. These three projects are located in the Seaside Bays of Virginia’s Atlantic coast; Mobile Bay, Alabama; and South San Francisco Bay, California.
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Michael Conathan is the Director of Ocean Policy at the Center for American Progress. Jeffrey Buchanan is a senior domestic policy advisor at Oxfam America. Shiva Polefka is a Research Associate for Ocean Policy at the Center for American Progress.