Achieving Sustainable Valuations of Biotopes and Ecosystem Services

Josef Seják, Jan Pokorný and Karl Seeley
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Josef Seják: Department of Social Sciences, Jan Evangelista Purkyne University, Kralova Vysina 7, 400 96 Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic
Jan Pokorný: ENKI, o.p.s.Trebon, Dukelska 145, CZ-379 01 Trebon, Czech Republic
Karl Seeley: Department of Economics, Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY 13820, USA

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 11, 1-14

Abstract: The results of a broader notion of value for measuring ecosystem services (ESs) are presented, as recently demanded by R. Costanza, with attention to the biophysical, thermodynamic aspects of value. The unifying basis in any ecosystem is the solar energy inflow and the growing efficiency of its use with higher stages of self-organized succession processes. The authors utilize two methods of nonmarket valuation (Biotope Valuation Method, Energy-Water-Vegetation Method) which show the range of the environmental values of nature, from how costly it is for nations to restore the quality of a landscape (biotopes as specific habitats for specific species) to their real abilities to replace the core supporting and regulating services of ecosystems (climatizing service, water-retention service, oxygen production, habitats for biodiversity). The role of natural forests and wetlands as the most effective solar energy users is shown and compared with agricultural lands and other human-altered ecosystem groups. A comparison of ESs value ratios with the welfare-method results of Costanza’s team shows much higher importance of natural forests as the best climatic and water regulators in sustainable landscape decision-making. The authors show that it is not the replacement-cost method that overestimates, but rather, preferential methods that underestimate the values of ESs.

Keywords: ecosystem services; life thermodynamics; biotope valuation method; energy-water-vegetation method; land-use changes; economic value (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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