Valuing Ecosystem Services

GCB Bioenergy, 2011

This review addresses the main issues concerning anticipated demands for the use of land for food and for bioenergy. It should be possible to meet increasing demands for food using existing and new technologies although this may not be easily or cheaply accomplished. The alleviation of hunger depends on food accessibility as well as food availability. Modern civilizations also require energy. This article presents the vision for bioenergy in terms of four major gains for society: a reduction in C emissions from the substitution of fossil fuels with appropriate energy crops; a significant contribution to energy security by reductions in fossil fuel dependence, for example, to meet government targets; new options that stimulate rural and urban economic development, and reduced dependence of global agriculture on fossil fuels. This vision is likely to be best fulfilled by the use of dedicated perennial bioenergy crops. We outline a number of factors that need to be taken into account in estimating the land area available for bioenergy. In terms of provisioning services, the value of biofuels is estimated at $54.7-$330 bn per year at a crude oil price of $100 per barrel. In terms of regulatory services, the value of carbon emissions saved is estimated at $56-$218 bn at a carbon price of $40 per tonne. Although global government subsidies for biofuels have been estimated at $20 bn (IEA, 2010b), these are dwarfed by subsidies for fossil fuel consumption ($312 bn; IEA, 2010b) and by total agricultural support for food and commodity crops ($383.7 bn in 2009; OECD, 2010).

Landscape Ecology, 2015

Context Although there is a need to develop a spatially explicit methodological approach that addresses the social importance of cultural ecosystem services for regional planning, few studies have analysed the spatial distribution on the cultural ecosystem services based on social perceptions. Objective The main objective of this study was to identify cultural ecosystem service hot-spots, and factors that characterize such hot-spots and define the spatial associations between cultural ecosystem services in Southern Patagonia (Argentina). Methods The study was carried out in Southern Patagonia (243.9 thousand km 2 ) located between 46°a nd 55°SL with the Andes mountains on the western fringe and the Atlantic Ocean on the eastern fringe of the study area. The study region has a range of different vegetation types (grasslands, shrub-lands, peat-lands and forests) though the cold arid steppe is the main vegetation type. We used geo-tagged digital images that local people and visitors posted in the Panoramio web platform to identify hot-spots of four cultural ecosystem services (aesthetic value, existence value, recreation and local identity) and relate these hot-spots with social and biophysical landscape features. Results Aesthetic value was the main cultural service tagged by people, followed by the existence value for biodiversity conservation, followed by local identity and then recreational activity. The spatial distribution of these cultural ecosystem services are associated with different social and biophysical characteristics, such as the presence of water bodies, vegetation types, marine and terrestrial fauna, protected areas, urbanization, accessibility and tourism offer. The most important factors are the presence of water in Santa Cruz and tourism offer in Tierra del Fuego.

Progress in Human Geography, 2012

Abstract Across the world, governments, NGOs, scientists, policy-makers, and resource managers are learning to speak in the language of ecosystem services. It is a concept that seems to belong to what many geographers call neoliberal-style environmental policies. However, the policies and practices around the ecosystem service concept deviate considerably from neoliberal doctrine. Our primary aim is to open up space for informed conversation about ecosystem services in geography by exploring the internal ...

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2009

Ecosystem services in decision making GC Daily et al.

Sustainability, 2015

Since the mid-1990s, the concept of ecosystem services has become increasingly popular in academic circles and among decision-makers. Because of its inclusive character, this concept has given rise to different interpretations in economics. Since its inception, it has been associated with the development of market-based instruments (MBIs) in conservation policies. From this perspective, the sustainable provision of ecosystem services is hindered by market failures (e.g., public good attributes, externalities) and prices that do not capture the full value of the natural assets. MBIs are therefore recommended. According to their promoters, they provide powerful incentives to conserve the environment while at the same time offering new sources of income to support rural livelihoods. Our paper contends that

