The value of Scotland's ecosystem services and natural capital

Abstract

Life on earth depends on the ability of the environment to provide essential services. During the 1990s, attempts were made to quantify in monetary terms the benefits that the earth's ecosystem services provide. Costanza et al. (1997a) devised a methodology to assimilate the work of over 100 valuation studies to generate estimates of the monetary value of 17 ecosystem functions for 16 habitat (or biome) types. This work estimated the annual flow of global ecosystem services to be $33 × 1012. In this paper we apply the same methodology to Scotland to derive a current annual ecosystem service value of approximately £17 thousand million ($24 × 109). This is an initial estimate based on the available values. Some modifications to the model are suggested that could produce a more reliable value of Scotland's ecosystem services. Copyright © Crown Copyright 2003. Recorded with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Evaluating an ecosystem service provided by Atlantic salmon, sea trout and other fish species in the River Spey, Scotland: The economic impact of recreational rod fisheries

“…Any transferal of these and the inferred smolt and habitat values to other catchments in Scotland, or to national evaluations of ecosystem services (e.g. Williams et al, 2003) should take this into account.…”

“…In Scotland the introduction of the EU Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) provides an opportunity for the integrated management of water resources based on balancing environmental objectives with human demands (Holzwarth, 2002;SEPA, 2008). Although Williams et al (2003) estimated the value of 17 ecosystem services across Scotland, including those provided by lakes and rivers, little information exists on the value of ecosystem services at the catchment scale with which to inform local management decisions.…”

Linking GIS-based models to value ecosystem services in an Alpine region

“…Costanza et al (1997), e.g., valued the world's ecosystem services to be in the range of USD 16-54 trillion per year. This paper helped to draw attention to this topic (Costanza, 2002 et al (1997) to their study region (Sutton and Costanza, 2002;Williams et al, 2003). Nevertheless, regional studies that value multiple ecosystem functions simultaneously and that capture the ''before and after'' states during environmental changes are rare (Bockstael et al, 1995;Mallawaarachchi et al, 1996;Higgins et al, 1997).…”

Assessing Socioeconomic Costs and Benefits of ICZM in the European Union

“…Costanza values thus allowed easy access to basic habitat valuations. 3 A similar approach has been adopted recently for establishing a valuation for Scotland's ecosystem services and natural capital (Williams et al, 2003a(Williams et al, , 2003b.…”