The Theory and Practice of Ecosystem Service Evaluation

The Theory and Practice of Ecosystem Service Evaluation

PUBLICATION DATE:

Thursday, June 16, 2016

PUBLICATION TYPE:

Manuals, Guides and Webinars

STATUS:

Only Available Online

DESCRIPTION:

Watch this FREE webinar to learn from Dr. Tobias Börger on the valuation of marine and coastal ecosystem services. PEMSEA's webinar series, together with its partner, Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), aims to share knowledge about ecosystem services valuation and its application at the local level.

The increasing use of the coastal and marine environment requires better spatial planning and coordination of human activities in these environments. Different activities such as fishing and aquaculture, recreation and tourism, oil and gas extraction, energy generation and shipping produce different economic costs and profits and at the same time have different impacts on marine and coastal ecosystems. Taking into account all such impacts and making them comparable on one scale is the objective of economic valuation of ecosystem services and their benefits. This webinar course will touch upon the theory of economic valuation approaches and the need for valuation of these outside of the market. The concept of value in economics and different value motivations in the framework of total economic value (TEV) will be discussed. The idea of environmental cost-benefit analysis to support decision-making and planning will be introduced. The webinar will then give an overview of relevant methods, both revealed and stated preferences approaches. Revealed preference methods include the use of market prices, the production function approach, hedonic pricing and the travel cost method. Stated preference methods are contingent valuation and discrete choice experiments. Some of these methods will be illustrated by exemplary applications in the coastal and marine environment to support planning and decision-making.