Valuing ecosystem services : the case of multi-functional wetlands

Ecosystem services can be broadly defined as the aspects of ecosystems that provide benefits to people. This book provides guidance on the valuation of ecosystem services, using the case of multifunctional wetlands to illustrate and make recommendations regarding the methods and techniques that can be applied to appraise management options. It provides a review of ecosystem service valuation rationale, including its importance from both a policy and project appraisal perspective, and a useful reference when considering policy and appraisal of ecosystem management options. It shows how legal obligations and other high-level management targets should be taken into account in valuation exercises, thus giving important policy context to the management options.

The authors set out what they call an Ecosystem Services Approach to the full appraisal of the role of ecosystem services in the economy and society. Although concentrating on wetlands, the approaches suggested provide an assessment framework that can be applied to other types of ecosystem assets.

Author Notes

R. Kerry Turner, CBE, is director of the Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE) and director of the Zuckerman Institute for Connective Environmental Research (ZICER), both at the University of East Anglia, UK.

Stavros Georgiou is an economic advisor, UK Health and Safety Executive and an honorary research fellow at CSERGE.

Brendan Fisher is a Research Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, USA.

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In this work, Turner, Georgiou, and Fisher (all, Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment, Univ. of East Anglia, UK) focus on providing the means for standardizing the valuation process to define and measure ecosystem goods and services in wetlands. They develop guidelines to appraise ecosystem services, management options, cost/benefits, aesthetics, monetary, economic, and other values. The book consists of 7 chapters covering the conceptual background of ecosystem services, policy and socioeconomic appraisal and ecosystem services valuation procedures. Chapters also discuss the economic valuation of ecosystem services, guidelines for practical application, wetland case studies, and lastly, future prospects. Three appendixes include "Economic Valuation Techniques," a worldwide overview of wetland empirical studies, and regional policy and survey case studies. Each chapter contains numerous figures and tables illustrating key points of written text, and includes references cited from an extensive bibliography. This book is a valuable reference for biologists, economists, land conservationists, soil scientists, engineers, lawyers, and all those involved with evaluating natural ecosystems impacted by human activity. Though the book focuses on wetlands, the principles discussed are applicable for other ecosystem evaluations. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections. S. G. Shetron emeritus, Michigan Technological University

List of Figures, Tables and Boxes	p. v
Acknowledgements	p. vii
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations	p. ix
1 Introduction	p. 1
2 The Ecosystem Services Approach to Natural Resource Management	p. 3
Ecosystem services defined	p. 5
The ecosystem services approach	p. 9
3 Policy Appraisal Perspectives and Socio-economic Appraisal Approaches	p. 19
Policy contexts	p. 19
Existing socio-economic appraisal approaches	p. 21
4 The Ecosystem Services Approach: Valuation of Multi-functional Wetlands	p. 25
Overview of approach and analytical stages	p. 25
Stage 1 Wetland classification: The simplified hydrogeomorphic method (HGM)	p. 31
Stage 2 Wetland ecosystem functioning and the services of wetlands	p. 32
Stage 3 Wetland functioning service benefits	p. 36
Stage 4 Wetland valuation/evaluation	p. 39
5 Economic Valuation of Wetland Ecosystem Services in Practice	p. 59
Practical constraints	p. 59
Wetland benefits	p. 66
Valuation of hydrological service benefits	p. 68
Valuation of biogeochemical service benefits	p. 84
Valuation of ecological service benefits	p. 96
6 Valuation of Multi-functional Wetland: Case Studies	p. 111
7 Conclusions and Future Prospects	p. 143
Appendix A Economic Valuation Techniques	p. 147
Appendix B Wetland Ecosystem Services: Overview of Empirical Studies	p. 171
Appendix C Case Studies Used for Policy Review and Survey	p. 193
Bibliography	p. 209
Index	p. 225

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