The economic insurance value of ecosystem resilience

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Abstract: Ecosystem resilience, i.e. an ecosystem's ability to maintain its basic functions and controls under disturbances, is often interpreted as insurance: by decreasing the probability of future drops in the provision of ecosystem services, resilience insures risk-averse ecosystem users against potential welfare losses. Using a general and stringent definition of "insurance" and a simple ecological-economic model, we derive the economic insurance value of ecosystem resilience and study how it depends on ecosystem properties, economic context, and the ecosystem user's risk preferences. We show that (i) the insurance value of resilience is negative (positive) for low (high) levels of resilience, (ii) it increases with the level of resilience, and (iii) it is one additive component of the total economic value of resilience. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor mayJEL-Classification: Q57, Q56, D81, G22

Effects of adaptive harvesting on fishing down processes and resilience changes in predator-prey and tritrophic systems

“…Preserving the resilience of fisheries is both an ecological and economic concern, as it helps the recovery of harvested food webs, and as it insures fishermen against potential losses in yield and profits (Baumgärtner and Strunz 2014). Resilience is however a multifaceted concept, that requires diversified measures (Donohue et al 2016).…”

Applying three distinct metrics to measure people’s perceptions of resilience

“…A second method is to measure the maximum ex ante WTP for a marginal increase in resilience (Baumgärtner and Strunz 2014). The value of resilience has been often referred to metaphorically.…”

“…To our knowledge, no empirical study has yet applied this approach. Baumgärtner and Strunz (2014) defined the economic value of resilience with a mathematical, ecological-economic model. The economic value V of resilience is defined as the maximum ex ante WTP per unit for a marginal increase of ΔR in the level of resilience R:…”

“…Although coral reef ecosystems are rich in biodiversity and are an essential source of genetic resources (Arrieta et al 2010), they are in danger (Moberg 2017). The value of resilience was measured by an ex ante WTP for a marginal increase in resilience (Baumgärtner and Strunz 2014). The motivations behind valuing resilience were measured using Schwartz's human value theory (Schwartz 1996, Hicks et al 2015.…”

Framing a Nordic IPBES-like study

“…its existence value) sometimes also referred to as "insurance value" or "glue value" (Turner et al, 2003)" (De Groot et al, 2010, p. 262 Value, insurance: Ecosystem resilience, i.e. an ecosystem's ability to maintain its basic functions and controls under disturbances, is often interpreted as insurance (Baumgärtner & Strunz, 2014).…”