Crocodile, crocodile and destructive Burmese Pisons thrive in the Everglades, but new research shows that singular ecosystems are also essential to South Florida’s economy and help preserve the millions of people living around them.
Each year, the vast wetlands donate around $31.5 billion to real estate, tourism and other sectors of the local economy, according to a new report from environmental advocacy groups. Over the next 50 years, it will be worth more than $1 trillion.
“This really shows that the Everglades are a key component of South Florida’s economy that benefits all families,” Paul Hindley, chief economist at the Everglades Foundation, a nonprofit that works to protect the ecosystem, who co-published the report, told the Miami Herald.
Several sectors were assessed in new reports, including the positive impact that the Everglades has on property prices, fishing, recreation and tourism. The two biggest sectors of South Florida’s economy are also the ones that benefit most from the Everglades. The annual real estate market has an added value of approximately $9.23 billion, but tourism will increase by $8.5 billion.
Previous research has already shown that the project to restore Everglades will result in a 4:1 return on investment, and the key argument points to a significant benefit on real estate as an important example.
With the help of large-scale market analysis, the author was able to quantify what paid nearly 1 million property premium buyers between 2019 and 2023 for clean surface water proximity and scenery. For residential facilities, they are located near freshwater, bays or oceans, making them more than 7% of their overall value. In the case of apartment complexes, the number was more than doubled, weighing 14.4% of the total.
However, the opposite can happen without continuous repairs. For example, 2018 “red tide” algae on the West Coast saw as assets near the water drop by up to 30%.
Living near these water bodies means that they are directly linked from the aquifers that supply drinking water, from the aquifers that maintain a delicate balance of salinity in the coastal estuaries and bays to the Everglades, which serves as all natural water management systems in South Florida.
This is becoming increasingly difficult as sea level rises pushes salt water into the aquifer. If the Everglades do not continue to supply the system with enough fresh water to keep the salt water at bay, our drinking water will become saline.
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“It’s a real problem and it’s going to be very difficult to reverse it,” Ken Cousins, an ecosystem economist and research principal in geoeconomics, told the Miami Herald.
The Everglades’ economic value was estimated at $1 trillion over 50 years, but Cousins said the figure was a crude underestimation as many aspects could not be fully assessed, including many aspects, including the value of drinking water supplied not only to millions but to the industry.
Similarly, the $8.4 billion price the author puts on how Evergrade can help alleviate natural disasters, including acting as a massive sponge to protect South Florida from worse floods, Cousins said.
“The true value is quite a lot, and it’s just economic value, which doesn’t explain what it means in terms of habitat or local identity,” he said.
Record funds already restored need to continue to protect all futures in Florida, Hinsley said.
“There are so many challenges, such as salt water invasions, fires, and more. These bigger threats are on the way, and repairing the Everglades is one of the key parts of ensuring that they meet their resilience needs for the future,” he said.
The story was originally published by the Miami Herald and was shared in collaboration with the Martin Room Initiative, founded by the Florida Creemate Report Network, the Miami Herald, the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Palm Beach Post, the Orlando Sentinel, the Orlando Sentinel, WLRN Public Media, and the Tampa Bay Times.
This Climate Report is funded by Florida International University, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the David and Christina Martin Family Foundation in a partnership with journalism fundraising partners. The Miami Herald retains editing control for all content.
