Economic valuation of marine and coastal ecosystems: is it currently fit for purpose?

In this paper, we consider whether the current “state of the art” of environmental valuation is suitable for producing policy-relevant estimates of the benefits or costs of changes in marine and coastal ecosystems. We review recent changes in European legislation which has meant an increasing demand for economic valuation from the policy and regulatory community. The next section considers, at a more conceptual level, whether the economic “toolbox” and scientific evidence is up to the task of meeting the demand for more evidence-based policy. Finally, three case studies are used to explore the nature of the valuation task and review what is currently known. These case studies are of salt-marsh restoration, marine renewable energy investments, and deep sea conservation

Looking below the surface : The cultural ecosystem service values of UK marine protected areas (MPAs)

Acknowledgements This research was funded by the UK Natural Environment, Economic and Social, and Arts and Humanities Research Councils, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Welsh Government as part of the Shared, Plural and Cultural Values work package of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment follow-on-phase (www.lwec.org.uk/sharedvalues). Additional funding was provided by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation through the Marine Conservation Society. Many thanks to Althea Davies (University of Aberdeen, currently University of St. Andrews), Ros Bryce (University of Aberdeen, currently University of the Highlands and Islands), Mike Christie (Aberystwyth University), Mandy Ryan (University of Aberdeen), Susan Ranger, Jean-Luc Solandt and Calum Duncan (Marine Conservation Society), Sophie Rolls and Rebecca Clark (Natural England), Mansi Konar (Defra) and Kerry Turner (University of East Anglia) for advising on the research design, and Alison Dando (British Sub-Aqua Club) and David Mitchell (Angling Trust) for their indispensable help with mobilising respondents. We are also grateful to the participants of our online survey and focus groups for their time and effort.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Looking below the surface : The cultural ecosystem service values of UK marine protected areas (MPAs)

Acknowledgements This research was funded by the UK Natural Environment, Economic and Social, and Arts and Humanities Research Councils, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Welsh Government as part of the Shared, Plural and Cultural Values work package of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment follow-on-phase (www.lwec.org.uk/sharedvalues). Additional funding was provided by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation through the Marine Conservation Society. Many thanks to Althea Davies (University of Aberdeen, currently University of St. Andrews), Ros Bryce (University of Aberdeen, currently University of the Highlands and Islands), Mike Christie (Aberystwyth University), Mandy Ryan (University of Aberdeen), Susan Ranger, Jean-Luc Solandt and Calum Duncan (Marine Conservation Society), Sophie Rolls and Rebecca Clark (Natural England), Mansi Konar (Defra) and Kerry Turner (University of East Anglia) for advising on the research design, and Alison Dando (British Sub-Aqua Club) and David Mitchell (Angling Trust) for their indispensable help with mobilising respondents. We are also grateful to the participants of our online survey and focus groups for their time and effort.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Twenty Thousand Sterling Under the Sea: Estimating the value of protecting deep-sea biodiversity

The deep-sea includes over 90% of the world oceans and is thought to be one of the most diverse ecosystems in the World. It supplies society with valuable ecosystem services, including the provision of food, the regeneration of nutrients and the sequestration of carbon. Technological advancements in the second half of the 20th century made large-scale exploitation of mineral-, hydrocarbon- and fish resources possible. These economic activities, combined with climate change impacts, constitute a considerable threat to deep-sea biodiversity. Many governments, including that of the UK, have therefore decided to implement additional protected areas in their waters of national jurisdiction. To support the decision process and to improve our understanding for the acceptance of marine conservation plans across the general public, a choice experiment survey asked Scottish households for their willingness-to-pay for additional marine protected areas in the Scottish deep-sea. This study is one of the first to use valuation methodologies to investigate public preferences for the protection of deep-sea ecosystems. The experiment focused on the elicitation of economic values for two aspects of biodiversity: (i) the existence value for deep-sea species and (ii) the option-use value of deep-sea organisms as a source for future medicinal products

Economic valuation of marine and coastal ecosystems : is it currently fit for purpose?

