Abstract
Ecosystem service assessments aim to integrate the natural environment into decision-making by developing linked biophysical and economic models that demonstrate how changes in the environment affect human welfare. When these analyses inform national level, strategic choices, large-scale analyses are required. Such assessments, embracing multiple ecosystem services, will often rely on the transfer of either economic or biophysical models, or both. This chapter discusses the main concepts of ecosystem service assessments and illustrates the conceptual framework with examples from the UK National Ecosystem Assessment . An analysis of the recreational and carbon values arising from land use changes shows how differences in ecological , socioeconomic or climatic factors result in high spatial heterogeneity in ecosystem services and how this variation can be incorporated within transfer values.
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Notes
- 1.
Although many ecosystem service assessment frameworks highlight intrinsic and community or shared social values, this chapter will focus on the benefits that can be assessed at the level of the individual and expressed in monetary terms. Bateman et al. (2011) discusses cases where reliable monetary values might not be available.
- 2.
It is worth observing that this exercise aims at transferring biophysical values and not benefits. Therefore under the UK NEA, the correct term for the methodology used would be “value transfer” and not “benefit transfer.”
- 3.
The use of meta-analysis for valuing recreational trips is a well developed area of research and interested readers are referred to Rosenberger and Loomis (2000).
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to David Abson, Amii Harwood and Antara Sen for their help and comments and for providing the GIS maps. All errors are the sole responsibility of the authors.
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Ferrini, S., Schaafsma, M., Bateman, I.J. (2015). Ecosystem Services Assessment and Benefit Transfer. In: Johnston, R., Rolfe, J., Rosenberger, R., Brouwer, R. (eds) Benefit Transfer of Environmental and Resource Values. The Economics of Non-Market Goods and Resources, vol 14. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9930-0_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9930-0_13
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