Accounting standards that forbid governments from claiming the value of features like wetlands in preventing flooding mean there’s no financial argument for preserving them, the University of Waterloo’s Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation said in a new paper. (The Logic)

Talking point: Small efforts here and there have tried to put figures on the “services” of natural infrastructure, such as one estimating that wetlands around Quebec City provide nearly $50 million worth of flood prevention each year. The centre argued these studies are haphazard and public-sector accounting rules keep them from being effective by forbidding public owners from claiming these features as anything but real estate. As Canada looks to find money to fund climate-change adaptation projects, formally valuing wetlands, forests and waterways like natural resources would help build the financial case.