University of Vermont, School of Business Administration, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics The EcoValue Project: The EcoValue Project: A Web-based, Geographic Approach to the Delivery A Web-based, Geographic Approach to the Delivery of the Economic Values of Ecosystem Services: of the Economic Values of Ecosystem Services: Current Status and Issues of Concern Current Status and Issues of Concern USSEE Conference Tacoma, Washington July 2005 Treg Christopher, Matthew A. Wilson PhD. & Austin Troy PhD The Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, School of Business Administration, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont [email protected]
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
University of Vermont, School of Business Administration, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics
The EcoValue Project:The EcoValue Project:A Web-based, Geographic Approach to the Delivery of A Web-based, Geographic Approach to the Delivery of
the Economic Values of Ecosystem Services: the Economic Values of Ecosystem Services: Current Status and Issues of ConcernCurrent Status and Issues of Concern
USSEE ConferenceTacoma, Washington July 2005
Treg Christopher, Matthew A. Wilson PhD. & Austin Troy PhD
The Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, School of Business Administration, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont
University of Vermont, School of Business Administration, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics
Presentation Outline
• Introduction to the Economic Valuation of Ecosystem Goods and Services
• Goals and Steps of the EcoValue Project
• Current Limitations and Future Directions
Millennium Assessment (MA) 2003 Typology of Ecosystem Goods and Services
RegulatingBenefits obtained from
regulation of ecosystem processes
• climate regulation• disease regulation• flood regulation
ProvisioningGoods produced or
provided by ecosystems
• food • fresh water• fuel wood• genetic resources
CulturalNon-material benefits
from ecosystems• spiritual • recreational • aesthetic• inspirational• educational
SupportingServices necessary for production of other ecosystem services
• Soil formation• Waste Treatment and Nutrient cycling• Primary production
Adapted from Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Ecosystems and Human Well Being (2003)
The economic valuation of ecosystem services represent the tradeoffs that individuals make between alternative conditions of these services.
Cost-Benefit Analyses
“Greening” National Income Accounts
Natural Resource Damage Assessments
Valuation Methods:
Direct Use: Goods traded in the market
Non-Direct Use: Hedonic Pricing, Travel Cost, Replacement Cost
Non-Use: Contingent Valuation
Advantages:
University of Vermont, School of Business Administration, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics
Introduction to the EcoValue ProjectA work in progress at the University of Vermont by:
Treg Christopher, Matthew A. Wilson PhD, Austin Troy PhD, Robert Costanza PhD, Shuang Liu
• Scaling-up individual, “environmental economic” studies
• Modifying these values to account for spatio-temporal, context and scale
• Disseminating information to stakeholders via the web
Steps in the EcoValue Project
Literature review and collection
Processing the literature into the database
MS Access Database
Integrating the literature database with spatial data in a GIS
Delivery of the values for ecosystem services via the internet
Relationship Between Land Cover and Ecosystem Services
Habitat Refugium
Disturbance Prevention
Climate and Atmosphere Regulation
Forest
Recreation
Land Use/ Land Cover
Ecosystem ServicesEmpirical Study
Empirical Study
Empirical Study
Economic Studies
Economic References
Select a state in the northern forests
Vermont Map Viewer
A color ramp of total economic value by county
Identifying a spatial unit
Results of a query of a spatial unit
University of Vermont, School of Business Administration, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics
Current Issues and Future Directions
• Marginal utility• Spatio-temporal context
• Spatio-temporal scale
• Quality of original studies• Aggregation of economic values• Limited availability of Land Cover
change-detection data
• What was the initial condition and what is the proposed change?
• Water Quality and Recreation
• Spatial context• Topological elements of a cover type such as area,
connectivity, fragmentation, and proportion of the landscape
• Ecosystem Dynamics• Threshold of service
• Non-linear change
Supply-side Issues
• Socio-economic factors• Income
• Demographics
• Ethnicity and other cultural characteristics
• Population
• Substitutability
Demand-side Issues
• Temporal scale– Distribution of the impact of service
– Time lags
• Spatial scale:– Who are the stakeholders? Who are the appropriate
valuers?
• Disjunct between human scales of perception and scales at which services operate or generate impacts
– “Only a fraction of what exists, is perceived and only a fraction of what is perceived is responded to” (Jedrzejczak, 2004)
Scale Issues
University of Vermont, School of Business Administration, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics
Thank You!
Treg [email protected]
EcoValue Project website: http://ecovalue.uvm.edu
Funding:The northern forest module of the EcoValue Project was developed with support from the Northeastern States Research Cooperative.
Related Documents
