by Andrea Mackenzie, General Manager
Published in the San Jose Mercury News on June 13, 2014
However, unprecedented challenges including water supply shortages, drought conditions and increased frequency and intensity of floods, storms and wildfires now threaten those hard-fought environmental gains. These challenges will be exacerbated as the county is expected to grow by 700,000 people over the next 25 years. And it comes at a time when public and private funding for land conservation and stewardship is in decline.
This spring, the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority released its Santa Clara Valley Greenprint. It identifies the highest priority areas for conservation and links land protection and stewardship to essential community benefits such as safeguarding local water supplies, protecting water quality, reducing the risk of fire and flood, maintaining the viability of local food systems and increasing the resiliency of urban communities in the face of climate change.
If Silicon Valley is to remain a center for innovation in the fastest-growing region in the state, it must support continued investment in open space to ensure lasting provision of these benefits. To spur that investment in open space, the Open Space Authority has just completed "Nature's Value in Santa Clara County," the first-ever regional economic valuation of open space, natural areas, water resources and working landscapes and the benefits people receive from nature.
It is part of the multicounty Healthy Lands & Healthy Economies Initiative that includes Santa Clara, Sonoma and Santa Cruz counties and represents the out-of-the-box thinking needed to ensure a sustainable region.
This effort determined that Santa Clara County's natural capital -- open space lands, natural areas, farms and ranchlands -- provides a suite of benefits, known as ecosystem services, which range in value from $1.6 to $3.9 billion annually. Ecosystem services include clean air, water supply and quality, reduced flood risk, wildlife habitat, pollination, healthy food and recreation.
By examining valuation studies of similar goods and services in locations comparable to Santa Clara County, the study assigns a range of monetary values based on market pricing, replacement cost and other factors. The study also calculated the asset value of the county's natural capital, which is based on the value of its ecosystem services over time. Over a 100-year period, Santa Clara County's natural capital is worth between $162 billion and $386 billion.
Armed with this information, we can direct conservation investments to places that offer the highest environmental and economic returns to society. Now is the time to embrace these innovative conservation approaches and invest in our natural capital.
The Open Space Authority is considering placing a funding measure on the November 2014 ballot to ensure that we have the ability to protect, restore and maintain our green infrastructure. Our agency cannot do this work alone. We will need partners and allies in the public and private sectors who share this vision.
It is our hope that the region's policymakers, elected officials, public agencies and business community embrace these approaches to achieve sustainable communities and economies -- and to position Santa Clara County as an environmental leader in the region and state.
