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Wetlands Prevent Hurricane Damage. Economists Now Know How Much

Natural buffers between sea and property are valued at an average of $1.8 million per square-kilometer.

A man walks through a flooded street in a rural part of Naples, Florida the morning after Hurricane Irma swept through the area on September 11, 2017.

A man walks through a flooded street in a rural part of Naples, Florida the morning after Hurricane Irma swept through the area on September 11, 2017.

Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America
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U.S. protection of wetlands has expanded and contracted dramatically over the last five years, as Democratic and Republican administrations rewrote Clean Water Act rules to their constituencies’ liking. The lack of high-quality economic analysis has been a recurring theme in debates over how much protection wetlands deserve. Without a dollar figure that could stand up to scrutiny, politicians and regulators were skeptical of the benefits.

Two economists from University of California, San Diego set out to fix that. Their answer: On average, a square kilometer of wetlands is worth about $1.8 million a year in storm protection alone.