Sustainability

The aim of our study is to identify the evolution of land use and the landscape capacity to provide selected ecosystem services (ESs) over the past 28 years. The results obtained should answer whether the recorded land cover development has manifested in the same way as the development of landscape capacity to provide ESs for four different services. Corine Land Cover (CLC) data are used to describe the land cover for five time periods (1990, 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2018) for the area of interest—the whole of the Czech Republic Identification of persistence area. The main trajectories of land cover developments are calculated using overlay spatial operations in GIS. For each analyzed year of landscape development, land cover is evaluated separately, and basic quantification indicators are calculated. At the same time, the filling capacity of selected ESs is evaluated. The results show that the assessed area had the highest capacity to provide ecological integrity in 1990–2006, and the...

Sustainability

Uganda is richly endowed with flora and fauna. Until the early 2000s, most of the types of vegetation have remained natural/virgin forests and shrubs until recent years, when human activities have damaged them. Understanding the different ways that people value such endangered forest resources is very important. The main hypothesis in our study is that willingness to pay (WTP) for forest existence value and sustainability depends on the preference for the same values. In addition, we examined socioeconomic characteristics, such as sex, education, and household incomes, which could influence the WTP for forest existence value and sustainability. We carried out field questionnaire interviews with the aim of ascertaining Willingness to Pay (WTP) for forest existence. The WTP values were in a range between 1 and 200 USD based on the contingent valuation method (CVM). A sample with a size of 203 was interviewed in selected towns and villages in Uganda, and the data collected were subject...

Ecosystem Services and Global Ecology, 2018

Goods which mankind receives from the natural environment, from properly functioning ecosystems are called ecosystem services. These goods contribute to the survival and well-being of people directly or indirectly. Ecosystem services can be divided into four different groups [9].

Conservation

Bioeconomy has become fundamental for a post-fossil-resources society, in line with climate change mitigation ambitions. Although it does not have a single, consensual definition, the bioeconomy encompasses various bio-based value chains and economic activities relying on biodiversity. How these burgeoning developments may affect biodiversity, however, still needs further examination. This article explores the bioeconomy–biodiversity nexus through the lens of nature’s contributions to people (NCPs). Drawing from the bioeconomy literature and Amazonian experiences, we argue that the bioeconomy may: (i) help conserve or restore habitats, (ii) improve knowledge on biodiversity, (iii) valorize livelihoods and increase social participation, and (iv) aid in moving beyond the commodification of nature. However, none of these achievements can be taken for granted. To date, the bioeconomy has focused mainly on extracting goods from nature (e.g., food, energy, or biochemicals), often at the e...

Revue d’ethnoécologie, 2014

Conservation de la nature : quel rôle pour les sciences sociales ? Reconciliation ecology, from biological to social challenges L'écologie de la réconciliation, du défi biologique au défi social

2022

Inland freshwater shallow lake ecosystem degradation is indistinctly intertwined with human-induced factors and climate variability. Changes in climate and human-induced factors significantly influence the state of lake ecosystems. This study provides evidence of the driver, pressure, state, impact, and response (DPSIR) indicators for freshwater lake ecosystem dynamics, taking Lake Malombe in Malawi as a case study. We used the DPSIR framework and Tobit model to achieve the study's objectives. The study's findings indicate that top-down processes gradually erode Lake Malombe's ecosystem state. The lake resilience is falling away from its natural state due to increasing rates of drivers, pressures, and impacts, indicating the lake ecosystem's deterioration. The study shows that demographic, socio-economic, climatic drivers, pressures, state, and responses significantly (p < 0.05) influenced the lake ecosystem's resilience. The study suggests that substantial freshwater ecosystem management under the current scenario requires a long-term, robust, and sustainable management plan. The findings from this study provide a roadmap for short-term and long-term practical policy-focused responses, particularly in implementing a freshwater ecosystem restoration programs in Malawi and Africa more broadly.

