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Yasuni National Park: Environmental Analysis

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The Yasuni National Park was designated a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Man and Biosphere Reserve in 1989. For anyone who has ever been there, the reasons are clearly visible long before they even step into the Reserve’s boundaries. The region is composed of entire tracts of tropical rainforest only broken by countless rivers and creeks that eventually feeds into the mighty Amazon River. It is possible to walk from Southern Peru to Southern Venezuela without ever coming across evidence of human activities, lest roads, plastic, or garbage (Bass, et al., 2010). The Yasuni region also boasts one of the most diverse ecosystems on the entire planet. A surprising 44% of all Ecuadorian mammal species can be found …show more content…
However due to the immense complexity of the rainforest ecosystem and the multitude of its functions from a global perspective the approach to placing an exact value has been varied. In general, studies attempts to add up the direct and indirect values of the ecosystem. Direct values include the market price, such as extractive activities such as drilling, logging and fishing, while indirect values could include flood prevention, water filtration, and CO2 retention and reduction. Direct values are easy to place; but when it comes to indirect values, researchers must derive them from associated market prices or substitute costs, such as property values and the cost of building a water filtration plant respectively (Batker, Kocian, & de la Torre, 2007). Ultimately, both direct and indirect values may be used separately or together to find the monetary value of a specific function of an ecosystem. Examples include storm and flood protection, water quality and supply, atmospheric pollutant removal, waste treatment, pest control, pollination, and recreational value (Batker, Kocian, & de la Torre, 2007). The list is endless, and it really depends on from whose perspective these functions are valued. Engineers calculates the value of infrastructure and machinery, business leaders negotiate with revenues and profits of sales, and …show more content…
Evergreen Forest of Low Lands of the Amazonia, Forest of Low Lands of Palms and Black Water, Forest of Low Lands inundated by White Water, and Other; Natural Forest, Pastures, Cultivated, Eroded. Together, the estimated value of non-market ecosystem services is between $2 and 5.4 billion per year (Batker, Kocian, & de la Torre, 2007). This is matched against the 900 million barrels of crude oil that is calculated to bring in US$ 6.979 billion in total over a period of 13 years (Warnars,

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