Ecosystem Services

NREM 301

Bart Battista (Previous TA)

Objectives

• Basic understanding of ecosystem goods and services (ES)

• Know why Ecosystem Services are Important

• How are ES used?

• How are they “valued”?

• Ecosystem Service Trends

Ecosystems

Creighton, 2010

Ecosystems’ Goods & Services

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005

Categorization

• “Ecosystem goods” = items given monetary value in the marketplace

• Goods:• Food

• Construction materials

• Medicinal plants

• Wild genes for domestic plants and animals

• Tourism and recreation

• “Services” from ecosystems are valued, but are rarely bought or sold.

Categorization

Ecosystem Services Examples

• Loss of an ES – Colony Collapse Disorder

• Not enough bees to pollinate harvests• 2.5 million bee hives needed to pollinate agriculture

system• Only 1.5 million bee hives in U.S.

• Exceed ES Capacity– Nutrient Retention Along the

Mississippi• Channelization• Conversion of wetlands• Dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico (Hypoxia)

Human Health

ES

Quality Of Life

•ES Management•Management systems that:

•Sustain ecosystems

•Meet ecosystem/human needs

•ES Valuation•ES values are not captured in commercial markets Gives ES less weight in human decisions (e.g. policy decisions)

How Are ES Used?

• Sustainable Systems = Greater Value

Challenges – Changing paradigms

• UN Environmental Program encourages countries to adopt ES Management

• ES Management is at the heart of adaptive management

Ecosystem Service Management

Incorporating ES Value Into Policy

• Many ecosystem goods already incorporated into policy decisions

• Economic valuation methods used for non-market ecosystem services

• Often non-market services much more valuable than market ecosystem goods

• How would you value a non-market service?

Value of Non-Market ES

• Willingness to pay– Hedonic Property Values

– Travel Cost

– Stated Preference

• How much would it cost to “engineer” a solution?

• Incorporate externalities into costs

Land with high $ natural services

Land value in production for humans

Ecosystems Beyond $ Values

Value of Earth’s ES by Land CoverLandcover Type $ per ha-yr Total Value peryr ($Billion)Estuaries ~$22,800 ~$4,100Seagrass/Algae beds ~$19,000 ~$3,800Coral Reefs ~$6,000 ~$375Tropical Forest ~$2000 ~$3,800Temperate Forests ~$302 ~$900Grass/Rangelands ~$232 ~$900Wetlands (Tidal Marsh/ Mangrove)

~$10,000 ~$1,600

Wetlands (Swamps/ Floodplains)

~19,500 ~$3,200

Lakes/Rivers ~$8,500 ~$1,700Cropland ~$90 ~$128Urban - -

Costanza et al 1997

ES Valuation

Avg Value of Earths ES: US $33 trillion/yearGlobal GNP: US $18 trillion per year.

Payments for Ecosystem Services

Not a transfer of wealth, but a payment for services.

Problems: Displacement.

Restrictive on traditional exploitations of ecosystems.

“Attack on cultures.”Ganges Delta. Stolen from tradezone.com

U.N.-R.E.D.D.• Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) in

developing countries

– FAO/UNDP/UNEP

– measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of carbon emissions and flows, ensuring that forests continue to provide multiple benefitsfor livelihoods and the environment, and supporting the engagement of Indigenous Peoples and Civil Society at all stages of the design and implementation of REDD+ strategies.

– Support to national programs so far:

Bolivia, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ecuador, Indonesia, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, Tanzania, Viet Nam and Zambia

Norway continues to be the UN-REDD Programme’s first and largest donor.

Ecosystem Services Trends• ES service use is growing rapidly (MEA, 2005)

– 15 of 24 ES used unsustainably

– 20 of 24 ES use is increasing

• Positive Correlation between biodiversity and ES

Conclusion• Categories of ES services

– Supporting, Provisioning, Regulating, and Cultural

• Understanding ES enable ecosystem management systems

• Valuing ES enable them to be incorporated into policy decisions

• We are using most ES unsustainably and expected losses in biodiversity and population increase will increase ES demand