Prince George, B.C.- What  value  could be placed on the services Nature provides?   The David Suzuki Foundation has  recently  examined the Peace River Watershed to try and answer that  question and has concluded there  are significant  economic benefits for preserving  farmland and natural habitat.

Foundation  Director General for Western Canada, Jay Ritchlin,  says  this is not about  trying to put a price tag on nature “What we’re evaluating is  the services that Nature provides us.  These are scientifically based services like  stabilizing our landscape from flooding,  purifying  the water by forests, creating habitat for fish and wildlife  that eventually create food or economic opportunities, purifying the air that we breath.  These are services and we can understand and can value  the services by looking at human built services that would try to produce the same thing.”

He says when all is told, the ecological services provided by farmland and nature in the Peace River Watershed are worth somewhere between $7.9 and $8.6 billion dollars each and every year.

According to the study, the Peace River Watershed has more than 16 thousand oil and gas well sites, and  more than 85 hundred petroleum and natural gas facilities, as well as  thousands of kilometers of logging roads, seismic lines and pipelines.   About 20% of the watershed area has experienced a change in land use, changes which the study concludes have had an ecological impact on about 67% of the watershed.

The concern is that  with the Province moving  forward on LNG,  there will be more impact on the region.

Ritchlin says  there is a case to be made  for  investing in nature  and allowing it to provide  the services  humans try to replicate  with concrete and steel.

While the argument could be made  that   development is necessary to drive the economy through jobs and taxes, but Ritchlin says the taxpayer could see  some relief if the value of  natural space  was considered in land development  decisions “It is actually  true that in some cases when you destroy these habitats, the taxpayers have to  replace the  service.   You look at places where they have to filter their water, treat their water.  If you have an intact watershed, you don’t have to spend that money. So while the watershed isn’t giving you cash, protecting it is preventing you from having to spend on real infrastructure.”

He says there is also a financial benefit in carbon storage and since there is a great deal of forest in the Peace River Watershed, there could be a  benefit to leaving those trees stand so they can remove carbon from the air  “All over the world, there are funds being generated that pay jurisdictions to maintain healthy forests for carbon sequestration value.”

When it comes to agriculture,  he says  it would make sense  for  jurisdictions  to  pay  farmers to leave a buffer zone along  river banks,  because  that would prevent  the need for  further  water filtration to remove  silt or anything else that may run off a field.

Treaty 8 First Nations  in the Peace Region are calling on the Provincial Government for  more research  on the cumulative  impacts of  industrial development in the region before any further  projects, including the Site C dam, are approved.