Economic valuation of ecosystem services fails to capture biodiversity value of tropical forests

The reconciliation of biodiversity conservation, ecosystem service provision and agricultural production in tropical landscapes requires recognition of the trade-offs between competing land-uses. It is especially relevant for conservation planning to assess whether the economic value of ecosystem se...

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Main Authors: Carrasco, Luis Roman, Nghiem, T.P.L, Sunderland, Terry C.H., Koh, L.P.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/95128
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author Carrasco, Luis Roman
Nghiem, T.P.L
Sunderland, Terry C.H.
Koh, L.P.
author_browse Carrasco, Luis Roman
Koh, L.P.
Nghiem, T.P.L
Sunderland, Terry C.H.
author_facet Carrasco, Luis Roman
Nghiem, T.P.L
Sunderland, Terry C.H.
Koh, L.P.
author_sort Carrasco, Luis Roman
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description The reconciliation of biodiversity conservation, ecosystem service provision and agricultural production in tropical landscapes requires recognition of the trade-offs between competing land-uses. It is especially relevant for conservation planning to assess whether the economic value of ecosystem services is spatially congruent with biodiversity. Previous analyses have largely focused on ecosystem service provision or assumed homogeneous economic values across land uses within biomes. We relax this assumption by carrying out a spatially explicit meta-analysis based on 30 studies of ecosystem service values in tropical forests from The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) database, while controlling for economic, environmental and methodological variables. Our results demonstrate a lack of spatial congruence between the economic value of ecosystem services and biodiversity in tropical forests. Instead, we find that economic value presents a nonlinear inverted-U relationship with site accessibility and economic activity, highlighting the importance of matching supply and demand between each ecosystem service and its beneficiaries for economic values to be realized. The implications are that conservation policies focusing solely on the economic value of ecosystem services will fail to protect biodiversity in remote and less disturbed regions.
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spelling CGSpace951282025-09-25T13:01:42Z Economic valuation of ecosystem services fails to capture biodiversity value of tropical forests Carrasco, Luis Roman Nghiem, T.P.L Sunderland, Terry C.H. Koh, L.P. tropical forests land use planning nontimber forest products ecosystems biodiversity The reconciliation of biodiversity conservation, ecosystem service provision and agricultural production in tropical landscapes requires recognition of the trade-offs between competing land-uses. It is especially relevant for conservation planning to assess whether the economic value of ecosystem services is spatially congruent with biodiversity. Previous analyses have largely focused on ecosystem service provision or assumed homogeneous economic values across land uses within biomes. We relax this assumption by carrying out a spatially explicit meta-analysis based on 30 studies of ecosystem service values in tropical forests from The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) database, while controlling for economic, environmental and methodological variables. Our results demonstrate a lack of spatial congruence between the economic value of ecosystem services and biodiversity in tropical forests. Instead, we find that economic value presents a nonlinear inverted-U relationship with site accessibility and economic activity, highlighting the importance of matching supply and demand between each ecosystem service and its beneficiaries for economic values to be realized. The implications are that conservation policies focusing solely on the economic value of ecosystem services will fail to protect biodiversity in remote and less disturbed regions. 2014-10 2018-07-03T11:02:26Z 2018-07-03T11:02:26Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/95128 en Open Access Elsevier Carrasco, L.R., Nghiem, T.P.L., Sunderland, T.C.H., Koh, L.P. . 2014. Economic valuation of ecosystem services fails to capture biodiversity value of tropical forests Biological Conservation, 178 : 163-170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2014.08.007
spellingShingle tropical forests
land use planning
nontimber forest products
ecosystems
biodiversity
Carrasco, Luis Roman
Nghiem, T.P.L
Sunderland, Terry C.H.
Koh, L.P.
Economic valuation of ecosystem services fails to capture biodiversity value of tropical forests
title Economic valuation of ecosystem services fails to capture biodiversity value of tropical forests
title_full Economic valuation of ecosystem services fails to capture biodiversity value of tropical forests
title_fullStr Economic valuation of ecosystem services fails to capture biodiversity value of tropical forests
title_full_unstemmed Economic valuation of ecosystem services fails to capture biodiversity value of tropical forests
title_short Economic valuation of ecosystem services fails to capture biodiversity value of tropical forests
title_sort economic valuation of ecosystem services fails to capture biodiversity value of tropical forests
topic tropical forests
land use planning
nontimber forest products
ecosystems
biodiversity
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/95128
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