Valuing Ecosystem Services The Case of Multi-functional Wetlands

About this book

Ecosystem services can be broadly defined as the aspects of ecosystems that provide benefits to people. This book explains the valuation of ecosystem services, using the case of multi-functional 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 and shows how legal obligations and other high-level management targets should be taken into account in valuation exercises.

The authors argue that it is not only ecosystems themselves that should be valued but also the goods and services provided, which affect human welfare. They build upon the idea of ecosystem services as the aspects of ecosystems consumed or utilized to produce human well-being, thus including ecosystem organization (structure), operation (process) and outflows. They set out an Ecosystem Services Approach to the full appraisal of the role of ecosystem services in the economy and society. Case studies on wetlands as flood defences, wetland creation and wetland restoration are presented. Although concentrating on wetlands, the approaches suggested provide an assessment framework that can be applied to other types of ecosystem assets.

Contents

Introduction; The Ecosystem Services Approach to Natural Resource Management; Policy Appraisal Perspectives and Socio-economic Appraisal Approaches; Valuation of Multi-functional Wetlands; Economic Valuation of Wetland Benefits in Practice; Valuation of Multi-functional Wetlands: Case Studies; Conclusions and Future Prospects; Appendices: A. Economic Valuation Techniques; B. Wetland Ecosystem Services: Overview of Empirical Studies; C. Case Studies Literature Review; Bibliography, Index.

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Biography

Professor Robert 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. Dr Stavros Georgiou is an Economic Advisor, UK Health and Safety Executive and an Honorary Research Fellow at the CSERGE. Dr Brendan Fisher is a Senior Research Associate at the CSERGE, University of East Anglia, UK.