5 5 Economic benefits of Nature Restoration.pdf

Ref. Ares(2023)389474 - 18/01/2023
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WHY IS NATURE RESTORATION
CRITICAL TO SUSTAIN JOBS AND
ECONOMIC BENEFITS FROM HEALTHY
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES?
Publication date:
December 2022
Authors:
Gabrielle Aubert (IEEP)
The EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy committed to restoring at least 15% of degraded ecosystems by
2020.  While  this  target  has  not  been  achieved,  the  European  Commission  estimated  that  fully
meeting this target and restoring Natura 2000 to favourable status could further have generated
respectively up to 50,000 and 140,000 jobs and up to €4.2 and 11.1 billion of direct outputs
annually, as well as a wider range of benefits from ecosystem services [1]. The targets set in the
Nature Restoration Law are more ambitious, and therefore could generate wider economic benefits
than those previously assessed.
Nature  restoration  leads  to  job  creation  and  maintenance  and  is  particularly
important for local communities. It is estimated that the investment needs of the
Natura 2000 network can support as many as 500,000 additional jobs [2, 3].
Restoration activities are both directly and indirectly linked to job creation. Restoration increases ecosystem
resilience, safeguarding jobs which depend on the natural environment, such as farming, fishing, and forestry.
Natural areas and restoration activities also support jobs in tourism, cultural heritage & recreation, health,
and activities linked to climate adaptation and mitigation [2].
Bucegi Natural Park, Romania, Sinaia, Photo by Laura Puscas

Why is nature restoration critical to sustain jobs and economic benefits from healthy ecosystem services?
How can nature restoration
Storjungfrun, Vallvik, Sweden, Photo by Fredrik Öhlander
support job creation?
The case for MPAs and sustainable
fishing
The fisheries industry in the EU provides
jobs  for  more  than  350,000  people1.
These jobs depend on marine ecosystem
resilience  and  sufficient  fish  stocks.
However,  marine  ecosystems  in  the  EU
are heavily degraded [4] and 69% of the
397 European stocks are overfished [5].
Fishing  activities  can  strongly  benefit
from the conservation and restoration of
marine habitats and the protection of fish nurseries within Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Studies
show that MPAs spill over larger and more valuable fish species into the fishing areas outside the
protection zone and reduce the risk of fisheries collapse, and therefore the risk of a long-term loss of
income for fishermen [6, 7].
In the Medes Islands Marine Reserve in Spain, the creation of a small no-take area within the MPA
allowed  fish  populations  to  recover,  has  generated  revenue  through  tourism  activities  and  has
supported fishermen’s income. The reserve supports 200 direct jobs and brings €12 million euros to
the local economy each year [8, 9].
NATURE-BASED TOURISM
Nature protection and restoration are also important for nature-based tourism. Tourism employs 12 million
people in Europe and of these, 3.1 million have links to protected areas and 0.8 million to 2 million explicitly
with Natura 2000 [2]. Natura 2000 sites attract between 1.2 to 2.2 billion visitor days per year and generate
recreational benefits worth €5 to 9 billion per year [10].
ENTREPREUNERIAL OPPORTUNITIES
Restoration can also stimulate new entrepreneurial opportunities, by attracting new investments and
new economic enterprises to a given area and creating incentives for biodiversity-friendly business models.

