Synergies between biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service provision: Lessons on integrated ecosystem service valuation from a Himalayan protected area, Nepal

Abstract

We utilised a practical approach to integrated ecosystem service valuation to inform decisionmaking at Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park in Nepal. The Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Sitebased Assessment (TESSA) was used to compare ecosystem services between two alternative states of the site (protection or lack of protection with consequent changed land use) to estimate the net consequences of protection. We estimated that lack of protection would have substantially reduced the annual ecosystem service flow, including a 74% reduction in the value of greenhouse gas sequestration, 60% reduction in carbon storage, 94% reduction in nature-based recreation, and 88% reduction in water quality. The net monetary benefit of the park was estimated at $11 million year -1 . We conclude that: (1) simplified cost-benefit analysis between alternative states can be usefully employed to determine the ecosystem service consequences of land-use change, but monetary benefits should be subject to additional sensitivity analysis; (2) both biophysical indicators and monetary values can be standardised using rose plots, to illustrate the magnitude of synergies and trade-offs among the services; and (3) continued biodiversity protection measures can preserve carbon stock, although the benefit of doing so remains virtual unless an effective governance option is established to realise the monetary values. Highlights TESSA was used for integrated ecosystem services valuation of Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park, Nepal. Net monetary ecosystem service value of protecting the Park was estimated at $11 million y -1 . Protection avoided a reduction in carbon stock of 60% and a net annual monetary loss of 19%. Conservation and ecosystem service provision objectives were congruent at site-level. A buffer zone around the park may improve benefit sharing.5

Economic Value of Cultural Ecosystem Services from Recreation in Popa Mountain National Park, Myanmar: A Comparison of Two Rapid Valuation Techniques

“…This result reflects the estimate of the nature-based recreation value of the site in its current state [18]. However, since there is no alternative state for the park, the estimate derived from TESSA (v. 1.2) method in this study represents the total annual value from tourism and recreation for the park [26][27][28]53,74].…”

“…Thus, only fine-grain assessment at the site-level can shed information on the differences in recreational demand for protected areas among different social groups (e.g., local day-trippers, domestic tourists, and international tourists) [26][27][28] and equity issues among the beneficiaries of different social-demographic characteristics (e.g., education level, income, gender, and age.) in terms of a site's accessibility [29,30].…”

“…This approach focuses on the travel costs associated with people's use of a natural area for recreational purposes and derives its economic value of recreation based on the actual behavior and preferences of visitors in terms of the frequency of their visits, travel cost, and time [4]. Recently, other rapid methodologies have been developed to valuate such ecosystem services, such as the Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site-based Assessment (TESSA v. 1.2), whose relevant module focuses on the direct expenditure of domestic and international visitors to a site [18,28,34,35]. Apart from individual TCM and TESSA (v. 1.2), there are many other techniques used to elicit the value of recreational ecosystem services in the context of protected areas with varying degrees of complexity.…”

Identification, Prioritization and Mapping of Ecosystem Services in the Panchase Mountain Ecological Region of Western Nepal

“…Mapping of key areas supporting ES are therefore important from the perspective of decision-making [10][11][12][13][14]. Spatial mapping can aid in assessing potential synergies and trade-offs among ES thereby helping to prioritize areas and ecosystem services based on local requirements [13,15].…”

Ecosystem Services Mapping Uncertainty Assessment: A Case Study in the Fitzroy Basin Mining Region

“…This concept is increasingly used in both theoretical and applied research [5,6] such as spatial planning [7,8], environmental economics [9] and risk management [10]. ES play a crucial role for supporting ecosystem-based management and decisions [11,12] and the mismanagement of ES can potentially have large economic impacts and may affect thousands of people [13,14]. In order to support the decision-making, accurate and reliable methods and outputs for ecosystem services assessments are increasingly demanded [15,16].…”