DMP acknowledges the support of the NERC CBESS consortium (Coastal Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service Sustainability: NE/J015644/1). DMP, NJ and NH acknowledge the support of the MASTS pooling initiative (The Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland). MASTS is funded by the Scottish Funding Council (grant reference HR09011) and contributing institutions. SH also acknowledges the support of the Beaufort Marine Research Award through the Irish Marine Institute.In this paper, we consider whether the current “state of the art” of environmental valuation is suitable for producing policy-relevant estimates of the benefits or costs of changes in marine and coastal ecosystems. We review recent changes in European legislation which has meant an increasing demand for economic valuation from the policy and regulatory community. The next section considers, at a more conceptual level, whether the economic “toolbox” and scientific evidence is up to the task of meeting the demand for more evidence-based policy. Finally, three case studies are used to explore the nature of the valuation task and review what is currently known. These case studies are of salt-marsh restoration, marine renewable energy investments, and deep sea conservation.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The impact of information, value-deliberation and group-based decision-making on values for ecosystem services:Integrating deliberative monetary valuation and storytelling

We thank the four anonymous referees whose comments substantially helped to improve this paper. We thank Anna Attlee and Althea Davies who helped to facilitate the research workshops; Anna Attlee also for helping to analyse the qualitative data. We thank all the participants of our study for their effort, and the Marine Conservation Society, the British Sub-Aqua Club and the Angling Trust for assisting with participant recruitment. This work was funded through the UK National Ecosystem Assessment Follow-On (Work Package 6: Shared, Plural and Cultural Values), funded by the UK Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Welsh Government, the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC); additional funding was received from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation through the Marine Conservation Society. J.O. Kenter was also supported by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under grant agreement no 315925 and K.N. Irvine by the Scottish Government Rural and Economic Sciences and Analytical Service (RESAS) Division.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

How can we identify and communicate the ecological value of deep-sea ecosystem services?

This research project was funded by MASTS (Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland; URL: www.masts.ac.uk). MASTS is funded by the Scottish Funding Council (grant reference HR09011) and contributing institutions. Townsend’s involvement was funded by NIWA (National Institute of Water and AtmosphericResearch; URL: www.niwa.co.nz) under the Coasts and OceansResearch Programme 3 (2013/14 SCI).Submarine canyons are considered biodiversity hotspots which have been identified for their important roles in connecting the deep sea with shallower waters. To date, a huge gap exists between the high importance that scientists associate with deep-sea ecosystem services and the communication of this knowledge to decision makers and to the wider public, who remain largely ignorant of the importance of these services. The connectivity and complexity of marine ecosystems makes knowledge transfer very challenging, and new communication tools are necessary to increase understanding of ecological values beyond the science community. We show how the Ecosystem Principles Approach, a method that explains the importance of ocean processes via easily understandable ecological principles, might overcome this challenge for deep-sea ecosystem services. Scientists were asked to help develop a list of clear and concise ecosystem principles for the functioning of submarine canyons through a Delphi process to facilitate future transfers of ecological knowledge. These ecosystem principles describe ecosystem processes, link such processes to ecosystem services, and provide spatial and temporal information on the connectivity between deep and shallow waters. They also elucidate unique characteristics of submarine canyons. Our Ecosystem Principles Approach was successful in integrating ecological information into the ecosystem services assessment process. It therefore has a high potential to be the next step towards a wider implementation of ecological values in marine planning. We believe that successful communication of ecological knowledge is the key to a wider public support for ocean conservation, and that this endeavour has to be driven by scientists in their own interest as major deep-sea stakeholders.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Economic valuation of marine and coastal ecosystems: is it currently fit for purpose?

In this paper, we consider whether the current “state of the art” of environmental valuation is suitable for producing policy-relevant estimates of the benefits or costs of changes in marine and coastal ecosystems. We review recent changes in European legislation which has meant an increasing demand for economic valuation from the policy and regulatory community. The next section considers, at a more conceptual level, whether the economic “toolbox” and scientific evidence is up to the task of meeting the demand for more evidence-based policy. Finally, three case studies are used to explore the nature of the valuation task and review what is currently known. These case studies are of salt-marsh restoration, marine renewable energy investments, and deep sea conservation