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entry fees for national parks (see Chapters 5-8 for detailed
examples).
Valuation is also increasingly used to inform impact
assessments of proposed legislation and policies. Examples
include the EU Water Framework Directive and the UK’s upcoming
marine legislation which provides for Marine Conservation
Zones because of the ecosystem benefits they supply
(see Chapter 4). Valuation tools are also useful for assessing
RESPONDING TO THE VALUE OF NATURE
damage to natural resources to set compensation e.g. by
the courts under formal liability regimes in the US, India and
the EU (see Box 10.7 and Chapter 7).
Despite some successful examples, the potential for
using valuation to inform policy making is still
largely unrealised. For most countries, the first step is
to put appropriate assessment procedures in place for
identification and understanding of the impacts of losses.
Box 10.4: The conversion choice: economics, private interest and public interest
Looking at the full range of costs and benefits can show whether land conversion makes economic sense. A study
in Southern Thailand (Barbier 2007) on conversion of mangroves into commercial shrimp farms showed net private
economic returns estimated at US$ 1,220 per ha per year (10% discount rate), taking account of available
subsidies. This return does not integrate rehabilitation costs (US$ 9,318 /ha) when the pond is abandoned after 5
years of exploitation. The conversion decision is clearly an easy one for those making the private gain but the
conclusion changes if the main costs and benefits to society are included. Estimated benefits provided by
mangroves, mostly to local communities, were around US$ 584/ha for collected wood and non-wood forest
products, US$ 987/ha for providing nursery for off-shore fisheries and US$ 10,821/ha for coastal protection against
storms, totalling US$ 12,392/ha (even without considering other services like carbon sequestration) – an order
of magnitude larger than the benefits of converting the mangroves to shrimp farming (see figure below). Only
through appropriate policy responses (e.g. clear property rights, permit systems, removal of any perverse
subsidies that encourage conversion, compensation mechanisms) can such unbalanced trade-offs be avoided.
Comparison of land use values per ha, Southern Thailand
TEEB FOR NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL POLICY MAKERS - CHAPTER 10: PAGE 8
Source: Hanley and Barbier 2009