Using Meta-Analysis and GIS for Value Transfer and Scaling Up: Valuing Climate Change Induced Losses of European Wetlands

Abstract

There is growing policy and academic interest in transferring ecosystem service values from existing valuation studies to other ecosystem sites at a large geographic scale. Despite the evident policy demand for this combined transfer and "scaling up" of values, an approach to value transfer that addresses the challenges inherent in assessing ecosystem changes at a national or regional level is not available. This paper proposes a methodology for scaling up ecosystem service values to estimate the welfare effects of ecosystem change at this larger geographical scale. The methodology is illustrated by applying it to value the impact of climate change on European wetlands for the period 2000-2050. The proposed methodology makes use of meta-analysis to produce a value function. The parameters of the value function include spatial variables on wetland size and abundance, GDP per capita, and population. A geographic information system is used to construct a database of wetland sites in the case study region with information on these spatial variables. Site-specific ecosystem service values are subsequently estimated using the meta-analytic value function. The proposed method is shown to enable the adjustment of transferred values to reflect variation in important spatial variables and to account for changes in the stock of ecosystems.

A generic marginal value function for natural areas

“…Useful summaries and meta-analyses of the valuation literature on forests are provided by Barrio and Loureiro (2010), Lindhjem (2007), Ojea et al (2010), Zanderson and Tol (2009); and on wetlands by Brander et al (2006Brander et al ( , 2012, Brouwer et al (1999), Ghermandi et al (2010) and Woodward and Wui (2001). Descriptive overviews of the valuation literature on natural open space proximate to urban areas are provided in Fausold and Lilieholm (1999) and McConnell and Walls (2005).…”

European Added Value of the TEN-T Corridors. Basic Research Needs and Challenges

“…in the form typical of the (value) supply chain. The main source of data for supplying the analytical model ought to include the results of studies conducted for particular core network corridors between 2013 and 2016 (Studies on the TEN-T Core Corridor Network Corridors) in which the current state of particular corridors was analyzed, indicating indispensable investments eliminating bottlenecks and gaps in TEN-T network Brander et al 2012, Ivanova & Kancs 2012, Kiel et al 2013). …”

“…Horizon 2020, focuses on initial assessing the development of the core network corridors of the EU trans-European transport networks -TEN-T (Brander et al 2012). They are perceived in the context of their multi-level impact on the economic environment, comprising mainly the transport and commodity systems and markets of the EU Member States -in the internal and external relations (Fermi et al 2011, Celbis et al 2013.…”

“…Taking into account the theoretical nature of such research, it will be possible to use the worked out methodology also on other levels of planning, i.e. the national, regional or urban related level (Brander et al 2012, Wegener 2008, Ivanova & Kancs 2010. Such studies will make it possible to develop the principle defining the possibility of optimal (maximizing the added value in the sustainable system of criteria) use of limited financial resources remaining at the disposal of the managers of infrastructure, for the purpose of its development and modernization.…”

Cost benefit analysis and the environment

“…Examples of meta-analytical functions that have been estimated in the literature include inland European wetlands (Brander et al, 2011); grasslands, global wetlands, mangroves and coral reefs (Hussain et al, 2011); recreational and passive forests services (Chiabai et al, 2009). In all cases but one (coral reefs), one of the explanatory variables is the level of per capita income, measured in PPP terms, whereby the value of a given class of ecosystem services rises with per capita income.…”