The benefits of ecological restoration exceed its cost in South Africa: An evidence-based approach

Abstract

• Proposed methodological advance in analysing and presenting the cost and benefit of restoration to account for the observed skewed distribution of cost and benefit estimates. • Cost and benefit of restoration in South Africa strongly correlates with institutional support and interventions. • When ranked, costs are relatively higher for the lower quartiles and benefits are relatively higher for the higher quartiles. • Benefit estimates increase proportional to the number and type of benefits included in estimations. • The net benefit of restoration in South Africa is positive except in the Grasslands and Fynbos ecosystems. Ecological restoration has become a development intervention of choice at the highest levels of governance at a global level. In due recognition of the restoration of ecosystems’ capability and potential to contribute to economic, ecological and social wellbeing and health, the United Nations and its partners announced the UN decade of restoration which commenced in 2021. The strategic importance of restoration at a time when resources are under serious pressure necessitates that we take stock of what the costs and the benefits of restoration are. We analysed all the known papers published in peer-reviewed journals on the costs and benefits of restoration since 1997 for South Africa to make inferences about the cost-effectiveness thereof. The net present value (NPV) of restoration, using a discount rate of 7% over a 25-year timespan, was estimated for several ecosystems. It was found that given the wide standard deviation of the values observed, mean values have little application. We, therefore, compare the costs and the benefits of restoration according to four cohorts, or quartiles, of values. The NPV/ha for quartile 1 (benefits less costs) and quartile 3 (benefits less costs) in 2020-values are estimated as follows: Fynbos at -US$49/ha and -US$564/ha; rivers, lakes and waterbodies at US$467/ha and US$3 2964/ha; Savanna at US$2974/ha and US$23 657/ha; Grasslands at -US$457/ha and -US$806/ha; Succulent Karoo at -US$205/ha and US$362/ha; Deserts at US$90/ha and US$43/ha; and Thicket at US$2 958/ha and US$4 641/ha. Except for the Succulent Karoo and Fynbos, the benefits of restoration likely exceed its costs, and by some considerable margin in most cases. It is thus recommended that not only more research be conducted in those cases where there are only a few estimates but also that estimates are made for a wider range of benefits. A concerted effort must be made to implement a country-wide restoration programme to the benefit of both the current and future generations.

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