Measuring ecosystem services

Royal Society Ecosystem Services WorkshopDr Bill Kaye-Blake

09 August 2011

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Lessons and recommendations

► I will suggest criteria for measuring ES► Based on my experience

– Modelling– Evaluating– Consulting

► First – lessons from prior research► Second – recommendations from my experience

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Why do economists like prices?

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Measure value across time

Nordhaus, 1998.

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Comparisons

► We can compare different products – literally apples and oranges

► We can compare social trade-offs – guns vs butter

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Condenses available information

Q

P Production Costs

Consumer Demand

Price

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Other data harder to use

► What do they measure?► Who is measuring them?► What is the bias?► How consistent are they?► How can we relate them to the economy?► How do we use them in models?

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Example 1: Soil data from farms

► Multi-disciplinary project► Related environmental

information to economic data

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How do we summarise the information?

► Soil: lots and lots of measurements– Several measurements: carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, physical

properties, etc.– Several per block, per farm, per year– Specific to sampling location

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Example 2: Agri-environmental indicators

► Assessed kiwifruit orchards using OECD agri-environmental indicators

Dimension measured Indicator

Soil erosion 1. Area of agricultural land affected by water erosion

2. Area of agricultural land affected by wind erosion

Water use 3. Agricultural water use in total national water utilisation

4. Agricultural groundwater use in total national groundwater utilisation

5. Area of irrigated land in total agricultural land area

Water quality6. Nitrate and phosphate contamination derived from agriculture in surface water and coastal

waters

7. Monitoring sites that exceed recommended limits for nitrates in surface water and groundwater

8. Monitoring sites that exceed recommended limits for pesticides

9. Monitoring sites where one or more pesticides are present

Ammonia emissions 10. Share of agricultural ammonia emissions in national total ammonia (NH3) emissions

Methyl bromide use 11. Agricultural methyl bromide use in tonnes of ozone depletion potential

Greenhouse gas emissions

12. Gross total agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and their share in total (GHG) emissions

Genetic diversity 13. Plant varieties registered for marketing for main crop categories

14. Five dominant crop varieties in total marketed production for selected crops

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Example 2: Agri-environmental indicators

► Assessed kiwifruit orchards using OECD agri-environmental indicators

► AEIs were designed to compare sustainability across countries

► They did not reflect farm-level sustainability► We could not link farm-level behaviours to

international measures of sustainability

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Example 3: Regional development

► From a District Council discussion document:

Economists estimate the total value provided by indigenous diversity in New Zealand is

double the gross domestic product.► That is:

Valueindigenous diversity = 2*GDPNZ

► Problems:– What is value provided?– What is indigenous diversity?

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Example 4: Ag sector simulation model

► AgResearch Rural Futures programme

► We are having some success!

► Experts committed to communicating with each other

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Agreed scale – the farm

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Simple indicators

► CO2-e

► N balance► Profit► Age and successors

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To make good claims, we need…

► Consistent► Long-term► Actionable► Informative► Metrics

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To make good claims, we need…

► Consistent– We can use it at the farm and national levels– Means the same thing, regardless– Scalable

► Long-term► Actionable► Informative► Metrics

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To make good claims, we need…

► Consistent► Long-term

– We can take measurements over time – and we do!– We can estimate values for the past

► Actionable► Informative► Metrics

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To make good claims, we need…

► Consistent► Long-term► Actionable

– Individual action affects the values– Farmers can see the impacts– So can other people

► Informative► Metrics

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To make good claims, we need…

► Consistent► Long-term► Actionable► Informative

– They tell us useful information– They provide information for the decisions that people

are currently facing

► Metrics

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To make good claims, we need…

► Consistent► Long-term► Actionable► Informative► Metrics

– They are measurable– The numbers mean something, consistently– Categorical, ordinal, interval – does not matter

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To make good claims, we need…

► Consistent► Long-term► Actionable► Informative► Metrics

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Why?

► We – you, me, and everybody – want to make claims about ecosystem services

► They need to be solid CLAIMs► Otherwise?

– We prove nothing– We verify our preconceptions– Ecosystem services cannot be integrated into our

decisions and policies