guatemala

Coral reefs around the world face multiple dangers from warming waters, acidification, human activity, and more. Powerful storms often cause tremendous damage to reefs. When possible, snorkelers and divers are deployed to try to repair damage to reefs. But philanthropy and government grants are basically the only resources available to fund such actions.

Three years ago, tourist businesses and the government in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo purchased an insurance policy to offset costs of protecting the local parts of the Mesoamerican Reef. The environmental group the MAR Fund later took out an insurance policy on the rest of the reef in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras.

With this precedent, the Nature Conservancy recently purchased an insurance policy on behalf of the state of Hawaii to help offset repair work on its coral reefs. It is the first U.S. coral insurance contract.

Coral reefs are more than just hosts for marine life. They provide barriers against ocean storm surges, which is a major financial incentive for protecting them and hence an incentive to invest in insurance.

The new Hawaiian insurance policy has a premium of $110,000 a year and will provide $2 million in protection. Payouts occur when wind speeds go above 50 knots. No further proof of damage is required.

The Nature Conservancy has created teams called ‘Reef Brigades’ composed of snorkelers and divers who recover reef fragments, store them in ocean or shore-based nurseries, and then re-attach them when conditions are safe. It can be very expensive to do this sort of work, particularly when new corals grown in a nursery are required.

**********

Web Links

Analysis: First U.S. coral insurance marks the rise of the reef brigades

Photo, posted September 14, 2011, courtesy of Greg McFall/NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A challenging global trend is that of deforestation in developing countries. But there are places where the opposite trend is happening. Nepal is one such place.

According to satellite imaging, in 1992 forest covered 26% of Nepal. As of 2016, that number was 45%.

To some extent, the forest regrowth was a result of policy changes from about three decades ago, when the government began removing management authority from bureaucrats and shifting it to local communities across the country. This local management helped to reduce illegal logging and many local villages undertook tree-planting campaigns.

But perhaps a bigger factor at play is human migration. In recent decades, millions of Nepalis have left the country to work in the Persian Gulf, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere. The out-migrants wire money home and meanwhile, families left behind rely less on forest products or abandon farmland, aiding reforestation. A 2018 study showed that the areas with the highest out-migration experience, on average, had the most forest recovery.

Globally, migration has important impacts on forests, but not always positive ones. In many countries, forests seem to recover as people leave rural areas to work elsewhere. El Salvador, for example, has seen a rebound of its forests as many of its rural residents move to cities or even to the United States. But in Guatemala and Nicaragua, the return of migrants bringing money they have earned overseas has led to an expansion of cattle ranching that has harmed forests.

The global relationship between migration and forests is a complicated one that depends on whether the migration is one-way or “circular” (meaning that the migrants eventually return) and how returning migrants make use of their earnings from abroad.

**********

Web Links

In Nepal, Out-Migration Is Helping Fuel a Forest Resurgence

Photo, posted September 30, 2018, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Reef Insurance | Earth Wise

Web Links

Out-Migration And Reforestation

A challenging global trend is that of deforestation in developing countries. But there are places where the opposite trend is happening. Nepal is one such place.

Web Links