Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
“pollinators provide a service worth £430 million a year to British farmers'' or “health
benefits of living with a view of a green space are worth up to £300 per person per
year'', etc.
When monetizing ecosystem services, it is considered how human decisions would
affect ecosystem service values.
Value changes
are expressed in quantitative terms,
e.g. in money. In this way this value can be incorporated in public decision-making
processes (Mooney
et al.
, 2005). Methods for the calculation of the monetary value
show a large variety, differing mainly in their concept. The three main types are market
valuation, revealed preference and stated preference.
-
Market valuation may be based on
◦
price (market price);
◦
cost (avoided, replacement, mitigation or restoration costs);
◦
production
(production
function,
e.g.,
effect
of
soil
fertility
on
crop
production)
-
Revealed preference
◦
Travel Cost Method for the recreational value of a site, quantified by the
amount of time and money that people spend while traveling to the site;
◦
Hedonic Pricing Method, e.g., how ecosystem services (clean air, water and
aesthetic view) will increase the price of surrounding real estate;
-
Stated preference by simulated (modeled) valuation
◦
Contingent Valuation Method is based on the expressed willingness of the
users of the land e.g., to increase the level of water so that they might enjoy
activities like swimming, boating, or fishing.
◦
Choice modeling uses choice experiments, contingent ranking, contingent
rating and pair comparison for valuating ecosystem and its services.
5.3 Innovative environmental data acquisition, evaluation
and interpretation
The management of the information and knowledge is an integral part of ERM. Data
collected for decision making should be converted into useful information in a quan-
tifiable and comparable form and made available and used in the proper way, in the
possession of knowledge. Evaluation and interpretation of primary data on potential or
actual hazards, e.g., contaminants, the environment itself and its users, i.e. the ecosys-
tem and humans are essential for decision making. Environmental risk assessment is
one of the interpretation tools which integrate the information from the acquired data
on the hazardous agents, e.g., chemical substances, their fate and effects on the envi-
ronment (geochemical, hydrogeological, topographical, etc.) and its users (land uses
and exposure pathways).
A large amount of data are available in databases, but in the course of the man-
agement of a problem, e.g., a contaminated site, much more should be acquired by
assessment or monitoring of contaminants, contaminated sites as well as the effects
of technologies to the environment. One would think that the methods for acquiring
data on the environment are completely satisfactory, but if we have new management
strategies, we can identify new and missing tools, methods, equipment and strategies
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