Finding Space for Nature

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Finding Space for Nature

• Simon Wightman
• Senior Reserves Ecologist
• RSPB

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(No Transcript)
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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 Earths ecosystems compared with the planets
  capacity to regenerate

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Supporting services

• Primary production
• Nutrient dispersal and cycling
• Seed dispersal

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Provisioning services

• Food (including seafood, game, crops, wild food
  and spices)
• Water
• Pharmaceuticals, biochemicals and industrial
  products
• Energy (biomass fuels, hydropower)

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Regulating services

• Climate regulation and carbon sequestration
• Waste decomposition and detoxification
• Purification of water and air
• Crop pollination
• Pest and disease control

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Cultural services

• Cultural, intellectual and spiritual inspiration
• Recreation (including tourism)
• Scientific discovery

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• A cynic is someone who knows the price of
  everything but the value of nothing Oscar
  Wilde

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Have we ever put a value on these services?

• Initial findings from The Economics of Ecosystems
  and Biodiversity (TEEB), an EU-funded 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

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so if the value of the services is so great,
whats 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)

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• 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 its in everybody's
  self-interest to take more from a free resource
  (the tragedy of the commons)

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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

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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 Indias 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.

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Links between local livelihoods and biodiversity
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Environmentally sensitive farming

• Agriculture accounts for 7 of Englands 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

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Saltmarsh

• In 2006, 170 hectares of land was converted to
  saltmarsh at Alkborough Flats
• Flood protection value of the saltmarsh is
  estimated at gt400,000 a year
• 539 tonnes of carbon is stored in the mud, which
  is estimated to be worth 14,500 a year
• The wildlife and landscape has been valued at
  535,000 a year

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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

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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

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Marine

• Marine Protected Areas provide benefits valued
  at gt19 billion in improved fish recruitment for
  commercial fisheries and recreation

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Floodplains

• Floodplain restoration is estimated to deliver
  4 of savings in water treatment costs for every
  1 spent

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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

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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 were part of

Our response to this crisis needs to be, in the
most basic sense, a reality check. - Dr Rowan
Williams
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• Be good to the climate!
• Ask where things come from if you doubt it,
  dont buy it
• Support truly sustainable producers and
  businesses
• Lobby
• Support your charity