Benefits and costs of ecological restoration: Rapid assessment of changing ecosystem service values at a U.K. wetland

Abstract

Restoration of degraded land is recognized by the international community as an important way of enhancing both biodiversity and ecosystem services, but more information is needed about its costs and benefits. In Cambridgeshire, U.K., a long-term initiative to convert drained, intensively farmed arable land to a wetland habitat mosaic is driven by a desire both to prevent biodiversity loss from the nationally important Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve (Wicken Fen NNR) and to increase the provision of ecosystem services. We evaluated the changes in ecosystem service delivery resulting from this land conversion, using a new Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site-based Assessment (TESSA) to estimate biophysical and monetary values of ecosystem services provided by the restored wetland mosaic compared with the former arable land. Overall results suggest that restoration is associated with a net gain to society as a whole of $199 ha−1y−1, for a one-off investment in restoration of $2320 ha−1. Restoration has led to an estimated loss of arable production of $2040 ha−1y−1, but estimated gains of $671 ha−1y−1 in nature-based recreation, $120 ha−1y−1 from grazing, $48 ha−1y−1 from flood protection, and a reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worth an estimated $72 ha−1y−1. Management costs have also declined by an estimated $1325 ha−1y−1. Despite uncertainties associated with all measured values and the conservative assumptions used, we conclude that there was a substantial gain to society as a whole from this land-use conversion. The beneficiaries also changed from local arable farmers under arable production to graziers, countryside users from towns and villages, and the global community, under restoration. We emphasize that the values reported here are not necessarily transferable to other sites.

Does nature conservation enhance ecosystem services delivery?

“…Whilst data on carbon is now relatively abundant and widespread to allow for global and regional modelling, data on the full suite of ES that protected areas provide is not, and there are still uncertainties in metrics and values used, even in well studied protected areas (e.g. Peh et al 2014). In addition, ES, such as cultural services, show great spatial and temporal heterogeneity (Martín-López et al, 2009) and are much more challenging to assess and value in a meaningful way for decision-making.…”

Methodological aspects of ecosystem service valuation at the national level

“…Another limitation of the value transfer studies is the context within which the ecosystem service valuations are produced. Several studies have developed policy scenarios or targets analysis, for example in the context of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) (Peh et al 2014).…”

Ecosystem services in a peri-urban protected area in Cyprus: a rapid appraisal

“…Another underestimation refers to the contribution of the extensive root systems, particularly in the cases of known phreatophytes like Ziziphus lotus (Gorai et al 2010). Despite this limitation, in the absence of resources for extensive fieldwork, TESSA provides a consistent, inexpensive, rapid tool for ecosystem services appraisal at local level, which can be easily applied by practitioners and understood by stakeholders (Peh et al 2014;Blaen et al 2015). The tool becomes even more valuable in protected areas, including Natura 2000 sites, where often restrictions apply for land use and conservation management, which might influence the provision of services.…”