Measuring ecosystem services

1. Measuring ecosystem services Royal Society Ecosystem Services Workshop Dr Bill Kaye-Blake 09 August 2011

2. 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

3. Why do economists like prices?

4. Measure value across time Nordhaus, 1998.

5. Comparisons • We can compare different products – literally apples and oranges • We can compare social trade-offs – guns vs butter

6. Condenses available information Production Costs P Price Consumer Demand Q

7. 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?

8. Example 1: Soil data from farms • Multi-disciplinary project • Related environmental information to economic data

9. 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

10. Example 2: Agri-environmental indicators • Assessed kiwifruit orchards using OECD agri-environmental indicators

12. 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

13. 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?

14. Example 4: Ag sector simulation model • AgResearch Rural Futures programme • We are having some success! • Experts committed to communicating with each other

15. Agreed scale – the farm

16. Simple indicators • CO2-e • N balance • Profit • Age and successors

17. To make good claims, we need… • Consistent • Long-term • Actionable • Informative • Metrics

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. To make good claims, we need… • Consistent • Long-term • Actionable • Informative • Metrics

24. 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