Healthy environment is important for economy

Many people fail to see the connection between the healthy environment and economy but having healthy ecosystems means having valuable resources at your disposal, a resources that are more than capable to boost economy, and provide countries with many economic benefits.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) recently said how nations could boost their economies by replenishing dying forests, marshes, coral reefs and riverbanks. These ecosystems have very high economic value. As Tim Kasten, a UNEP natural resources expert, told reporters in Nairobi the "wetlands alone have an economic value of $7 trillion per year, and half of them have been already destroyed on global scale.

Wetlands are key for many ecosystems and restoring wetlands helps to protect coastal regions from tropical storms and filter sewage out of water, while replanted forests provide vital drinking water for some of the world's largest cities.

Having this in mind we must be aware that our current conservation efforts are not enough, and that we need not only to protect untouched nature but also to do our best to try to recover heavily damaged ecosystems.

Many dying ecosystems could be restored with good planning. UNEP warned the loss of ecosystem services could lead to a 25 percent loss in the world's food production by 2050. The last thing this world needs is more hungry people. One billion hungry people is certainly more than enough.

What can we do for dying ecosystems? Well, restoring water flows to rivers and lakes and improving soil stability and fertility are good things to start with but the most important thing is to care more for ecology and environment.