Misconceptions about the valuation of ecosystem services
Robert Costanza
Abstract
• Several misconceptions about the valuation of ecosystem services persist. • These include misconceptions about valuation in monetary units. • The distinction between valuation and privatization. • The false dichotomy between ‘intrinsic value’ and valuation in monetary units. • Each of these are addressed in turn with a plea for more constructive dialogue. The concept of ecosystem services – the benefits humans derive from functioning ecosystems – has been around for at least 4 decades. Attempts to value those services in monetary and other units have been around for just as long. However, several misconceptions have sprung up about ecosystem services, and especially the valuation of those services in monetary units, that are counterproductive to further dialogue, research, and solutions. This paper attempts to address some of those misconceptions, including showing that: (1) ecosystem services is not an anthropo centric concept; (2) economics is not only the market; (3) valuation is not commodification or privatization; (4) expressing relative values in monetary units is not necessarily ‘market-based’; (5) in a world of trade-offs, whether to perform a valuation is not a choice since it happens implicitly; (6) ‘intrinsic values’ are about rights, not relative valuation; and (7) relative valuation and rights-based approaches are complimentary not mutually exclusive. I address each of these misconceptions in turn and end with a plea for constructive dialogue on these important issues, not continuing unproductive debate founded on fundamental misconceptions.