Generational Cost Benefit Analysis for Evaluating Marine Ecosystem Restoration

Conventional Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) tends to show that most ecosystem restoration programs are not worthwhile in economic terms. This is because discounting significantly reduces future net benefits from restoration, since benefits are discounted using the time perspective (i.e., the discounting clock) of the current generation only. I propose the use of what is termed Generational CBA, which discounts net benefits from the perspective of all generations. This CBA takes into account the fact that current restoration efforts may produce benefits to future generations, and that these benefits need to be valued using the respective discounting clocks of the generation receiving the benefits.