Value transfer in economic valuation of ecosystem services – Some methodological challenges

Pinke, Zsolt László and Vári, Ágnes and Kovács, Eszter (2022) Value transfer in economic valuation of ecosystem services – Some methodological challenges. ECOSYSTEM SERVICES, 56. No. 101443. ISSN 2212-0416

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Abstract

The economic valuation of ESs is intended to assist decision-making processes, by assessing the value of the ESs in monetary terms. However, scientific debate about the ethical and methodological issues related to economic valuation of ESs is still ongoing. In this commentary, we would like to raise some of the methodological issues in detail and also refer to the ethical aspects of economic valuation. Primary data for the economic valuation of ESs is frequently unavailable, and conducting primary valuations is too costly and time consuming, therefore, the results of other studies are used for value estimates via benefit or value transfer. If input data are lacking on regional scale, the global estimates may seem easy to use, and especially because they offer unit values for a wide range of biomes and services. However, global unit value estimates, which are standardised mean unit values based on individual case studies, are unsuitable for transfer to local or regional scales. Another area where primary data is frequently imperfect and the valuations demand interdisciplinary collaboration is the production boundary or human added value in general. A widely debated question is the high value estimates of provisioning services in many assessments, especially for food from intensive crop farming, which have had multiple human inputs (e.g. human labour, fertilisers, pesticides, machinery and other technologies). As a result, some studies assign considerably greater ecosystem service value to the food production on croplands than, for example, extensive grasslands or forests, and therefore to a much lesser degree is indicated the contribution of nature in the provision of these services. It should be noted that the whole ES approach and the economic valuation of ESs are, as manifestations of anthropocentrism, highly controversial in the eyes of many scholars with different professional backgrounds, many with a great commitment to nature. Yet the economic valuation of ESs may nonetheless prove to be reasonable in certain circumstances, if the methodological recommendations are followed carefully and the limitations on the results and their use are also addressed. All these aspects need to be handled with care and conscientiousness, and especially with regard to the responsibility of the researcher and the messages that they want to convey.

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