21世紀の経済と生態系修復技術の役割

抄録

As we enter the 21st century three powerful forces are at work that will significantly increase public interest as well as private and public investing in ecosystem restoration. First, non-point source ecological health problems are emerging as the focus of 21st century environmental policy ; ecosystem restoration technologies are to these problems what pollution prevention and recycling technoIogies were to the point source human health problems targeted in the 20th century. Second, manufactured capital, the focus of nearly all 20th century investments, is being replaced by natural capital as the scarce factor of production. This is true in general, but is reaching alarming proportions in many developing nations where ecological infrastructures are already in desperate need of restoration. Third, and most important, the public and political will in developed nations to head off potential environmental problems before they occur has weakened with a growing preference for dealing with real problems as they ocuur. Demand, therefore, for restoration technoIogies, even though they are still in their infancy and have a poor record of success thus far, can be expected to grow significantly at the expense of pollution prevention technologies. In the near term the demand for restoration technologies will continue to be driven by regional 'quality of life' issues (e.g., endangered species and local fish and wildlife habitats) and regulations to deal with them, such as compensatory environmental mitigation. In time, what is leamed at the regional level will become the basis of new industries and markets for ecosystem restoration and strategically targeted species-level and habitat-level rehabilitation at different scales. Relevant technoIogies will be needed in four general areas : laboratory and infield technologies to restore features of ecological landscapes, and laboratory and in-field technologies to restore, or reserve options to restore, individual species and populations of fish and wildlife. This paper deals with the economic forces that will affect the growth and development of ecosystem restoration technologies and with ways of evaluating opportunities and constraints related to specific technologies and to specific types of restoration. It also summarizes conditions in environmental mitigation markets and the economics of what is being called environmental mitigation banking. The paper is based primarily on experiences with restoration businesses and markets that grew in the U.S. is a result of regulations requiring compensatory mitigation for wetland development impacts.