Economic Valuation of Ecosystem Services – a Case Study in Germany
The presentation starts with a short overview about the main land use conflicts and societal requirements on landscapes in Germany. This first part is followed by an introduction to the valuation frame for the assessment of ecosystem services provided by agricultural landscapes in Germany. Several typical ecosystem services of MEA (2005) categories - such as provisioning, regulating and cultural services - are being discussed as preparation for the calculation practice. The presentation follows up with an overview about the main expected influences on agriculture caused by climate change in Germany such as increase of extreme weather events, rising temperature, and water scarcity in some regions. Adaptation and mitigation options are discussed. The total economic value concept is being introduced in line with respective valuation methods. Besides cost based approaches, preference based valuation methods are discussed. Critical aspects such as the problem of double accounting are being discussed as well. The presentation ends with concrete suggestions for the preference based valuation exercise and some general benefits of the approach in the context of land use and climate change.
