Quantifying Economic Value of Coastal Ecosystem Services: A Review

Seyedabdolhossein Mehvar,Erik de Ruyter van Steveninck,Tatiana Filatova,Ali Dastgheib,Roshanka Ranasinghe

doi:10.3390/jmse6010005

Abstract

The complexity of quantifying ecosystem services in monetary terms has long been a challenging issue for economists and ecologists. Many case specific valuation studies have been carried out in various parts of the World. Yet, a coherent review on the valuation of coastal ecosystem services (CES), which systematically describes fundamental concepts, analyzes reported applications, and addresses the issue of climate change (CC) impacts on the monetary value of CES is still lacking. Here, we take a step towards addressing this knowledge gap by pursuing a coherent review that aims to provide policy makers and researchers in multidisciplinary teams with a summary of the state-of-the-art and a guideline on the process of economic valuation of CES and potential changes in these values due to CC impacts. The article highlights the main concepts of CES valuation studies and offers a systematic analysis of the best practices by analyzing two global scale and 30 selected local and regional case studies, in which different CES have been valued. Our analysis shows that coral reefs and mangroves are among the most frequently valued ecosystems, while sea-grass beds are the least considered ones. Currently, tourism and recreation services as well as storm protection are two of the most considered services representing higher estimated value than other CES. In terms of the valuation techniques used, avoided damage, replacement and substitute cost method as well as stated preference method are among the most commonly used valuation techniques. Following the above analysis, we propose a methodological framework that provides step-wise guidance and better insight into the linkages between climate change impacts and the monetary value of CES. This highlights two main types of CC impacts on CES: one being the climate regulation services of coastal ecosystems, and the other being the monetary value of services, which is subject to substantial uncertainty. Finally, a systematic four-step approach is proposed to effectively monetize potential CC driven variations in the value of CES.

Highlights

For centuries people have lived in coastal zones (CZ) and benefited from the ecosystem services that these areas provide
Other studies have indicated that CZ and the oceans together contribute more than 60% of the total economic value of the biosphere [16,17]
Cooper et al [54] conducted a valuation study in which tourism and erosion protection services of coral reefs and mangroves were valued at US $150–196 million and US $231–347 million, while providing fishery habitat value was estimated much lower at US $14–16 million

Summary

Introduction

For centuries people have lived in coastal zones (CZ) and benefited from the ecosystem services that these areas provide. Growing population and accompanying infrastructure build-up provoke agglomeration economies that attract even more people and capital to the CZ, which has resulted in 15 out of the 20 present-day megacities of the World being located in low elevation CZ [4]. The economies of coastal communities and their resilience highly depend on the ecosystem services that CZ provide. CC impacts which are primarily due to the anthropogenic greenhouse gas effect can alter the atmospheric composition and thereby change the intricate dynamics of the marine area resulting in variations in coastal ecosystems. The potential CC impacts relevant to coastal ecosystems include variations in mean sea level (i.e., sea level rise), wave conditions, storm surge [5], ocean circulation, ocean acidification (due to higher levels of CO2), water temperature and changes in precipitation [6]

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