Papers in Regional Science, 2013

Starting from the framework proposed by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA)which conceptually links nature's services with human wellbeingwe design and also apply empirically what we have called the total economic value calculating matrix (TEVCM) to estimate the monetary value of the annual flow of benefits provided by Chile's national system of protected areas (NSPA). The calculated economic value of this flow amounts to US$2.55 billion per year. We also analyse the relevance and usefulness of the methodology we propose and use the valuation exercise presented to extract some normative lessons regarding nature conservation in Chile as well as in developing countries rich in natural resource endowments.

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A, 2021

While no one denies that science depends on epistemic values, many philosophers of science have wrestled with the appropriate role of non-epistemic values, such as social, ethical, and political values. Recently, philosophers of science have overwhelmingly accepted that non-epistemic values should play a legitimate role in science. The recent philosophical debate has shifted from the value-free ideal in science to questions about how science should incorporate non-epistemic values. This article engages with such questions through an exploration of the environmental sciences. These sciences are a mosaic of diverse fields characterized by interdisciplinarity, problem-orientation, policy-directedness, and ubiquitous nonepistemic values. This article addresses a frequently voiced concern about many environmental science practices: that they 'crowd out' or displace significant non-epistemic values by either (1) entailing some non-epistemic values, rather than others, or by (2) obscuring discussion of non-epistemic values altogether. With three detailed case studies e monetizing nature, nature-society dualism, and ecosystem health e we show that the alleged problem of crowding out emerges from active debates within the environmental sciences. In each case, critics charge that the scientific practice in question displaces nonepistemic values in at least one of the two senses distinguished above. We show that crowding out is neither necessary nor always harmful when it occurs. However, we do see these putative objections to the application of environmental science as teaching valuable lessons about what matters for successful environmental science, all things considered. Given the significant role that many environmental scientists see for non-epistemic values in their fields, we argue that these cases motivate lessons about the importance of value-flexibility (that practices can accommodate a plurality of non-epistemic values), transparency about value-based decisions that inform practice, and environmental pragmatism.

Ecological Engineering, 2022

There is an increasing call for tools that provide insight into the complex field of land-use systems, especially considering the broad range of sustainability issues related to policy intervention, technological innovation and continuous changes in environmental conditions. Stakeholders ranging from farmers, community leaders to national policy decision makers often fail in managing land due to various reasons, such as imperfect information, lacking awareness of ecosystem service provision and externalities, risk aversion, management quality and skills. To make better informed land-use decisions, they demand information about socioeconomic and environmental properties of land-use systems and how they respond to changes in external stimuli and shocks such as climate change. Bioeconomic modelling has been positioned as an integrative approach able to deliver advice to sustainability related problems. This review describes bioeconomic models applied to land-use decisions, with a particular focus on the provision of ecosystem services. For this review, we have considered the main two brands of modelling, empirical (or econometric) and mechanistic, to analyse how mutually exclusive applications as well as newer combinations of both approaches have been implemented in the field to guide decision making towards sustainable land-use management. With the development of new computer-based techniques, bioeconomic modelling has become more complex, accurate and comprehensive in the range of alternatives they are able to evaluate. From previous models limited to a reduced number of decision factors, we see a tremendous evolution towards integrated modelling based on multiple-goal and spatial applications. This step forward in bioeconomic modelling enables it to incorporate multiple time and spatial scales. Despite the undeniable advance achieved by the improved performance of bioeconomic models, we found that their transfer to stakeholders and their expected evolution towards policies and other decision instruments appear to be underperformed, evidence suggests that the gap between science and decision making is still wide To reduce the gap, scientists need to integrate stakeholders during the modelling process, and improve communication platforms.

Science, 2011

Payment mechanisms designed without regard to the properties of the services they cover may be environmentally harmful.

