Values of Natural Habitat
See Environmental Economics
The natural environment is a source for a wide range of resources that can be exploited for economic profit, for example timber is harvested from forests and clean water is obtained from natural streams. However, land development from anthropogenic economic growth often causes a decline in the ecological integrity of nearby natural habitat. For instance, this was an issue in the northern rocky mountains of the USA.
However, there is also economic value in conserving natural habitat. Financial profit can be made from tourist revenue, particularly in the tropics where species diversity is high. The cost of repairing damaged ecosystems is considered to be much higher than the cost of conserving natural ecosystems.
Measuring the worth of conserving different habitat areas is often criticized as being too utilitarian from a philosophical point of view.
Read more about this topic: Habitat Conservation
Famous quotes containing the words values, natural and/or habitat:
“All fine architectural values are human vales, else not valuable.”
—Frank Lloyd Wright (1869–1959)
“When human beings have been fascinated by the contemplation of their own hearts, the more intricate biological pattern of the female has become a model for the artist, the mystic, and the saint. When mankind turns instead to what can be done, altered, built, invented, in the outer world, all natural properties of men, animals, or metals become handicaps to be altered rather than clues to be followed.”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)
“Nature is the mother and the habitat of man, even if sometimes a stepmother and an unfriendly home.”
—John Dewey (1859–1952)