Ecosystem valuation: some principles and a partial application

Morse-Jones, Sian; Luisetti, Tiziana; Turner, R. Kerry; Fisher, Brendan

doi:10.1002/env.1073

Cited by 35 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…This is because of the nature of trips into forest and woodlands, which were multipurpose, like doing it along with farming activities and some of the NTFPs were collected jointly, for example, extraction of withies and ropes, so estimating them could lead to double counting. According to Morse-Jones et al [43] double counting may occur where competing ecosystem services are valued separately and the values aggregated or where an intermediate service is first valued separately but also subsequently through its contribution to a final service benefit.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic Valuation of Nontimber Forest Products under the Changing Climate in Kilombero District, Tanzania

Balama

Augustino

Mwaiteleke

et al. 2016

International Journal of Forestry Research

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Sustainable collection of Nontimber Forest Products (NTFPs) for trade is an appropriate measure to increase people's adaptive capacity against adverse effects of climate change. However, information on the economic value for NTFPs for subsistence use and trade under the changing climate is inadequate, particularly in households around Iyondo Forest Reserve (IFR), in Kilombero District, Tanzania. The study identified and quantified NTFPs used for subsistence and trade, estimated its economic value, and examined factors influencing supply of NTFPs at household level. Data were collected through Focus Group Discussions, key informant interviews, questionnaire survey of 208 sample households, and spot market analysis to randomly selected NTFPs collectors, sellers, and buyers. The study identified 12 NTFPs used for subsistence and trade, which was evaluated in terms of the mean annual value per household. The mean annual value of the identified NTFPs ranged from TZS 4700 to 886 600. The estimated economic value of the studied NTFPs was TZS 51.4 billion (USD 36 million). The supply of NTFPs at household level was influenced by distance to the forest, change in forest management regime, seasonality, and change in rainfall pattern. NTFPs around IFR have high economic value which portrays the potential of developing them to enhance households' adaptive capacity against climate change adverse effects.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic Valuation of Nontimber Forest Products under the Changing Climate in Kilombero District, Tanzania

Balama

Augustino

Mwaiteleke

et al. 2016

International Journal of Forestry Research

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“…First, MEU evaluates alternative actions with an a priori aggregate utility function. This limits the ability to provide insights into the trade-offs between the often-divergent objectives of different stakeholders, e.g., maximizing net economic benefits versus ensuring sustainability, (Common and Perrings 1992, Ludwig 2000, Morse-Jones et al 2011. Value functions are also insensitive to ecosystem attributes that do not affect them directly, e.g., loss of species, and can suggest strategies resulting in ecosystem collapse for nonlinear, thresholdbased systems .…”

Section: Limitations Of Expected Utility Maximization Framework In Anmentioning

confidence: 99%

Many-objective robust decision making for managing an ecosystem with a deeply uncertain threshold response

Singh¹,

Reed²,

Keller³

2015

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Managing ecosystems with deeply uncertain threshold responses and multiple decision makers poses nontrivial decision analytical challenges. The problem is imbued with deep uncertainties because decision makers do not know or cannot converge on a single probability density function for each key parameter, a perfect model structure, or a single adequate objective. The existing literature on managing multistate ecosystems has generally followed a normative decision-making approach based on expected utility maximization (MEU). This approach has simple and intuitive axiomatic foundations, but faces at least two limitations. First, a prespecified utility function is often unable to capture the preferences of diverse decision makers. Second, decision makers' preferences depart from MEU in the presence of deep uncertainty. Here, we introduce a framework that allows decision makers to pose multiple objectives, explore the trade-offs between potentially conflicting preferences of diverse decision makers, and to identify strategies that are robust to deep uncertainties. The framework, referred to as many-objective robust decision making (MORDM), employs multiobjective evolutionary search to identify trade-offs between strategies, re-evaluates their performance under deep uncertainty, and uses interactive visual analytics to support the selection of robust management strategies. We demonstrate MORDM on a stylized decision problem posed by the management of a lake in which surpassing a pollution threshold causes eutrophication. Our results illustrate how framing the lake problem in terms of MEU can fail to represent key trade-offs between phosphorus levels in the lake and expected economic benefits. Moreover, the MEU strategy deteriorates severely in performance for all objectives under deep uncertainties. Alternatively, the MORDM framework enables the discovery of strategies that balance multiple preferences and perform well under deep uncertainty. This decision analytic framework allows the decision makers to select strategies with a better understanding of their expected trade-offs (traditional uncertainty) as well as their robustness (deep uncertainty).

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“…The valuation of an ecosystem is a complex process that depends on the availability of relevant and accurate biophysical data on ecosystem processes and functions and the appropriate applications of economic valuation (Morse-Jones et al, 2011). The Total Economic Value (TEV) conceptual framework views ecosystem goods and services as the flow of benefits to mankind by nature.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%