1 EU Science Hub, Fisheries and Aquaculture.

2

Why is nature restoration critical to sustain jobs and economic benefits from healthy ecosystem services?
Nature  restoration  brings  massive  economic  benefits  in  terms  of  restored  and
healthy  ecosystem  services,  especially  in  the  context  of  biodiversity  loss,  land
degradation and climate change.
In 2013, the overall benefits of Natura 2000 at land were valued at between €200 to 300 billion per year
(value of gross benefits delivered by the sites) [10]. This value is probably a large underestimate as marine
sites were not included in the assessment, and as the size of the network has increased since then. The value
of the benefits stemming from protected areas is therefore in the range of hundreds of billions of
Euros per year.
However, these ecosystem services are being threatened by biodiversity loss, land degradation and climate
change. Unhealthy ecosystems lose their provisioning and regulating functions, which will have to be replaced
by human infrastructures, at a very high cost. For example:
•  Crop provision is already being impacted by the adverse effects of climate [11]. Climate related
costs for agriculture could reach €18 billion per year in Europe by the 2080s, driven by yield
reductions  in  southern  Europe.  Climate  change  could  lead  to  a  20%  food  price  rise  in  2050
globally, with estimates increasing under higher emission pathways [12].
•  Water supply and management services are also impacted, with studies estimating adaptation
costs for all water services (water supply and sewage systems) at $214 billion for Europe in the
period from 2010 to 2050 [12]. Increasing water demand under climate change will also raise
costs for desalination, transport, and electricity.
•  Flood  mitigation  services  are  under  threat  and  annual  damages  from  floods,  which  are
currently estimated at €4 to 5 billion a year, could increase to €32 billion a year in the EU by
2050 under a 2°C warming scenario. Costs increase significantly under higher emission pathways,
with estimates of €98 billion a year by 2080 [12].
There are many other ecosystem services at risk which may lead to increased costs of adaptation and/or
expected damages. Restoration can help avoid large parts of these costs as it restores ecosystem health and
functions. The economic benefits of restoration largely outweigh the costs of inaction [13].
•  Restoring agricultural ecosystems can enhance ecosystem processes and services which
underline the nutritional quality and stable production of crops such as soil fertility, water
retention, crop pollination, erosion control, and natural pest control.
•  Restoring pollinator habitats and ecosystems contributes to enhanced crop productivity
and quality which in turn increases their economic and nutritional value [14]. Pollination services
are currently valued at around €10-15 billion yearly in the EU [15] [16]. Restoring hedgerows in
agricultural areas creates pollinator-friendly habitats and has  co-benefits as it contributes to
enhance flood control by ecosystems.
•  Restoring wetlands and rivers improves water quality and leads to a reduction in water
treatment costs for local authorities. This can outweigh the restoration costs in the long term.
•  Restoring ecosystems such as rivers, wetlands, forests, and agroecosystems increases their
flood retention capacity as they absorb and retain water naturally.

3

References
1.  European Commission, Review of progress on implementation of the EU green infrastructure strategy, in Report from the
Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of
the Regions. 2019, European Commission: Brussels.
2.  Mutafoglu, K., et al., Natura 2000 and Jobs: Scoping Study. 2017, Institute for European Environmental Policy in collaboration
with the N2K Group: Brussels.
3.  European Commission, IMPACT ASSESSMENT Accompanying the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and
of the Council on nature restoration, in STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT. 2022, European Commission: Brussels.
4.  EEA, State of Nature in the EU: Results from reporting under the nature directives 2013-2018. 2020, European Environment
Agency: Copenhagen.
5.  Froese, R., et al., Status and rebuilding of European fisheries. Marine Policy, 2018. 93: p. 159-170.
6.  OECD, Marine Protected Areas. 2017.
7.  Haines, R., et al., Study on the Economic Benefits of MPAs – Final Report. 2019, ICF Consulting Services Ltd; PML and Institute
for European Environmental Policy (IEEP): Brussels. p. 82.
8.  Forum, W.E., New Nature Economy Report II: The Future of Nature and Business. 2020.
9.  Sala, E., et al., Fish banks: An economic model to scale marine conservation. Marine Policy, 2016. 73: p. 154-161.
10.  European Commission, The Economic Benefits of the Natura 2000 Network. 2013, Publications Office of the European Union:
Luxembourg.
11.  EEA, Climate change adaptation in the agriculture sector in Europe. 2019.
12.  COACCH, The Economic Cost of Climate Change in Europe: Synthesis Report on State of Knowledge and Key Research Gaps.
Policy brief by the COACCH project., in COACCH: CO-designing the Assessment of Climate CHange costs., P. Watkiss, J.
Troeltzsch, and K. McGlade, Editors. 2018.
13.  OECD, Biodiversity: Finance and the Economic and Business Case for Action. Vol. Chapter 5. Opportunities for cost-effective
restoration. 2019.
14.  Science for Environment Policy, Pollinators: importance for nature and human well-being, drivers of decline and the need
for monitoring. 2020, Brief produced for the European Commission DG Environment: Bristol: Science Communication Unit,
UWE Bristol.
15.  Vallecillo, S., et al., Ecosystem services accounting Part I Outdoor recreation and crop pollination, in JRC Technical Reports.
2018, Publications Office of the European Union: Luxembourg.
16.  Gallai, N., et al., Economic valuation of the vulnerability of world agriculture confronted with pollinator declines. Ecological
Economics, 2009. 68(3): p. 810-821.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however
those  of  the  author(s)  only  and  do  not  necessarily  reflect  those  of  the
European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor CINEA can be held
responsible for them.
These  policy  briefs  were  written  by  IEEP  and

Ecologic Institute in the Think Sustainable Europe

Network  in  response  to  the  proposed  EU  nature
restoration law.