INTRODUCTION

This chapter conveys a simple but critical message. Coral reefs provide an immense yet still underestimated value to society. Benefits include, amongst other things: food, recreation, education, health, coastal protection, support of other ecosystems and species, and enjoyment from social, cultural and spiritual aspects, as well as income generation and livelihood support (see Spurgeon, 1992; Moberg and Folke, 1999; Cesar, 2002; Whittingham et al., 2003; Ahmed et al., 2004). Regrettably though, corals are in serious decline and efforts to manage and protect them are generally inadequate and significantly under-resourced in terms of money and management skills.

In recent years economic approaches have been recognized as potentially providing powerful underpinning support for effective coral reef protection. However, given the continuous decline in status of corals (Wilkinson, 2004; Wilkinson, this volume) and the current unprecedented dynamic nature of the global economy, it is time for an updated economics-based approach. The approach needs to be more effective in demonstrating the benefits from enhancing coral management and protection, and should facilitate the maximization of potential long-term benefits derived from healthy coral reefs. To achieve this we need to broaden the issues explored, go well beyond just ‘knowing’ the ‘numbers’, and embrace a far more integrated and radical ‘third-generation’ economics-based approach.

Aim and contents

An introduction to coral reef economics and a fairly comprehensive set of different coral reef values can be found elsewhere (e.g. Spurgeon, 1992; Cesar, 2002; Ahmed et al., 2004).