A framework for valuing spatially targeted peatland restoration

Klaus Glenk; Marije Schaafsma; Andrew Moxey; Julia Martin-Ortega; Nick Hanley

doi:10.1016/j.ecoser.2014.02.008

A framework for valuing spatially targeted peatland restoration

Klaus Glenk^*, Marije Schaafsma, Andrew Moxey, Julia Martin-Ortega, Nick Hanley

^*Corresponding author for this work

Environmental Economics

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Recent evidence suggests that the degree of degradation of peatlands is substantial, and that there is a significant potential to enhance the delivery of a wide range of ecosystem services by investing in peatland restoration. However, little is known about the social welfare impacts of peatland restoration and in particular how to spatially target restoration activities to maximise net benefits from investments in restoration. This paper investigates the steps required to conduct a spatially explicit economic impact assessment of peatland restoration, and highlights and discusses key requirements and issues associated with such an assessment. We find that spatially explicit modelling of the biophysical impacts of restoration over time is challenging due to non-linear effects and interaction effects. This has repercussions for the spatially explicit assessment of costs and benefits, which in itself is a demanding task. We conclude that the gains of investing in the research needed to conduct such an assessment can be high, both in terms of advancing science and in terms of providing useful information for decision makers.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	20-33
Number of pages	14
Journal	Ecosystem Services
Volume	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2014.02.008
Publication status	Published - 1 Sept 2014

Funding

This research has been developed in the context of the Valuing Nature Network (VNN) project “ Valuing Peatlands : Assessing and valuing peatland ecosystem services for sustainable management ” funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (UK) . We thank the VNN team for discussions and contributions, from which ideas for this paper have emerged. We are particularly grateful to Mark Reed, Aletta Bonn and Chris Evans for valuable comments on earlier versions of the paper. This research was partially funded by the Scottish Government Rural Affairs and the Environment Portfolio Strategic Research Programme 2011–2016 , Theme 1 (Environmental Change: Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity) and Theme 3 (Environmental Change: Land Use); and by the Scottish Government through its Centre of Expertise Climate Change: Mitigation – Peatland Restoration Project . We also thank two referees for their comments on an earlier version of the paper.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 15 Life on Land

Keywords

Cost-benefit analysis
Ecosystem services
Peatland restoration
Spatial targeting
Valuation

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10.1016/j.ecoser.2014.02.008

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title = "A framework for valuing spatially targeted peatland restoration",

abstract = "Recent evidence suggests that the degree of degradation of peatlands is substantial, and that there is a significant potential to enhance the delivery of a wide range of ecosystem services by investing in peatland restoration. However, little is known about the social welfare impacts of peatland restoration and in particular how to spatially target restoration activities to maximise net benefits from investments in restoration. This paper investigates the steps required to conduct a spatially explicit economic impact assessment of peatland restoration, and highlights and discusses key requirements and issues associated with such an assessment. We find that spatially explicit modelling of the biophysical impacts of restoration over time is challenging due to non-linear effects and interaction effects. This has repercussions for the spatially explicit assessment of costs and benefits, which in itself is a demanding task. We conclude that the gains of investing in the research needed to conduct such an assessment can be high, both in terms of advancing science and in terms of providing useful information for decision makers.",

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AU - Glenk, Klaus

AU - Schaafsma, Marije

AU - Moxey, Andrew

AU - Martin-Ortega, Julia

AU - Hanley, Nick

PY - 2014/9/1

Y1 - 2014/9/1

N2 - Recent evidence suggests that the degree of degradation of peatlands is substantial, and that there is a significant potential to enhance the delivery of a wide range of ecosystem services by investing in peatland restoration. However, little is known about the social welfare impacts of peatland restoration and in particular how to spatially target restoration activities to maximise net benefits from investments in restoration. This paper investigates the steps required to conduct a spatially explicit economic impact assessment of peatland restoration, and highlights and discusses key requirements and issues associated with such an assessment. We find that spatially explicit modelling of the biophysical impacts of restoration over time is challenging due to non-linear effects and interaction effects. This has repercussions for the spatially explicit assessment of costs and benefits, which in itself is a demanding task. We conclude that the gains of investing in the research needed to conduct such an assessment can be high, both in terms of advancing science and in terms of providing useful information for decision makers.

AB - Recent evidence suggests that the degree of degradation of peatlands is substantial, and that there is a significant potential to enhance the delivery of a wide range of ecosystem services by investing in peatland restoration. However, little is known about the social welfare impacts of peatland restoration and in particular how to spatially target restoration activities to maximise net benefits from investments in restoration. This paper investigates the steps required to conduct a spatially explicit economic impact assessment of peatland restoration, and highlights and discusses key requirements and issues associated with such an assessment. We find that spatially explicit modelling of the biophysical impacts of restoration over time is challenging due to non-linear effects and interaction effects. This has repercussions for the spatially explicit assessment of costs and benefits, which in itself is a demanding task. We conclude that the gains of investing in the research needed to conduct such an assessment can be high, both in terms of advancing science and in terms of providing useful information for decision makers.

KW - Cost-benefit analysis

KW - Ecosystem services

KW - Peatland restoration

KW - Spatial targeting

KW - Valuation

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A framework for valuing spatially targeted peatland restoration

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

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