Ecological Infrastructure
Mother Nature will get you the best bang for your buck!
The Obama administration’s announcement of its intention to rejuvenate the US economy by renewing the country’s transportation infrastructure also included a provision for establishing an infrastructure bank which, in the words of the President, would "focus less on wasteful earmarks and outdated formulas, and more on competition and innovation that gives us the best bang for the buck." Getting the best bang for our tax dollars during these tough economic times requires a complete rethink of how to spend our meagre resources to maintain the well-being and quality of life of our communities.
Within Canada, multi-billion dollar investments are required to renew the country’s infrastructure, and many organizations have already called for rethinking our infrastructure investment models. Mary Trudeau of Engineers Canada has stated that “to solve our infrastructure and affordability problems, we need to think in terms of the services offered and the needs to be addressed, instead of business-as-usual pipes and pavement.” IISD believes that investing in conserving and restoring natural environments is often cheaper than adding more pipes and pavement while stretching our infrastructure dollar. Like our hard infrastructure—made of concrete, rebar, plastic and asphalt—that provides us with transportation, shelter, water provision and cleansing services, our natural environments—made up of trees, plants and animals—work together to provide us with valuable services such as soil formation, flood protection as well as clean air and water. Our functioning natural environments can be thought of as our ecological infrastructure that provides us with multiple services essential to our health and wellbeing.
Ecological infrastructure investments may give us more bang for the buck, as they provide multiple benefits. A wetland, for instance, provides water filtration, flood protection, carbon sequestration and wildlife habitat. In contrast, hard infrastructure is typically designed to provide us with a single service. A wastewater treatment plant, for example, is designed to cleanse water before it is discharged back into the environment. Programs aiming to take advantage of Mother Nature’s services are springing up in Manitoba. The Rural Municipality of Blanshard’s Alternative Land Use Services program and the Rural Municipality of Dufferin’s Wetland Tax Credit program offer financial incentives to preserve and restore natural environments. The potential benefit of this investment model is best exemplified by New York City, which saved billions by investing in restoring the watershed of its water supply instead of building a new water filtration plant. Similar opportunities exist within all parts of Canada, and building capacity within our municipalities to examine and make ecological infrastructure investments will ensure that we spend our money more wisely.
Establishing a Foundation for Ecological Infrastructure Investments in the Red River Basin, a report released by IISD, provides the building blocks for developing tools and resources for municipalities and counties to enhance their fiscal effectiveness while rehabilitating natural environments. Delivering cost-effective services through ecological infrastructure investments will lead to the restoration of our natural environments, indispensible components of the long-term wellbeing of our communities.
This report provides foundational research required to develop a comprehensive decision support system (DSS) that would assist municipalities and counties in the RRB examine the costs and benefits associated with ecological infrastructure investments so they can be compared with hard infrastructure investments. It is expected that the DSS will enable a more thorough exploration of local government investment options, consequently leading to a better balance between human-altered and natural landscapes in the basin.
