The Economic Importance of Healthy Alaska Ecosystems

Alaska Conservation Foundation
Tuesday, 20 February 2001

Alaska's healthy environment provides six times more direct jobs than the petroleum industry, and more than twice the direct employment opportunities of the petroleum, mining and construction industries combined. These findings are just one element of a comprehensive study assessing "The Economic Importance of Healthy Alaska Ecosystems" that was released today by the Alaska Conservation Foundation. Prepared by UAA's Institute of Social and Economic Research, the study was conducted under the direction of Dr. Steve Colt. The report assesses the economic importance of Alaska's ecosystems in their unimpaired state and analyzes the links between healthy ecosystems and a healthy Alaska economy. The study quantifies the overall value generated by Alaska's sustainable natural environment in terms of jobs, income and several other economic measures.

According to the study, 26% of all jobs in Alaska, and almost $2.6 billion in income, rely upon or are based directly upon maintaining a vigorous and healthy natural environment. Commercial fishing and tourism are the largest sources of these jobs with other categories including sport fishing, government natural resource management, sport hunting, wildlife viewing, and subsistence. "This study is eye-opening," stated Deborah Williams, Alaska Conservation Foundation Executive Director. "Too often our healthy ecosystems are taken for granted or even devalued when in fact our state's economic future depends on maintaining a vigorous natural environment. These resources are renewable; if we take care of them, they will take care of us."

The report analyzes each major job category that relies on healthy Alaskan ecosystems. (The complete chart is attached). For example, with respect to commercial fishing, the study observes that the commercial fishing and fish processing industry is Alaska's largest direct employer among private sector basic industries, and altogether supports more than 33,000 average annual jobs and $1 billion of income. "If we harm our marine and associated terrestrial environments, Alaska's commercial fishing jobs and income are diminished; if we destroy our marine environment, these jobs disappear. We need to look no further than the Pacific Northwest and New England for verification of this relationship," observed Williams.

The indirect economic values of Alaska's healthy ecosystems were also measured by the study, and found to add billions of dollars of value per year to both the state and the nation. It concluded that "a realistic estimate" of the value of basic life support services provided by Alaska ecosystems such as water supply and disturbance regulation, "probably ranges from about $1.2 to about $1.6 billion per year." And further that "the global existence value of Alaska's unimpaired ecosystems is very uncertain but very large -- probably somewhere between $1 billion and $50 billion per year."

Some of the report's more surprising findings concern subsistence. After reviewing considerable data, Dr. Colt estimated that "Alaskans spend about $100 million per year on cash inputs to subsistence activity-generat[ing] almost 2,000 Alaska jobs and more than $61 million in resident income." Dr. Colt noted that: "Although subsistence is often thought of as a noncommercial activity, it requires substantial economic inputs of time, skill, and purchased equipment and supplies. The purchased inputs and supplies support jobs and income in the cash economy."

The report also points out that as population increases and habitat decreases elsewhere in the world, the products available from Alaska's functioning and protected ecosystems will become increasingly valuable. Even at this time, a study cited by the report estimates that overall, U.S. households put the value of preserving Alaska's federal conservation units in their pristine state at up to $30 billion per year.

As Dr. Colt observes, "with proper management and continued protection, Alaska's healthy ecosystems can continue indefinitely to support the healthy fishing, tourism, recreation, and subsistence activities that currently support more than 84,000 Alaska jobs."

Highlights of the Report

The study's findings include the following:

• Almost 55,000 direct jobs (full time equivalent basis) and 84,000 total FTE jobs are dependent on Alaska's healthy natural environment.

  These jobs produce almost $2.6 billion of income for Alaska workers.

  The 55,000 direct jobs amount to six times the number of direct petroleum jobs and more than twice the employment of the petroleum, mining and construction industries combined in Alaska.

• Commercial fishing and tourism are the largest sources of jobs and income that depend on healthy ecosystems.

  Other job categories include sport fishing, government natural resource management, sport hunting, wildlife viewing, and subsistence.

• In addition to jobs and income, Alaska's healthy natural environment produces other economic benefits worth billions of dollars.

  Ecosystem processes like water supply and disturbance regulation generate more than $1 billion in value.

  Dr. Colt also estimates that U.S. households receive up to $30 billion worth of economic value per year from the continued preservation of Alaska's federal conservation units in their pristine state.

For more information, or to contact Alaska Conservation Foundation, see their website at: www.akcf.org