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A new peer-reviewed study in published in Science on July 24 explores how investments to prevent tropical deforestation and wildlife trade could significantly reduce overall costs associated with widespread zoonotic diseases that have rampaged through human populations in recent years. SARS, MERS, H1N1, HIV, and now the virus behind COVID-19 are all linked to human contact with wildlife. The economic and mortality toll of COVID-19 alone may cost as much as $16 trillion. The research team estimates the virus prevention costs for 10 years to be valued at only about 2% of the costs of the COVID-19 pandemic.

If you visited a meadow frequently as a child, would you want more to live near a natural area as an adult? Perhaps you were in a nature club in primary school; would you be more likely to volunteer for conservation efforts once you had your own income? How much does early life experience with nature affect the value you place on nature as an adult ?

University of Illinois doctoral student Liqing Li started thinking about this question at the 2017 Heartland Environmental and Resource Economics Workshop. A speaker was talking about environmental justice: how poor minority populations often live in highly polluted areas, and the next generation follows that pattern due to income constraints. Liqing wondered, “What if your childhood experience also affects your preference for the type of neighborhood or environment where you live? Would that also affect people’s willingness to pay for environmental protection around them?”

Growing urban populations are placing pressure on existing stormwater systems, producing high flood rates, degraded urban aquatic habitat, and low water quality in urban lakes, rivers, and streams. In the case of Chicago, the result imposes losses on residents of as much as $4 billion per year.

Stormwater management is a potentially low-cost solution that can address these challenges. One research group from the Center for the Economics of Sustainability at Illinois and Reed College in Portland, Oregon is tackling the issue using economics. The research team – including CEOS researchers Amy Ando and Bryan Parthum and partners Noelwah Netusil and Catalina Londoño Cadavid– estimated the monetary benefits of stormwater management improvements for Chicago and Portland and how much people are willing to volunteer to improve outcomes. These estimates can inform federal policies and public programs that shape how and where resources are allocated.