Study: Everglades Worth $31.5B to Economy

MIAMI — Crocodiles, alligators, and destructive Burmese pythons thrive in the Everglades, but a new study shows that the singular ecosystem is also vital to South Florida’s economy, helping sustain millions of people who live around its periphery.

Each year, according to a new report from an environmental advocacy group, the sprawling wetland contributes some $31.5 billion to real estate, tourism, and other sectors of the local economy. Over the next 50 years, that value will add up to more than $1 trillion.

“This really shows that the Everglades are a vital component of South Florida’s economy that brings benefits to all our households,” Paul Hindsley, chief economist at the Everglades Foundation, the non-profit working to protect the ecosystem that co-published the report, told the Miami Herald.

Several sectors were assessed for the new report, including the positive impact the Everglades have on real estate prices, fisheries, and recreation and tourism. The two biggest sectors of South Florida’s economy are also the ones profiting the most from the Everglades: The annual real estate market sees some $9.23 billion in added value, while tourism profits by $8.5 billion, said Hindsley, who co-authored the report along with colleagues from the Everglades Foundation and Earth Economics, a nonprofit that specializes in calculating the economic value of nature.

Previous studies have already shown that projects to restore the Everglades bring a 4 to 1 return on investment, a vital argument, Hindsley said, pointing to the massive benefits to real estate as a key example.

With the help of extensive market analysis, the authors were able to quantify the premium buyers of close to 1 million properties between 2019 and 2023 paid for proximity to and views of clean surface water. For residential properties, being located close to fresh water, a bay or the ocean accounted for more than 7% of the overall value. For condominiums, that number was more than double, with 14.4% of the total value.

Without continued restoration, however, the opposite could happen: The 2018 “red tide” algae bloom on the west coast, for example, saw property values near the water drop by as much as 30%.

Living nearby these bodies of water means being directly linked to the Everglades, which act as a natural water management system for all of South Florida, from the aquifers that provide drinking water to feeding rivers and canals, and maintaining the delicate balance of salinity in coastal estuaries and bays.

That’s becoming ever more challenging, in part because rising sea levels are pushing salt water into the aquifer. If the Everglades don’t continue to feed enough fresh water into the system to keep salt water at bay, our drinking water would become saline.

“That’s a real problem, and that would be very difficult to reverse,” Ken Cousins, an ecological economist and research principal at Earth Economics, told the Miami Herald.

Though the economic value of the Everglades was estimated at $1 trillion over 50 years, Cousins said that the figure is an gross underestimation because many aspects, including the value of potable drinking water the Everglades help supply for millions of people as well as industries, could not be fully assessed.

Similarly, the $8.4 billion price tag the authors placed on how the Everglades help mitigate natural hazards, including by acting as massive sponge that protects South Florida from even worse flooding, is “a very conservative estimate,” Cousins said.

“The true value is considerably more, and that’s just the economic value — that doesn’t account for what it means in terms of habitat or local identity,” he said.

The record funding that’s already gone into restoration needs to continue to protect the future of all of Florida, Hindsley said.

“There are so many challenges, like salt water intrusion, fires…we see these larger threats going forward and Everglades restoration is one of key parts to make sure we are meeting resiliency needs going into the future,” he said.

This climate report is funded by Florida International University, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the David and Christina Martin Family Foundation in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald retains editorial control of all content.

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