Valuation and management of wetland ecosystems

Costanza, Robert; Färber, Stephen; Maxwell, J. A.

doi:10.1016/0921-8009(89)90014-1

Cited by 306 publications

(111 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Generally, the literature can be categorized into three groups according to the primary focus of the study. First, some studies merely estimate one or more values for a specific wetland site (e.g., Acharya 2000; Strand 1998, Cooper andLoomis 1991;Costanza, Farber and Maxwell 1989;Emerton et al 1998;Klein and Bateman 1998;Lant and Roberts 1990). Second, some studies review or compare already existing wetland valuations (e.g., Barbier et al 1997;Bardeki 1998;Dixon and Lal 1997;Gren and Soderqvist 1994;Anderson and Rockel 1991).…”

Section: Overview Of the Empirical Wetland Valuation Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

The Empirics of Wetland Valuation: A Comprehensive Summary and a Meta-Analysis of the Literature

Brander

Florax

Vermaat

2006

Environ Resource Econ

510

353

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Wetlands are highly productive ecosystems, providing a number of functions (products and services) that are of value to people. The open-access nature and the public-good characteristics of wetlands often result in wetlands being undervalued in decisions relating to their use and conservation. There is now a substantial literature on wetland valuation, including two meta-analyses. These meta-analyses examine subsets of the available wetland valuation literature, focusing on temperate wetlands, a limited set of wetland functions, and a limited set of valuation techniques. We collect over 190 wetland valuation studies, providing 215 value observations, in order to present a more comprehensive meta-analysis of the valuation literature that includes tropical wetlands (e.g., mangroves), estimates from diverse valuation methodologies, and a broader range of wetland functions (e.g., biodiversity value).We also aim for a more comprehensive geographical coverage. We find that socioeconomic variables, such as income and population density, that are often omitted from such analyses are important in explaining wetland value. We also assess the prospects for using this analysis for out of sample value transfer, and find average transfer errors of 74%, with just under one-fifth of the transfers showing errors of 10% or less. This overall performance is, however, dominated to a considerable extent by transfer to small sites. The performance of value transfer for medium to large wetlands on average shows transfer errors smaller than 30%.

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Section: Overview Of the Empirical Wetland Valuation Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

The Empirics of Wetland Valuation: A Comprehensive Summary and a Meta-Analysis of the Literature

Brander

Florax

Vermaat

2006

Environ Resource Econ

510

353

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“…There is a rich literature on the value of wetland ecosystem services; (see for example Odum (1978); Costanza et al (1989); Mitsch and Gosselink (2000). Much of the early work on ecosystem services valuation focused on wetlands primarily to demonstrate their high value to a wider audience (Turpie et al 2010), especially those in parts of the world where wetlands were viewed as wasteland with no economic value (Mmopelwa 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inequality and ecosystem services: The value and social distribution of Niger Delta wetland services

2015

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The Niger Delta wetlands are of international importance for their biodiversity, and support a large human population. The value and distribution of wetland ecosystem service benefits and costs across the three main stakeholder sectors (local community, government and corporate) were investigated. Results show that the net monetary value of the wetlands is $11,000 per delta household of which $9,000 was generated as cash income supporting household activities such as education and healthcare. The total annual value of provisioning services to local people is approximately $25 billion, about three times the value of oil production in the region. However, local communities also bear about 75% of the environmental costs of oil extraction, equivalent to about 19% of the oil industry profit. Local people, who experience considerable economic hardship and lack alternative income sources, receive little compensation from the oil sector. These results highlight the importance of understanding not only the benefits provided by Niger Delta wetlands, but also the distribution of the environmental costs associated with their use. We conclude that ecosystem service valuation studies should give greater attention to the social distribution of identified values. Such distributional analyses, rarely available, provide insight into how sustainable natural resource management policy and practice could be better aligned to social justice concerns.

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“…In some regions these influences are converting significant portions of marshland to open water (1,2). The fate of intertidal salt marshes is of societal importance and scientific interest; marshes provide highly productive habitat and serve as nursery grounds for a large number of commercially important fin and shellfish (3,4). Additionally, marshes offer great value as buffers of coastal storms in cities such as New Orleans, which is separated from the Gulf of Mexico by marshland (5,6).…”

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confidence: 99%

A coupled geomorphic and ecological model of tidal marsh evolution

Kirwan

Murray

2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

457

433

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The evolution of tidal marsh platforms and interwoven channel networks cannot be addressed without treating the two-way interactions that link biological and physical processes. We have developed a 3D model of tidal marsh accretion and channel network development that couples physical sediment transport processes with vegetation biomass productivity. Tidal flow tends to cause erosion, whereas vegetation biomass, a function of bed surface depth below high tide, influences the rate of sediment deposition and slope-driven transport processes such as creek bank slumping. With a steady, moderate rise in sea level, the model builds a marsh platform and channel network with accretion rates everywhere equal to the rate of sea-level rise, meaning water depths and biological productivity remain temporally constant. An increase in the rate of sea-level rise, or a reduction in sediment supply, causes marsh-surface depths, biomass productivity, and deposition rates to increase while simultaneously causing the channel network to expand. Vegetation on the marsh platform can promote a metastable equilibrium where the platform maintains elevation relative to a rapidly rising sea level, although disturbance to vegetation could cause irreversible loss of marsh habitat. accretion ͉ erosion ͉ sea level ͉ vegetation ͉ wetland S ubsidence, erosion, sea-level rise, and anthropogenic changes to sediment delivery rates are affecting coastal marshes worldwide. In some regions these influences are converting significant portions of marshland to open water (1, 2). The fate of intertidal salt marshes is of societal importance and scientific interest; marshes provide highly productive habitat and serve as nursery grounds for a large number of commercially important fin and shellfish (3, 4). Additionally, marshes offer great value as buffers of coastal storms in cities such as New Orleans, which is separated from the Gulf of Mexico by marshland (5, 6).A variety of vertical accretion models have been used to address the response of tidal marshes to environmental change, including accelerated sea-level rise and reduced sediment supply (7,8). In these models, bed elevation of the marsh platform is adjusted according to a deposition rate that is proportional to water depth at high tide, a proxy for duration and frequency of inundation. In such models, an increase in the rate of sea-level rise is accompanied by an increase in water depth until the increasing deposition rate becomes equal to the sea-level rise rate. With the exception of recent work by Morris et al. (9), these models neglect the role of vegetation, despite Redfield's (10) hypothesis that vegetation and physical processes influence morphodynamics equally strongly in the intertidal zone. Vegetation traps inorganic sediment and provides a source of organic sediment. Based on field measurements, Morris et al. (9) argue that biomass density, and therefore deposition rates, increase with water depth up to some optimal depth. The role of biomass density in enhancing deposition rates in th...

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Valuation and management of wetland ecosystems

Cited by 306 publications

References 29 publications

The Empirics of Wetland Valuation: A Comprehensive Summary and a Meta-Analysis of the Literature

The Empirics of Wetland Valuation: A Comprehensive Summary and a Meta-Analysis of the Literature

Inequality and ecosystem services: The value and social distribution of Niger Delta wetland services

A coupled geomorphic and ecological model of tidal marsh evolution

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