Uncertainties in the value and opportunity costs of pollination services

Pollination is an ecosystem service that directly contributes to agricultural production, and can therefore provide a strong incentive to conserve natural habitats that support pollinator populations. However, we have yet to provide consistent and convincing pollination service valuations to effecti...

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Autores principales: Magrach, A., Champetier, A., Krishnan, S., Boreux, Virginie, Ghazoul, J.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Wiley 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/106532
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author Magrach, A.
Champetier, A.
Krishnan, S.
Boreux, Virginie
Ghazoul, J.
author_browse Boreux, Virginie
Champetier, A.
Ghazoul, J.
Krishnan, S.
Magrach, A.
author_facet Magrach, A.
Champetier, A.
Krishnan, S.
Boreux, Virginie
Ghazoul, J.
author_sort Magrach, A.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Pollination is an ecosystem service that directly contributes to agricultural production, and can therefore provide a strong incentive to conserve natural habitats that support pollinator populations. However, we have yet to provide consistent and convincing pollination service valuations to effectively slow the conversion of natural habitats. We use coffee in Kodagu, India, to illustrate the uncertainties involved in estimating costs and benefits of pollination services. First, we fully account for the benefits obtained by coffee agroforests that are attributable to pollination from wild bees nesting in forest habitats. Second, we compare these benefits to the opportunity cost of conserving forest habitats and forgoing conversion to coffee production. Throughout, we systematically quantify the uncertainties in our accounting exercise and identify the parameters that contribute most to uncertainty in pollination service valuation. We find the value of pollination services provided by one hectare of forest to be 25% lower than the profits obtained from converting that same surface to coffee production using average values for all parameters. However, our results show this value is not robust to moderate uncertainty in parameter values, particularly that driven by variability in pollinator density. Synthesis and applications. Our findings emphasize the need to develop robust estimates of both value and opportunity costs of pollination services that take into account landscape and management variables. Our analysis contributes to strengthening pollination service arguments used to help stakeholders make informed decisions on land use and conservation practices.Pollination is an ecosystem service that directly contributes to agricultural production, and can therefore provide a strong incentive to conserve natural habitats that support pollinator populations. However, we have yet to provide consistent and convincing pollination service valuations to effectively slow the conversion of natural habitats.We use coffee in Kodagu, India, to illustrate the uncertainties involved in estimating costs and benefits of pollination services. First, we fully account for the benefits obtained by coffee agroforests that are attributable to pollination from wild bees nesting in forest habitats. Second, we compare these benefits to the opportunity cost of conserving forest habitats and forgoing conversion to coffee production. Throughout, we systematically quantify the uncertainties in our accounting exercise and identify the parameters that contribute most to uncertainty in pollination service valuation.We find the value of pollination services provided by one hectare of forest to be 25% lower than the profits obtained from converting that same surface to coffee production using average values for all parameters. However, our results show this value is not robust to moderate uncertainty in parameter values, particularly that driven by variability in pollinator density.Synthesis and applications. Our findings emphasize the need to develop robust estimates of both value and opportunity costs of pollination services that take into account landscape and management variables. Our analysis contributes to strengthening pollination service arguments used to help stakeholders make informed decisions on land use and conservation practices.
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spelling CGSpace1065322025-01-27T15:00:52Z Uncertainties in the value and opportunity costs of pollination services Magrach, A. Champetier, A. Krishnan, S. Boreux, Virginie Ghazoul, J. pollination agricultural production ecosystem services coffea cost benefit analysis Pollination is an ecosystem service that directly contributes to agricultural production, and can therefore provide a strong incentive to conserve natural habitats that support pollinator populations. However, we have yet to provide consistent and convincing pollination service valuations to effectively slow the conversion of natural habitats. We use coffee in Kodagu, India, to illustrate the uncertainties involved in estimating costs and benefits of pollination services. First, we fully account for the benefits obtained by coffee agroforests that are attributable to pollination from wild bees nesting in forest habitats. Second, we compare these benefits to the opportunity cost of conserving forest habitats and forgoing conversion to coffee production. Throughout, we systematically quantify the uncertainties in our accounting exercise and identify the parameters that contribute most to uncertainty in pollination service valuation. We find the value of pollination services provided by one hectare of forest to be 25% lower than the profits obtained from converting that same surface to coffee production using average values for all parameters. However, our results show this value is not robust to moderate uncertainty in parameter values, particularly that driven by variability in pollinator density. Synthesis and applications. Our findings emphasize the need to develop robust estimates of both value and opportunity costs of pollination services that take into account landscape and management variables. Our analysis contributes to strengthening pollination service arguments used to help stakeholders make informed decisions on land use and conservation practices.Pollination is an ecosystem service that directly contributes to agricultural production, and can therefore provide a strong incentive to conserve natural habitats that support pollinator populations. However, we have yet to provide consistent and convincing pollination service valuations to effectively slow the conversion of natural habitats.We use coffee in Kodagu, India, to illustrate the uncertainties involved in estimating costs and benefits of pollination services. First, we fully account for the benefits obtained by coffee agroforests that are attributable to pollination from wild bees nesting in forest habitats. Second, we compare these benefits to the opportunity cost of conserving forest habitats and forgoing conversion to coffee production. Throughout, we systematically quantify the uncertainties in our accounting exercise and identify the parameters that contribute most to uncertainty in pollination service valuation.We find the value of pollination services provided by one hectare of forest to be 25% lower than the profits obtained from converting that same surface to coffee production using average values for all parameters. However, our results show this value is not robust to moderate uncertainty in parameter values, particularly that driven by variability in pollinator density.Synthesis and applications. Our findings emphasize the need to develop robust estimates of both value and opportunity costs of pollination services that take into account landscape and management variables. Our analysis contributes to strengthening pollination service arguments used to help stakeholders make informed decisions on land use and conservation practices. 2019-07 2020-01-14T13:09:15Z 2020-01-14T13:09:15Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/106532 en Limited Access Wiley Magrach, A.; Champetier, A.; Krishnan, S.; Boreux, V.; Ghazoul, J. (2019) Uncertainties in the value and opportunity costs of pollination services. Journal of Applied Ecology 56(7) p. 1549-1559 ISSN: 0021-8901
spellingShingle pollination
agricultural production
ecosystem services
coffea
cost benefit analysis
Magrach, A.
Champetier, A.
Krishnan, S.
Boreux, Virginie
Ghazoul, J.
Uncertainties in the value and opportunity costs of pollination services
title Uncertainties in the value and opportunity costs of pollination services
title_full Uncertainties in the value and opportunity costs of pollination services
title_fullStr Uncertainties in the value and opportunity costs of pollination services
title_full_unstemmed Uncertainties in the value and opportunity costs of pollination services
title_short Uncertainties in the value and opportunity costs of pollination services
title_sort uncertainties in the value and opportunity costs of pollination services
topic pollination
agricultural production
ecosystem services
coffea
cost benefit analysis
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/106532
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AT champetiera uncertaintiesinthevalueandopportunitycostsofpollinationservices
AT krishnans uncertaintiesinthevalueandopportunitycostsofpollinationservices
AT boreuxvirginie uncertaintiesinthevalueandopportunitycostsofpollinationservices
AT ghazoulj uncertaintiesinthevalueandopportunitycostsofpollinationservices