Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
have ramii cations on other parts of the same
system or other interconnected systems. How
do we anticipate all of these and account for
them? Similarly, wetlands do not have clearly
demarcated spatial boundaries and their bene-
i ts might be accrued over wide areas. This may
pose problems when accounting for benei ts
and costs. For example, the l ood abatement
benei ts of a wetland might be felt far down-
stream from the actual wetland site. Further-
more, making changes to ecosystems today
could have ramii cations in a century's time that
we may not even anticipate today.
How do we assess and account for impacts
in the future? Economists have provided dis-
counting techniques to account for costs and
benei ts accruing at different time periods. This
involves summing up future benei ts or losses
in present-day terms using a specii ed discount
rate. The choice of discount rate used for this
process invariably inl uences the outcome and
may in turn affect the economic viability of a
project. Even so, CBA and CV are widely used
across the world. Depending on the specii c
goals of a valuation exercise and the resources
and time available to undertake it, other eco-
nomic methods used in the past have included
cost-effectiveness, hedonic pricing, travel-cost,
restoration- and replacement-cost methods.
In responding to criticisms of economically
focused methods, some have offered alternative
approaches to valuing environmental resources
while still retaining the methodological contri-
butions of CBA and mainstream economic tech-
niques. Turner, Georgiou and Fisher (2008, p. 9)
proposed the ecosystem-services approach,
which in addition to linking human welfare
to ecosystem health, seeks to identify non-
monetized services provided by wetlands and
incorporate these services into the valuation
process. Such comprehensive approaches
attempt to evaluate ecosystem functions and
services, alongside their social contexts, govern-
ance and management arrangements. Within the
valuation exercise, the ecosystem services
approach also simulates different futures based
on ecosystem alterations to provide policy
makers with a wide range of options from which
to choose (Turner, Georgiou and Fisher 2008).
Finally, stakeholder involvement at various
stages of the valuation process, including estab-
lishing management objectives, coni guring gov-
ernance structures, and determining values, are
essential components of such endeavors.
A similar approach is advocated by the inter-
national body on wetlands, the Ramsar Conven-
tion, and is summarized here (de Groot et al.
2006). This approach is a i ve-stage process. In
the i rst stage, management goals and objectives
are assessed to gauge the parameters of the
endeavor and make informed decisions about
how to proceed with a valuation. Second, a
comprehensive stakeholder analysis is initiated,
where various stakeholders and benei ciaries of
a wetland site are identii ed and their roles
made explicit. Considerable attention is paid to
this stage of the process, with the acknowledge-
ment that stakeholders contribute signii cant
knowledge and are benei ciaries of wetland
services and products and hence may play
important roles in the success or failure of pro-
posed changes to a wetland site.
The third stage includes an exhaustive func-
tional assessment of hydrological, biological,
chemical, physical, and ecological contributions
and an inventory of products and services
offered by a wetland. In the fourth stage, the
actual valuation and analysis of benei ts in eco-
nomic, environmental, and social terms using
market and non-market based methods are
undertaken. The i fth and i nal stage includes
communicating the results of the valuation exer-
cise to all stakeholders and decision makers.
The Ramsar-supported approach, thus, places
equal emphasis on the market and non-market
elements of wetland ecosystems, prioritizes the
role of stakeholders, and engages in the wide-
spread dissemination of results.
11.6 Summary
This chapter provides a general overview of
wetland services, functions and uses with exam-
ples from across the world. Wetlands provide
habitat refuges for l ora and fauna, and they aid
in the capture, storage and cycling of nutrients
through the Earth's terrestrial, hydrological and
