The Elusive Quest for Valuation of Coastal and Marine Ecosystem Services
Coastal and marine ecosystem (CME) services provide benefits to people through direct goods and services that may be harvested or enjoyed in situ and indirect services that regulate and support biological and geophysical processes now and in the future. In the past two decades, there has been an inc...
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doaj-983bace0d66546e28ca749f9f5037ce92020-11-25T02:22:45ZengMDPI AGWater2073-44412019-07-01117151810.3390/w11071518w11071518The Elusive Quest for Valuation of Coastal and Marine Ecosystem ServicesJ. Walter Milon0Sergio Alvarez1Department of Economics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USARosen College of Hospitality Management, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USACoastal and marine ecosystem (CME) services provide benefits to people through direct goods and services that may be harvested or enjoyed in situ and indirect services that regulate and support biological and geophysical processes now and in the future. In the past two decades, there has been an increase in the number of studies and journal articles designed to measure the economic value of the world’s CME services, although there is significantly less published research than for terrestrial ecosystems. This article provides a review of the literature on valuation of CME services along with a discussion of the theoretical and practical challenges that must be overcome to utilize valuation results in CME policy and planning at local, regional, and global scales. The review reveals that significant gaps exist in research and understanding of the broad range of CME services and their economic values. It also raises questions about the validity of aggregating ecosystem services as independent components to determine the value of a biome when there is little understanding of the relationships and feedbacks between ecosystems and the services they produce. Finally, the review indicates that economic valuation of CME services has had a negligible impact on the policy process in four main regions around the world. An alternative direction for CME services research would focus on valuing the world’s CME services in a wealth accounting framework.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/11/7/1518coastalmarineecosystem serviceseconomic valuationwealth accountingpublic policy |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
J. Walter Milon Sergio Alvarez |
spellingShingle |
J. Walter Milon Sergio Alvarez The Elusive Quest for Valuation of Coastal and Marine Ecosystem Services Water coastal marine ecosystem services economic valuation wealth accounting public policy |
author_facet |
J. Walter Milon Sergio Alvarez |
author_sort |
J. Walter Milon |
title |
The Elusive Quest for Valuation of Coastal and Marine Ecosystem Services |
title_short |
The Elusive Quest for Valuation of Coastal and Marine Ecosystem Services |
title_full |
The Elusive Quest for Valuation of Coastal and Marine Ecosystem Services |
title_fullStr |
The Elusive Quest for Valuation of Coastal and Marine Ecosystem Services |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Elusive Quest for Valuation of Coastal and Marine Ecosystem Services |
title_sort |
elusive quest for valuation of coastal and marine ecosystem services |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Water |
issn |
2073-4441 |
publishDate |
2019-07-01 |
description |
Coastal and marine ecosystem (CME) services provide benefits to people through direct goods and services that may be harvested or enjoyed in situ and indirect services that regulate and support biological and geophysical processes now and in the future. In the past two decades, there has been an increase in the number of studies and journal articles designed to measure the economic value of the world’s CME services, although there is significantly less published research than for terrestrial ecosystems. This article provides a review of the literature on valuation of CME services along with a discussion of the theoretical and practical challenges that must be overcome to utilize valuation results in CME policy and planning at local, regional, and global scales. The review reveals that significant gaps exist in research and understanding of the broad range of CME services and their economic values. It also raises questions about the validity of aggregating ecosystem services as independent components to determine the value of a biome when there is little understanding of the relationships and feedbacks between ecosystems and the services they produce. Finally, the review indicates that economic valuation of CME services has had a negligible impact on the policy process in four main regions around the world. An alternative direction for CME services research would focus on valuing the world’s CME services in a wealth accounting framework. |
topic |
coastal marine ecosystem services economic valuation wealth accounting public policy |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/11/7/1518 |
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