University of Vermont, School of Business Administration, Rubenstein School of Environment and...

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

tchristo@uvm.edu

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

http://ecovalue.uvm.edu

The EcoValue Project’s website

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 Christophertchristo@uvm.edu

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.