Module 5 - Section 4 选项类Summary - Exercise 18

原文

Can the world afford to protect the oceans? One estimate, made in 2004, put the cost at around £8 billion per year to run a worldwide network of marine reserves covering 30 percent of all oceans and seas. Initial one-time set-up costs would be about five times this amount. These sums seem considerable, but are put in perspective when we consider that they are less than the £8.8 to £17.6 billion we currently spend on harmful subsidies that encourage excess fishing capacity. Most countries offer fishermen tax breaks on fuel, for example, or free nets, and many countries pay for access to fish in another country’s waters. Compared to global defense spending, estimated at £530 billion in 2004, the sums needed to keep our oceans healthy are trivial. The costs are also less than the £18.2 billion that Europeans and North Americans collectively spend on ice cream, and roughly equate to the £8.8 billion we spend on perfumes, or £8.2 billion on ocean cruises.

In addition, a worldwide reserve network would create more than a million permanent jobs for managers, wardens, and administrators. Much of the running costs of coastal reserves could be recouped from visitors. Some, like the Saba and Bonaire marine parks in the Caribbean, are already self-funding, based on modest payments made by visitors. The world can certainly afford marine reserves. What it cannot afford is to be without them.