The Economics of Restoration – ForEverglades Clean Water Economy

April 11, 2025

By Dr. Paul Hindsley, Chief Economist and

Dr. Meenakshi Chabba, Ecosystem and Resilience Scientist

At The Everglades Foundation, we focus on restoring and protecting the greater Everglades ecosystem through our pillars of science, advocacy, and education. We work to catalyze change by operating at the intersection of science, policy, and practice. Economics is a pivotal bridge within this process. As a proud science-based organization, we seek to deepen our understanding of how nature and society interact with one another, then translate that knowledge to policies that improve our environment and the lives of Florida’s residents and visitors.

What is the ForEverglades Clean Water Economy?

South Florida's economy is intricately linked to water and the Everglades ecosystem. The Everglades Foundation uses economics to translate changes in the natural, built, and social environment into economic metrics for data-driven decision-making. We are committed to assessing those metrics through a program called the “ForEverglades Clean Water Economy.” The Clean Water Economy is comprised of economic sectors that are directly or indirectly impacted by Everglades water. Sectors such as tourism, real estate, and outdoor recreation rely on clean, plentiful water. Everglades restoration is critical to ensuring clean freshwater for South Florida.

In the Clean Water Economy, economic vitality and environmental health are closely intertwined. Natural scientists study the complex biological and physical processes within the greater Everglades ecosystem. Economists, and other social scientists, collaborate with natural scientists to integrate measurements of human behavior with knowledge of the natural world to understand how changes in the Everglades impact our economy and society. In this way, economists analyze the behavioral trail linking changes in the environment around us to things people value, which can be quantified in dollars. Economic tools like benefit-cost analysis and economic impact analysis are essential. They provide a framework to integrate the changes in society’s values and to evaluate environmental projects and policies.

The Role of Economics in Everglades Restoration

Economists inform policies before they happen, and evaluate management and restoration after it has been implemented. In the federal government, economic tools have been used extensively since President Ronald Reagan passed Executive Order 12291 in 1981 to increase government accountability by translating the consequences of federal projects into economic terms. In the benefit-cost analysis, economists compare the benefits of project outcomes, in terms of dollars, against the costs of the project. When the benefits outweigh the costs, a project is worth considering. This data-driven decision-making tool helps leaders prioritize projects that offer the greatest return on investment in environmental improvement and social welfare. When analyzing the ratio of benefits to costs, decision-makers can learn the amount of benefits society gains from each dollar spent on a project.

The Everglades Foundation has played a key role in using benefit-cost analyses to help drive Everglades restoration efforts. In the past, we funded multiple studies by Mather Economics and others to evaluate Everglades restoration via the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). Initiated to address decades of degradation in the greater Everglades ecosystem, CERP represents the state and federal partnership to restore America’s Everglades. The studies compared the costs of the 68 CERP projects to restoration benefits accrued to real estate, recreational users, tourism, and groundwater purification, to name a few. These benefit-cost analyses have shown that Everglades restoration results in an impressive $4 of benefits for every $1 of project cost.

The Everglades Foundation recently collaborated with Florida Gulf Coast

University’s Regional Economic Research Institute and the Water School to understand the economic impacts of changes in our water quality. Economic impact studies combine different types of economic data, to understand changes in economic activity within different types of industrial sectors. These types of analyses allow economists to understand the direct, indirect and induced effects of changes in the system.

Economic Benefits of Restoring & Protecting the Florida Everglades

The Clean Water Economy within the greater Everglades results in almost $309 billion in GDP each year! The Everglades Foundation’s initial study found that, in the 16 counties of the Everglades ecosystem, more than 80,000+ business establishments and 2.89 million jobs comprise the Clean Water Economy. This means that these jobs can be directly or indirectly impacted by clean, plentiful water, which illustrates the importance of getting the water right. Everglades restoration has enormous impacts on our economy. As we move into the future, The Everglades Foundation is committed to gaining a deep understanding of the implications of our current water management system in South Florida, as well as consequences of Everglades restoration. We do this in an everchanging world that has not only experienced increased development, population growth and increased visitation, but also a changing climate.

It takes a team of experienced natural scientists to understand this environment and the benefits of restoration – scientists such as biogeochemists, ecologists, geologists, and engineers. We have expanded The Everglades Foundation’s interdisciplinary scientific team to include economics and resilience scientists, enhancing our capacity to translate environmental changes into metrics that reflect societal well-being. By effectively using

scientific and economic analyses, The Everglades Foundation will continue to be the leading voice for Everglades restoration and the resiliency of South Florida.

Read our 2024 Science Insider magazine: https://www.evergladesfoundation.org/scienceinsider

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