The benefits of pro-active investments

The upper line (GP), which represents total gross production in a particular area, country or region, increases as a result of population growth, technical progress and economic development. However, the damage (D) also increases due to accelerated sea level rise, pollution, congestion, over-exploitation of resources, etc. If no coastal zone management measures are taken, the increase in damage will be higher than the increase in total gross production, resulting in reduced net production (NP), eventually leading to a collapse. Reduction of damage (deltaD) can be achieved by pro-active investments in coastal zone management (I). Due to the long lead times required for the measures to have effect, it will take some time before an actual reduction in damage is realized. This time lag is indicated by deltaT. During this period, no benefits will arise from the investments. Later, however, the reduction in damage enables net production (NP/CZM) to continue to increase, which can be regarded as sustainable development. (source IPCC93)