How do we communicate the value of ecosystem services to human wellbeing?

Abstract

Nature contributes abundantly to human wellbeing, from providing basic survival needs such as food and water, through to the spiritual nourishment we may derive from a deep sense of place. A recent study funded by Department of Conservation has gathered together the existing evidence of the myriad ways that indigenous ecosystem services contribute to New Zealand wellbeing. A prime function of the ecosystem services framework is to render visible the value of nature’s services in a world where value is much more commonly measured in financial capital and GDP. Society is increasingly aware that GDP is not a good measure of wellbeing and is moving away from purely monetary measures to a more diverse set of indicators of a community’s or nation’s wellbeing. At the same time, work on ecosystem services is generally moving in the opposite direction to try and communicate the wide variety of different types of value of nature’s services in dollar terms. Recent years have seen the development of increasingly sophisticated techniques for assessing the value of many non-market goods in monetary measures, but many challenges remain, including how to better address equity (e.g. willingness to pay implicitly gives greater weight to what a rich person’s values) and cumulative effects (e.g. do the first and last tonne of soil lost from a farm have the same value?). As awareness grows that wellbeing depends on so much more than money, perhaps we need to think more creatively about how to communicate the value of what nature’s ecosystem services provide. Lin Roberts is a Senior Lecturer at Lincoln University, and has worked in ecology, public policy, and advising, teaching and researching on sustainable enterprise. She is currently leading a DOC funded study on ecosystem services and New Zealand wellbeing.