The economic value of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest ecosystem services: A meta-analysis of the Brazilian literature

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to assess the economic value of the Brazilian Amazon’s ecosystem services accruing to Brazilians based on a meta-analysis of the Brazilian valuation literature. Insight in these local values provides an important benchmark to demonstrate the importance of preserving the Brazilian Amazon forest. The review covers almost 30 years of Brazilian valuation research on the Amazon, published predominantly in Portuguese, highlighting a high degree of study and data heterogeneity. The estimated mean value of the provision of habitat for species, carbon sequestration, water regulation, recreation and ecotourism to local populations is about 410 USD/ha/year. The standard deviation is however high, reflecting a wide dispersion in the distribution of values. Between 50 and 70 percent of the variation in these values can be explained with the help of the estimated meta-regression models, resulting in considerable prediction errors when applying a within-sample resampling procedure. These findings demonstrate the need for a more robust, common ecosystem services accounting and valuation framework before these values can be scaled up and aggregated across the entire Brazilian Amazon.

Can we avert an Amazon tipping point? The economic and environmental costs

“…Previous studies have tended to focus on one of these dimensions and specific components of a tipping point, for example deforestation [8,77,78], fire [24,79] or savannization [12,20]. Literature that assesses the economic impacts of a tipping point and policy interventions to avert one is scarce [10,80,81] and indeed non-existent from a whole-of-economy, CGE perspective.…”

Optimal Ecosystem Change in the Presence of Ecosystem-Mediated Human Health Impacts

“…Since the predominant practice for land clearing for pasture is burning, not timber harvest, we assume a slightly lower land clearance cost of $100 for land conversion activity. Brouwer et al (2022) conducted a meta-analysis of the literature on the ecosystem services produced by the Brazilian Amazon and estimated the values of carbon regulation, water cycling, and wildlife habitat to be from $612 to $403,300 per km 2 per year. We use the low end of their estimates in our parameterization so that ecosystem service values do not vastly outweigh the benefits of land conversion and to focus on the effects of health costs on model results.…”

The Reliability of Delphi Surveys and Benefit Transfer to Predict Outcomes of Contingent Valuation Surveys

“…Therefore, the Amazon rainforest can be defined as a global public good (Strand et al, 2017;Navrud & Strand, 2018). It provides global benefits and ecosystem services in terms of biodiversity, carbon storage, and recreational and non-use values (Andersen et al, 2002;Brouwer et al, 2022).…”

“…The second program preserved 20 percent with a yearly average WTP per household of £39. Brouwer et al (2022) conducted a meta-analysis on the economic value of the Brazilian Amazona's ecosystem services, focusing on the Brazilian valuation literature. The study provides insights into local valuation estimates, where the estimated mean value of all ecosystem services assessed among local populations is about 410 USD/ha/year.…”