Riparian wetland conservation : A case study of phosphorus and social return on investment in the Black River watershed / John K. Pattison-Williams, Wanhong Yang, Yongbo Liu, and Shane Gabor.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 409-410).

This paper applies a social return on investment (SROI) analysis to the issue of wetland conservation in the
Black River watershed of the Lake Simcoe basin in southern Ontario, Canada. Watershed hydrologic modeling
applied to wetland loss and restoration scenarios in the study area provides local estimates of the ecosystem
service provision related to phosphorus removal. Locally appropriate monetary values are applied to these
services to gauge the cost effectiveness of conservation funding at two levels: phosphorous reduction capacity
alone and then incorporating a suite of ecosystem services. A SROI analysis indicates that phosphorous
reduction services provide a 0.045 ratio of benefits to costs and therefore alone do not justify expenditure on
wetland conservation, though they supplement the function of the local Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP).
When the SROI includes other ecosystem services the ratio ranges from 3.60 (retention) to 0.15 (full
restoration). This example highlights the value of wetlands in providing phosphorous reduction and additional
ecosystem services (ES) in a financially viable manner to address watershed eutrophication problems in Lake
Simcoe.