Ecosystem Service Valuation for a Critical Biodiversity Area: Case of the Mphaphuli Community, South Africa

Abstract

The study of ecosystem services and the valuation of their contribution to human wellbeing is gaining increasing interest among scientists and decision-makers. The setting of this study was a critical biodiversity area on a portion of land largely presided over by a traditional leadership structure on behalf of a relatively poor local community in South Africa. The study identified several ecosystem services and performed an economic valuation of these services, and their importance both locally and globally using the Co$ting Nature V3 tool. The study identified ecosystem services such as the regulation of air quality, regulation of natural hazards, and provision of water. The economic valuation was carried out for all identified ecosystem services, realised and potential. The total realised economic value of ecosystem services was found to be US$528,280,256.00, whereas hazard mitigation potential was found to be US$765,598,080.00 across the study area. Artisanal fisheries were the least valued ecosystem service at US$5577.54. The values of the ecosystem services differed across the eleven land use land cover classes. The outcomes of the study focused on a very local scale, which was a departure from other studies previously carried out in South Africa, which focused more on the identification and valuation of regional and national scale ecosystem services.