Event Title
Economic Value Judgments on Ecosystems: Challenges to the Realization of the Ecosystem Approach
Location
Ceremonial Mootcourt Room
Start Date
30-6-2012 9:00 AM
End Date
30-6-2012 10:30 AM
Description
The ecosystem approach has now been widely endorsed as a strategy to conserve our ecosystems and to ensure the provision of ecosystem services[1]. Even though its concrete understanding is subject to debate, it seems to entail at least two requirements: holism and coordination. A holistic approach means that all elements of an ecosystem are considered/valued when decisions are made by administrative sectors. Cross-sectoral coordination is required in the sense that the different administrative sectors have a coordinated approach towards the ecosystem. Holism and coordination in combination are required to establish a degree of consistency among policy sectors towards the integration of the full value of the ecosystem within decision-making processes. This consistency is however difficult to achieve due the fragmentation of environmental law, the discretion embedded in the legal acts and the dependence on value judgments on parts of ecosystems.
The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between the architecture and nature of environmental law and the realization of the ecosystem approach. The term ‘environmental law’ here is used in its broadest understanding, meaning not only the legal acts that have the protection of the environment as their main goal, but all the legal acts that can have an effect on the environment. In the case of an ecosystem, various legal acts may be applicable at the same time or may have an effect on the ecosystem. Due to the fragmentation of environmental law, different acts may be aimed at the protection of different elements of the ecosystem, such as the water and the species; or they aim to regulate different activities within that ecosystem, such as shipping, building, aquaculture, and fishing; or they may have an unintended effect on the ecosystem such as the adverse effects from industry, trade and transport.
In this fragmented environmental law, it could be difficult or challenging to realize an ecosystem approach. This is perhaps complicated by the fact that these different legal acts are implemented under different administrative sectors with different interests, tools and traditions, and by the fact that the legal acts may entail a degree of discretion or flexibility for administrative bodies. Administrative bodies often need to carry out value judgments on ecosystems, i.e. they have to value and weigh the competing interests that are at stake.
These value judgments often consist of the economic valuation of ecosystem services. An important concern that arises here in the context of the ecosystem approach is that the worth of the ecosystem may be conceived differently or inconsistently within each decision. When the value of the ecosystem is to be expressed through monetary terms, its calculated value depends on a relatively high number of variables, such as the particular services that are monetized, the particular valuation methods that are applied, the discount rate used, the availability of scientific knowledge on the ecosystem services, the capability of the economist to take into account this scientific knowledge, and so forth. The amount of variables present in the process of monetization makes it very difficult to elucidate the worth of the ecosystem in a consistent manner. This divergence in value judgments on parts of the same ecosystem hinders the realization of the ecosystem approach, jeopardizes their integrity, and affects their provision of ecosystem services to mankind.
[1] Since the fifth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity defined the ecosystem approach in Decision V/6, Annex A, Section 1, as a ‘strategy for the integrated management of land, water, and living resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way’, variations of the ecosystem approach may be found within various international, European and national legal acts.
Economic Value Judgments on Ecosystems: Challenges to the Realization of the Ecosystem Approach
Ceremonial Mootcourt Room
The ecosystem approach has now been widely endorsed as a strategy to conserve our ecosystems and to ensure the provision of ecosystem services[1]. Even though its concrete understanding is subject to debate, it seems to entail at least two requirements: holism and coordination. A holistic approach means that all elements of an ecosystem are considered/valued when decisions are made by administrative sectors. Cross-sectoral coordination is required in the sense that the different administrative sectors have a coordinated approach towards the ecosystem. Holism and coordination in combination are required to establish a degree of consistency among policy sectors towards the integration of the full value of the ecosystem within decision-making processes. This consistency is however difficult to achieve due the fragmentation of environmental law, the discretion embedded in the legal acts and the dependence on value judgments on parts of ecosystems.
The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between the architecture and nature of environmental law and the realization of the ecosystem approach. The term ‘environmental law’ here is used in its broadest understanding, meaning not only the legal acts that have the protection of the environment as their main goal, but all the legal acts that can have an effect on the environment. In the case of an ecosystem, various legal acts may be applicable at the same time or may have an effect on the ecosystem. Due to the fragmentation of environmental law, different acts may be aimed at the protection of different elements of the ecosystem, such as the water and the species; or they aim to regulate different activities within that ecosystem, such as shipping, building, aquaculture, and fishing; or they may have an unintended effect on the ecosystem such as the adverse effects from industry, trade and transport.
In this fragmented environmental law, it could be difficult or challenging to realize an ecosystem approach. This is perhaps complicated by the fact that these different legal acts are implemented under different administrative sectors with different interests, tools and traditions, and by the fact that the legal acts may entail a degree of discretion or flexibility for administrative bodies. Administrative bodies often need to carry out value judgments on ecosystems, i.e. they have to value and weigh the competing interests that are at stake.
These value judgments often consist of the economic valuation of ecosystem services. An important concern that arises here in the context of the ecosystem approach is that the worth of the ecosystem may be conceived differently or inconsistently within each decision. When the value of the ecosystem is to be expressed through monetary terms, its calculated value depends on a relatively high number of variables, such as the particular services that are monetized, the particular valuation methods that are applied, the discount rate used, the availability of scientific knowledge on the ecosystem services, the capability of the economist to take into account this scientific knowledge, and so forth. The amount of variables present in the process of monetization makes it very difficult to elucidate the worth of the ecosystem in a consistent manner. This divergence in value judgments on parts of the same ecosystem hinders the realization of the ecosystem approach, jeopardizes their integrity, and affects their provision of ecosystem services to mankind.
[1] Since the fifth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity defined the ecosystem approach in Decision V/6, Annex A, Section 1, as a ‘strategy for the integrated management of land, water, and living resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way’, variations of the ecosystem approach may be found within various international, European and national legal acts.