Supporting site planning through monetary values for biomass and nature conservation services from ecosystem accounts
Ecosystem services can be measured physically, but also valued in monetary terms. In public planning and decision-making in Germany, multi-criteria analysis is usually used to inform decision-makers about different impacts of projects, for example, for housing and the siting of industrial or infrast...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Pensoft Publishers
2022-12-01
|
| Series: | One Ecosystem |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://oneecosystem.pensoft.net/article/89706/download/pdf/ |
| _version_ | 1811185031243104256 |
|---|---|
| author | Beyhan Ekinci Karsten Grunewald Sophie Meier Steffen Schwarz Burkhard Schweppe-Kraft Ralf-Uwe Syrbe |
| author_facet | Beyhan Ekinci Karsten Grunewald Sophie Meier Steffen Schwarz Burkhard Schweppe-Kraft Ralf-Uwe Syrbe |
| author_sort | Beyhan Ekinci |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Ecosystem services can be measured physically, but also valued in monetary terms. In public planning and decision-making in Germany, multi-criteria analysis is usually used to inform decision-makers about different impacts of projects, for example, for housing and the siting of industrial or infrastructure projects. Typically, these evaluations are based on various environmental, social and economic impacts using their own specific methods and then juxtapose the different results, without providing further support for weighing various concerns.Economic evaluations attempt to assess preferences of individuals and society in relation to the outcomes that are relevant for a decision, thereby providing further support to decision-makers. Although so-called welfare values are usually used for this purpose in cost-benefit analysis, it can be shown that, in certain cases, exchange values from environmental economic accounting also fulfil that objective. This is demonstrated for the case of site planning, using maps of economic values of biomass provisioning services and ecosystem services for nature conservation.The ecosystem service values used for this purpose were determined spatially explicitly nationwide for Germany. Services for nature conservation were calculated as average costs to develop one ´biotope value point´. This unit is used in German planning law to determine ecological compensation measures for impacts on nature. Cost data were calculated from nature conservation measures to fulfil the requirements of the EU Habitats Directive. As a proxy for the biomass provisioning service, hypothetical agricultural land-lease rates with different yield potential were estimated throughout Germany. Due to a lack of other spatially specific data, timber services were valued with the average net profit of forestry businesses.A comparison shows that, on average, services for nature conservation have higher values than biomass provisioning services. This is the case even for arable land. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T13:23:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-64fea48c3f7d4477bcdf71e37ebd7612 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2367-8194 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T13:23:31Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Pensoft Publishers |
| record_format | Article |
| series | One Ecosystem |
| spelling | doaj.art-64fea48c3f7d4477bcdf71e37ebd76122022-12-22T04:22:09ZengPensoft PublishersOne Ecosystem2367-81942022-12-01712510.3897/oneeco.7.e8970689706Supporting site planning through monetary values for biomass and nature conservation services from ecosystem accountsBeyhan Ekinci0Karsten Grunewald1Sophie Meier2Steffen Schwarz3Burkhard Schweppe-Kraft4Ralf-Uwe Syrbe5German Federal Agency for Nature ConservationLeibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional DevelopmentLeibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional DevelopmentLeibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional DevelopmentGerman Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (retired)Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional DevelopmentEcosystem services can be measured physically, but also valued in monetary terms. In public planning and decision-making in Germany, multi-criteria analysis is usually used to inform decision-makers about different impacts of projects, for example, for housing and the siting of industrial or infrastructure projects. Typically, these evaluations are based on various environmental, social and economic impacts using their own specific methods and then juxtapose the different results, without providing further support for weighing various concerns.Economic evaluations attempt to assess preferences of individuals and society in relation to the outcomes that are relevant for a decision, thereby providing further support to decision-makers. Although so-called welfare values are usually used for this purpose in cost-benefit analysis, it can be shown that, in certain cases, exchange values from environmental economic accounting also fulfil that objective. This is demonstrated for the case of site planning, using maps of economic values of biomass provisioning services and ecosystem services for nature conservation.The ecosystem service values used for this purpose were determined spatially explicitly nationwide for Germany. Services for nature conservation were calculated as average costs to develop one ´biotope value point´. This unit is used in German planning law to determine ecological compensation measures for impacts on nature. Cost data were calculated from nature conservation measures to fulfil the requirements of the EU Habitats Directive. As a proxy for the biomass provisioning service, hypothetical agricultural land-lease rates with different yield potential were estimated throughout Germany. Due to a lack of other spatially specific data, timber services were valued with the average net profit of forestry businesses.A comparison shows that, on average, services for nature conservation have higher values than biomass provisioning services. This is the case even for arable land.https://oneecosystem.pensoft.net/article/89706/download/pdf/biomass provisioning servicesecosystem and speci |
| spellingShingle | Beyhan Ekinci Karsten Grunewald Sophie Meier Steffen Schwarz Burkhard Schweppe-Kraft Ralf-Uwe Syrbe Supporting site planning through monetary values for biomass and nature conservation services from ecosystem accounts One Ecosystem biomass provisioning services ecosystem and speci |
| title | Supporting site planning through monetary values for biomass and nature conservation services from ecosystem accounts |
| title_full | Supporting site planning through monetary values for biomass and nature conservation services from ecosystem accounts |
| title_fullStr | Supporting site planning through monetary values for biomass and nature conservation services from ecosystem accounts |
| title_full_unstemmed | Supporting site planning through monetary values for biomass and nature conservation services from ecosystem accounts |
| title_short | Supporting site planning through monetary values for biomass and nature conservation services from ecosystem accounts |
| title_sort | supporting site planning through monetary values for biomass and nature conservation services from ecosystem accounts |
| topic | biomass provisioning services ecosystem and speci |
| url | https://oneecosystem.pensoft.net/article/89706/download/pdf/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT beyhanekinci supportingsiteplanningthroughmonetaryvaluesforbiomassandnatureconservationservicesfromecosystemaccounts AT karstengrunewald supportingsiteplanningthroughmonetaryvaluesforbiomassandnatureconservationservicesfromecosystemaccounts AT sophiemeier supportingsiteplanningthroughmonetaryvaluesforbiomassandnatureconservationservicesfromecosystemaccounts AT steffenschwarz supportingsiteplanningthroughmonetaryvaluesforbiomassandnatureconservationservicesfromecosystemaccounts AT burkhardschweppekraft supportingsiteplanningthroughmonetaryvaluesforbiomassandnatureconservationservicesfromecosystemaccounts AT ralfuwesyrbe supportingsiteplanningthroughmonetaryvaluesforbiomassandnatureconservationservicesfromecosystemaccounts |