Land Use Policy, 2018

In the last few decades, "natural" open space has been rapidly disappearing, replaced by various land uses, such as agriculture, pastureland and cities. This decline in open space, combined with other processes adversely affecting ecosystems and the environment, highlights the importance of natural open spaces protection. Protected areas enable ecosystems to maintain their ecological integrity, thereby safeguarding many important ecological assets and services provided by ecosystems. The aim of this study is to assess the economic value of multiple ecosystem services (ESs) and the tradeoff between them and species richness across different management alternatives at the protected area of Ramat Hanadiv long term ecological research (LTER) Nature Park, in Israel. Ecological data were retrieved from previous research conducted at the nature park, and the valuation of landscape values was performed using the replacement cost method and a contingent valuation survey. The relationship between ES value and species richness was found to be negative. Of all management alternatives studied, only the planted conifer forest alternative was found to be inefficient; moving to other alternatives would enhance ES provision levels and species richness. This research demonstrates a simple path for providing land managers with an ecological data-based tool for comparing management alternatives in monetary terms.

New Forests, 2012

Post-fire salvage logging (i.e. felling and removing burnt trees, often eliminating the remaining woody debris) is a practice routinely performed by forest managers worldwide. In Mediterranean-type ecosystems, salvage logging is considered a measure to reduce future reforestation costs, but this assumption remains largely untested. We made a cost analysis of different management schemes, addressing the immediate post-fire burntwood management as well as the costs and success of subsequent reforestation efforts. Two experimental 25-ha plots were established in a burnt pine reforestation of SE Spain, in which three replicates of three post-fire treatments were applied: non-intervention (NI), partial cut plus lopping (PCL; felling and lopping off the branches from most of the trees, leaving all biomass in situ), and salvage logging (SL). After 4 years, a mechanised reforestation was undertaken, and seedling mortality was monitored for 2 years. The cost of all management operations was recorded in situ, and the cost of replanting the dead seedlings was estimated according to the expenses of previous reforestation. Initial cost of wood management was greatest in SL and zero in NI. Reforestation cost was highest in NI and lowest in SL, and seedling-mortality rates proved lowest in PCL (43 % vs. 51 % and 52 % in SL and NI, respectively). Considering all the post-fire management operations, salvage logging did not provide particular economic advantages for forest restoration, and had an overall cost of 3,436 ± 340 €/ha. By contrast, NI and PCL reduced total restoration costs by 50 and 35 %, respectively, and PCL indeed promoted restoration success. We suggest that the full cost of management operations needs to be considered when evaluating the economic implications of post-fire salvage logging.

Springer Geography, 2018

Floodplains are highly sensitive to human pressure. The lower sections of the Hungarian catchment of the Drava River, particularly the Drava Plain, have suffered large-scale landscape degradation in recent decades. The negative influences affected both the physical and socioeconomic environment. To counter negative impacts from upstream flow impoundment, bed material excavation and other kinds of human impact, a comprehensive government project of landscape rehabilitation, the Old Drava Programme, was launched in Hungary. In the core of the Programme, the water replenishment scheme focuses on the improvement of water availability of the floodplain through replenishment indirectly from the main river channel. The scheme is meant to take advantage of a network of abandoned drainage elements (oxbows, abandoned channels, levee crevasses, backswamps) in the floodplain. On this basis, an ambitious landscape management project is designed with the announced long-term objective of significantly improving economic (employment), social (integration of ethnicities), and cultural (preservation of cultural heritage and its utilization for increasing tourism potential conditions). Rehabilitation potential is used as a measure to express the extent to which the scope of ecosystem services/landscape functions can be broadened. Water availability and the ensuing landscape transformations are monitored with the purpose of assessing the efficiency of the core project of the Old Drava Programme (a water transfer scheme) in the test area of the Cún-Szaporca oxbow. Based on the findings of monitoring the short-term success of the first lake replenishment campaign is evaluated. Through the assessment of expected provision of ecosystem services, the long-term benefits and deficiencies of the scheme are highlighted.

Water, 2021

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