The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Valuing peatland ecosystem services

Valuing peatland ecosystem services
Valuing peatland ecosystem services

Introduction Throughout history, peatlands have been inhospitable places for humans; feared as wilderness, despised as wasteland and often remained as unsettled borderlands (Silvius, Joosten and Opdam 2008). They became seen as valuable only since being drained for agriculture, forestry or peat extraction. This biased focus on direct provisioning services has long ignored the destructive effects of peatland exploitation on regulating and cultural services (e.g. loss of biodiversity, emissions of CO2 and nutrients, declining water quality and quantity). The degradation of ecosystem functions inspired the recognition of human dependence on nature (e.g. Leopold 1949; Ehrlich and Ehrlich 1981; De Groot 1992; Daily 1997) and stimulated attempts to include ecosystem values in planning and political decision making (e.g. Krutilla 1967; Krutilla and Fisher 1975; Pearce and Nash 1981). Over the last two decades the concept of ecosystem services (Chapter 1) and their valuation have raised increasing interest. Within the scientific community it is represented by an exponential growth in publications (Fisher, Turner and Morling 2009). In addition, the policy world has boosted the concept by initiating major comprehensive studies such as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA 2005), The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB 2008, 2010) and several initiatives on the national scale such as the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (UK NEA). Launching the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) established an interface between the scientific community and policy makers comparable to the IPCC. It reflects as much the hope as the political challenge connected to the ecosystem service approach bridging nature conservation and human well-being. This chapter aims to introduce the concept of ecosystems service valuation to readers with no economic background, gives an overview of valuation studies on peatlands, including three case studies Boxes 16.2 - 16.4), shows that expressing damage to peatlands as welfare costs provides economic reasons for conservation and restoration, and identifies instruments for the remuneration of benefits provided by functioning peatlands. Valuing nature The great variety of benefits derived from ecosystems is reflected by the distinction between economic value (welfare), socio-cultural value (well-being) and ecological value (ecosystem integrity and life-support functions) (e.g. MA 2005; De Groot et al. 2006). The valuation of ecosystem services integrates ecology (understanding and quantification), ethics (e.g. intergenerational justice), politics (setting objectives) as well as economics, psychology and sociology (disclosing the underlying values and motivations of people).

314-338
Cambridge University Press
Wichmann, Sabine
51bb21eb-ab96-44e3-8c28-c23b8a0ac077
Brander, Luke
44d145b8-6613-4b57-ae63-0b2ef50a80ed
Schäfer, Achim
894c6d0e-b2bb-42de-adc2-e4ad080a9aa5
Van Beukering, Pieter
928771b5-9afb-4a11-9873-55a2b2c9310a
Tinch, Dugald
bfe25af5-dd9b-4a76-bd18-59c05b21cfb5
Bonn, Aletta
0b4c4fbb-d4b4-463e-8646-a6b81af42b80
Wichmann, Sabine
51bb21eb-ab96-44e3-8c28-c23b8a0ac077
Brander, Luke
44d145b8-6613-4b57-ae63-0b2ef50a80ed
Schäfer, Achim
894c6d0e-b2bb-42de-adc2-e4ad080a9aa5
Van Beukering, Pieter
928771b5-9afb-4a11-9873-55a2b2c9310a
Tinch, Dugald
bfe25af5-dd9b-4a76-bd18-59c05b21cfb5
Bonn, Aletta
0b4c4fbb-d4b4-463e-8646-a6b81af42b80

Wichmann, Sabine, Brander, Luke, Schäfer, Achim, Van Beukering, Pieter, Tinch, Dugald and Bonn, Aletta (2016) Valuing peatland ecosystem services. In, Peatland Restoration and Ecosystem Services: Science, Policy and Practice. Cambridge University Press, pp. 314-338. (doi:10.1017/CBO9781139177788.017).

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

Introduction Throughout history, peatlands have been inhospitable places for humans; feared as wilderness, despised as wasteland and often remained as unsettled borderlands (Silvius, Joosten and Opdam 2008). They became seen as valuable only since being drained for agriculture, forestry or peat extraction. This biased focus on direct provisioning services has long ignored the destructive effects of peatland exploitation on regulating and cultural services (e.g. loss of biodiversity, emissions of CO2 and nutrients, declining water quality and quantity). The degradation of ecosystem functions inspired the recognition of human dependence on nature (e.g. Leopold 1949; Ehrlich and Ehrlich 1981; De Groot 1992; Daily 1997) and stimulated attempts to include ecosystem values in planning and political decision making (e.g. Krutilla 1967; Krutilla and Fisher 1975; Pearce and Nash 1981). Over the last two decades the concept of ecosystem services (Chapter 1) and their valuation have raised increasing interest. Within the scientific community it is represented by an exponential growth in publications (Fisher, Turner and Morling 2009). In addition, the policy world has boosted the concept by initiating major comprehensive studies such as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA 2005), The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB 2008, 2010) and several initiatives on the national scale such as the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (UK NEA). Launching the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) established an interface between the scientific community and policy makers comparable to the IPCC. It reflects as much the hope as the political challenge connected to the ecosystem service approach bridging nature conservation and human well-being. This chapter aims to introduce the concept of ecosystems service valuation to readers with no economic background, gives an overview of valuation studies on peatlands, including three case studies Boxes 16.2 - 16.4), shows that expressing damage to peatlands as welfare costs provides economic reasons for conservation and restoration, and identifies instruments for the remuneration of benefits provided by functioning peatlands. Valuing nature The great variety of benefits derived from ecosystems is reflected by the distinction between economic value (welfare), socio-cultural value (well-being) and ecological value (ecosystem integrity and life-support functions) (e.g. MA 2005; De Groot et al. 2006). The valuation of ecosystem services integrates ecology (understanding and quantification), ethics (e.g. intergenerational justice), politics (setting objectives) as well as economics, psychology and sociology (disclosing the underlying values and motivations of people).

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 2014
Published date: 1 January 2016
Additional Information: Publisher Copyright: © British Ecological Society 2016. Copyright: Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Organisations: Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Geography & Environment

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 368374
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/368374
PURE UUID: d152fbcb-2402-48b6-9511-0d756df2c822

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 18 Sep 2014 08:55
Last modified: 05 Jun 2024 19:51

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Sabine Wichmann
Author: Luke Brander
Author: Achim Schäfer
Author: Pieter Van Beukering
Author: Dugald Tinch
Author: Aletta Bonn

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×