THEHANDBOOK FORMANAGEMENT
ANDRESTORATIONOF AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS INRIVERAND LAKE BASINS
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7.1.5Updating values
Data need to be updated because an ecosystem’s value is established over a very long period.
To consider the long term, an updating rate should be used that is identical to that used for
other aspects of the economic calculation (e.g. 4% today, diminishing after 30 years). Until
2050, we can consider an average 1% increase in the relative prices of ecosystems compared
tomanufactured goods (this can be higher in case of irreplaceable losses). Thus, the annual
service value ismultiplied by 40 to obtain a total updated value.
Useful references include “The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity” (TEEB, 2009),
itself used in the revision of the UnitedNations national accounts system, with an underlying
or stated objective of greening taxation, by introducing eco-eligibility criteria into public
subsidies to limit their negative impacts on biodiversity.
7.1.6Willingness to pay
Beyond an economic analysis of ecosystems in terms of capital value and service value, many
cases also require associating users’ willingness to pay, or willingness to dowithout the
advantages supplied by the ecosystem.
This principle is based on the following question: Howmuch are users ready to pay in a
defined time unit (per day, per year, etc.) to ensure that the aquatic ecosystem is not subject to
degradation, or for its restoration? In other words, would users accept compensation for the
degradation of aquatic ecosystems and if so, what amount? This question can have several
kinds of response, depending onwhether the compensationwould be “in kind” (cf. mitigation
banks), or an equivalent final service through different means, or whether inhabitants’
wellbeingwould bemaintained by replacing the services of destroyed ecosystemswith other
sources of satisfaction.
Similarly, in a project that impacts an aquatic ecosystem, the question is: Howmuch are users
ready to lose by doingwithout certain advantages provided by the aquatic ecosystem? This
approach has the advantage of putting amonetary figure on a set of elements that are
otherwise extremely subjective and qualitative.
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Example 39: Millennium EcosystemAssessment
TheMillennium Ecosystem Assessment presents an ecosystem service classification
divided into four types:
➊
“Self-cleaning services”, or assistance services, which are not directly used by humans
but that condition the smooth functioning of ecosystems (e.g. recycling of nutriments);
➋
“Supply services”, or withdrawal services, which result in usable goods (e.g. fresh
water withdrawals);
➌
“Regulation services”, i.e. the capacity tomodify, in a way favourable to humans,
phenomena like climate, the occurrence and extent of extreme events or different
aspects of the water cycle (floods, lowwater, physico-chemical quality);
➍
“Cultural services”, i.e. the use of ecosystems for recreational, aesthetic or spiritual
purposes.
When establishing the value of an ecosystem, it is worth trying to identify the content of these
four types of possible services.
7 ECONOMICAND FINANCIAL ASPECTS
