What Have Rivers Ever Done For Us? Ecosystem Services and River Systems - River Conservation and Management - page 295

Table 25.2 Examples of how ecosystem services were quantified and, where possible, valued.

Ecosystem services
(Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment, 2005)

Selected examples from the case studies of how this service was quantified and, if
appropriate, valued in monetary terms.

Provisioning services
Fresh water

Tamar case study : projected cost savings on treatment of abstracted water resulting from
river quality protection.

Food (e.g. crops, fruit,
fish, etc.)

Alkborough Flats case study : net marginal change associated with lost arable production
replaced by rare livestock breeds grazing outputs.

Biochemicals, natural
medicines,
pharmaceuticals

Pancheshwar Dam case study : loss of natural biochemicals through inundation of
mountain habitat and its rare and diverse wildlife and genetic resources was the basis for
'likelihood of impact' score (Defra, 2007a).

Regulatory services
Air quality regulation Mayesbrook Park case study : impact of tree planting and growth on air quality was linked

to the costs of health-related air pollution in the UK. High degree of uncertainty but
likely significant beneficial outcomes assumed.

Climate regulation (e.g.
local temperature/
precipitation,
greenhouse gas
sequestration)

Mayesbrook Park case study : projected tree growth, augmented by likely carbon
sequestration in reedbeds, wetland habitat and floodplain soils (all based on
peer-reviewed sources). Augmented by estimating the contribution of urban 'green
spaces' to micro-climate, adjusted for the number of people living within 500 m; likely
benefits considered significantly positive, but uncertainties prevented full quantification.

Water regulation (e.g.
timing and scale of
runoff, flooding)

River Glaven case study : estimated improved river flow buffering (through reconnection
of channel to floodplain) multiplied by the value of vulnerable property downstream.
Alkborough Flats study : imported a value from a detailed, bespoke cost-benefit study.

Erosion regulation Tamar case study : regulation of erosion quantified by extrapolating likely improvements to

bank/wetland protection to data obtained for the costs of dredging in the Tamar estuary.

Water purification and
waste treatment

Tamar and Bristol Avon case studies : the provisioning service of 'fresh water' was
separately quantified; the regulatory service was not separately quantified, in order to
avoid double-counting.
The benefit of waste assimilation service separate from freshwater abstraction, could be
assessed by the costs of additional treatment were the environment not to perform it.

Cultural services
Cultural heritage The loss of the culturally important Pancheshwar site by dam construction was assessed as

potentially highly significant ( ++ ).

Recreation and tourism Mayesbrook Park case study : restoration would improve 'green space' facilities for local

people, quantified using user survey data. Valuation deduced from a related study, with
appropriate revision to the locality of Mayesbrook Park.

Social relations (e.g.
fishing, grazing or
cropping
communities)

River Glaven case study : sea trout restoration project served as a focal point for a number
of statutory, local conservation, key estate and landowner, and other groups, enhancing
local social capital around river integrity. Valuation based on time expenditure,
particularly by volunteers, multiplied by published estimated values for different skill
levels.

ADDENDUM: Education
resources

'Education resources' service at Mayesbrook Park : recognized the value of restored river
and park habitats to sporting and amenity opportunities, close to schools. Value derived
on averted cost of school coach trips to similar resources elsewhere.

Supporting services
Nutrient cycling Published values for nitrogen and phosphorus cycling from a related study on wetlands

used in the Tamar, Alkborough Flats, Mayesbrook Park and Bristol Avon case studies.

Provision of habitat River Glaven, Bristol Avon and Mayesbrook Park case studies : enhanced habitat valued by

costs averted from bespoke management works for priority species or general wildlife.