Transcript Finding Space for Nature Simon Wightman Senior Reserves Ecologist RSPB

Finding Space for Nature
Simon Wightman
Senior Reserves Ecologist
RSPB
Some definitions….
• Biodiversity – The variability
and variety of organisms on the
Earth
• Ecosystem – A community of
organisms together with their
environment
• Ecosystem services – The
benefits humans receive from the
resources and processes supplied
by ecosystems
• Ecological footprint – a measure
of human demand on Earth’s
ecosystems compared with the
planet’s capacity to regenerate
Supporting services
• Primary production
• Nutrient dispersal
and cycling
• Seed dispersal
Provisioning
services
• Food (including seafood,
game, crops, wild food
and spices)
• Water
• Pharmaceuticals,
biochemicals and
industrial products
• Energy (biomass fuels,
hydropower)
Regulating services
• Climate regulation and
carbon sequestration
• Waste decomposition and
detoxification
• Purification of water and
air
• Crop pollination
• Pest and disease control
Cultural services
• Cultural, intellectual
and spiritual
inspiration
• Recreation (including
tourism)
• Scientific discovery
“A cynic is someone
who knows the price
of everything but the
value of nothing” –
Oscar Wilde
Have we ever put a value on
these services?
• Initial findings from The
Economics of Ecosystems and
Biodiversity (TEEB), an EUfunded study led by Pavan
Sukhdev, Senior Economist at
Deutsche Bank
• Deforestation alone has been
estimated to cost the global
economy $2-5 trillion a year
(~7% of GDP)
• The final report is due to be
published in 2010
…so if the value of the services is so great,
what’s the problem?
“A market failure occurs when the market
does not allocate scarce resources to
generate the greatest social welfare.
…resources can be reallocated to make at
least one person better off without making
anyone else worse off.” (Hanley, Shogren &
White 2007)
• Externality – a person makes a choice that affects
others who were not accounted for e.g. clearing
rainforests for palm oil
• Public goods – people benefit from the actions of
others without contributing e.g. efforts to tackle
climate change
• Common property – it’s in everybody's selfinterest to take more from a ‘free’ resource (the
tragedy of the commons)
How do we place a value on an
ecosystem?
•
Avoided cost – society avoids costs associated
with a service (e.g. waste treatment by wetlands
reduces health costs)
•
Replacement costs – the cost of replacing
natural services with man-made ones
•
Factor income – service provides enhanced
incomes (e.g. improved water quality increases
commercial take of a fishery)
•
Travel cost – the value of an ecosystem is at
least as much as people will pay to get there
•
Hedonic pricing – prices people will pay for
associated goods (e.g. house prices are greater
near woodland or on the coast)
•
Contingent valuation – hypothetical willingness
to pay scenarios
If we get it wrong the costs
are not incurred equally
• In rural Zimbabwe the richest 10%
of people obtain 29% of their
income from natural resources. The
poorest 20% obtain 40% of their
income from natural resources.
• In India’s arid regions wild products
normally provide 14-23% of the
total income for people in poor rural
communities. In times of drought
this rises to 42-57%.
• Catchment deforestation has caused
floods in the Mekong delta that have
forced 1 million people from their
homes and resulted in the loss of
50,000ha of farmland.
Links between local livelihoods and
biodiversity
Decline in livelihoods
Biodiversity loss
Improvement in livelihoods
Intensive and large-scale resource
Conversion of natural habitats to
extraction of valuable resources by
agriculture
private companies
Biodiversity maintenance
Strict protected areas
or increase
Sustainable management of
biodiversity
Environmentally sensitive
farming
• Agriculture accounts for
7% of England’s total
greenhouse gas emissions
• Environmentally sensitive
farming can reduce
greenhouse gas emissions
by 11% (3.5 million tonnes
over 7 years)
• Value estimated at £1.25
billion
Saltmarsh
• In 2006, 170 hectares of
land was converted to
saltmarsh at Alkborough
Flats
• Flood protection value of
the saltmarsh is estimated at
>£400,000 a year
• 539 tonnes of carbon is
stored in the mud, which is
estimated to be worth
£14,500 a year
Peat
• We currently lose
between 3 and 6 million
tonnes of carbon from
lowland peat soils in
England every year
• This is valued at £74-150
million a year
• In addition, intact upland
peat bogs regulate water
supply and improve
quality saving utility
companies money
Woodland
• English woodlands
can remove 15
million tonnes of
carbon from the
atmosphere every
year
• In addition they can
provide materials,
food and recreational
opportunities
Marine
Marine Protected
Areas provide
benefits valued at
>£19 billion in
improved fish
recruitment for
commercial fisheries
and recreation
Floodplains
Floodplain
restoration is
estimated to deliver
£4 of savings in
water treatment
costs for every £1
spent
Recreation
• People living within 500m
of accessible open space
are 24% more likely meet
the minimum level of
exercise required to avoid
health problems
• Increasing the level of
exercise people take by 1%
would be estimated to save
£1.5 billion in health care
What can we do?
“Many of the things that have moved us towards
ecological disaster have been distortions of who and
what we are and their overall effect has been to isolate
us from the reality we’re part of…
Our response to
this crisis needs to
be, in the most
basic sense, a
reality check.” Dr Rowan
Williams
•Be good to the
climate!
•Ask where
things come
from… if you
doubt it, don’t
buy it
•Support truly
sustainable
producers and
businesses
•Lobby
•Support your
charity