Search results

AbstractIn this study, we augment the traditional travel cost approach with contingent behavior data for coastal recreation. The objective is to analyze the welfare implications of future changes in the conditions of the Baltic Sea due to climate change and eutrophication. Adding to the literature, we assess the symmetricity of welfare effects caused by improvements and deteriorations in environmental conditions for a set of quality attributes. Responses are derived from identical online surveys in Finland, Germany and Latvia. We estimate recreational benefits using linear and non-linear negative binomial random-effects models. The calculated annual consumer surpluses are considerably influenced by the magnitude of the environmental changes in the three countries. We also observe asymmetries in the effects of environmental improvements and deteriorations on the expected number of visits. In particular, the results indicate that deteriorations lead to larger or more significant impacts than improvements in the case of blue-green algal blooms and algae onshore for Finland, water clarity for Germany, and water clarity and blue-green algal blooms for Latvia. For the remaining attributes, the effects are ambiguous.

MARECOS (Marine Ecosystem Services) er et tværfagligt studie, der har haft til formål at tilvejebringe information vedrørende kortlægning og værdisætning af økosystemtjenester, som kan anvendes i forbindelse med udformning af regulering på det marine område såvel nationalt, som regionalt og internationalt. Denne rapport indeholder forslag til, hvordan opgørelser af økosystemers tilstand baseret på EU's Havstrategidirektiv (EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, MSFD), samt opgørelser baseret på anvendelse af HELCOM's indikatorer for Østersøen, kan anvendes i forbindelse med kortlægning og værdisætning af økosystemtjenester. Rapporten indeholder:  Definitioner og beskrivelser af centrale begreber i forhold til opgørelse af økosystemtjenester, Forslag til, hvordan marine økosystemtjenester kan opgøres.  Eksempler på, hvordan MSFD deskriptorerne og indikatorerne relateret til opgørelse af miljøtilstand kan kædes sammen med udvalgte økosystemtjenester, samt hvordan disse data kan anvendes i forbindelse med opgørelser af økosystemtjenester.  Præsentation og diskussion af resultater fra værdisætningsstudier, som kan anvendes i forbindelse med opgørelser af økosystemtjenester i praksis.  En diskussion af, hvor der er behov for yderligere viden i forhold til værdisætning af økosystemtjenester, samt i forhold til deskriptorer og indikatorer for god miljøtilstand.  Et case‐studie, der demonstrerer, hvordan rekreation (som repræsenterer en kulturel økosystemtjeneste) kan værdisættes. Rapporten beskriver de potentialer, der ligger i at sammenkæde data og viden relateret til vandkvalitet og tilstanden af marine økosystemer med værdien af de økosystemtjenester, som de marine økosystemer tilvejebringer. Rapporten indeholder dermed information af relevans for politikere og beslutningstagere involveret i reguleringen af det marine område.

This manuscript is a result of DEVOTES (DEVelopment Of innovative Tools for understanding marine biodiversity and assessing good Environmental Status) project, funded by the European Union under the 7th Framework Programme, 'The Ocean of Tomorrow' Theme (grant agreement no. 308392), www.devotes-project.eu. María C. Uyarra is partially funded through the Spanish programme for Talent and Employability in R + D + I "Torres Quevedo". Melanie Austen and Stefanie Broszeit are partially funded by the Marine Ecosystems Research Programme, Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) (grant number NE/L003279/1). ; The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) requires Member States to assess the costs and benefits of Programmes of Measures (PoMs) put in place to ensure that European marine waters achieve Good Environmental Status by 2020. An interdisciplinary approach is needed to carry out such an assessment whereby economic analysis is used to evaluate the outputs from ecological analysis that determines the expected effects of such management measures. This paper applies and tests an existing six-step approach to assess costs and benefits of management measures with potential to support the overall goal of the MSFD and discusses a range of ecological and economic analytical tools applicable to this task. Environmental cost-benefit analyses are considered for selected PoMs in three European case studies: Baltic Sea (Finland), East Coast Marine Plan area (UK) and the Bay of Biscay (Spain). These contrasting case studies are used to investigate the application of environmental cost-benefit analysis including the challenges, opportunities and lessons learnt from using this approach. This paper demonstrates that there are opportunities in applying the six-step environmental cost-benefit analysis framework presented to assess the impact of PoMs. However, given demonstrated limitations of knowledge and data availability, application of other economic techniques should also be considered (although not applied here) to complement the more formal environmental cost-benefit analysis approach. ; Publisher PDF ; Peer reviewed