Home > Benefits of restoring ecosystem services in urban areas
Author(s):
T Elmqvist, H Setälä, S N Handel, S van der Ploeg, J Aronson, J N Blignaut, E Gómez-Baggethun, D J Nowak, J Kronenberg, R de Groot
Publisher:
Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability Vol 14
Pages:
8
Year:
2015
This peer-reviewed paper highlights that even the most conservative economic approaches show the monetary advantages of investing in urban green and blue infrastructure, such as rehabilitation of rivers and woodlands.
The paper is based on data from 25 case study areas in urban regions of the USA (20), Canada (1) and China (4) and on a detailed investigation of five ecosystem services. The authors estimate the overall benefits resulting from investments to be in the range of US$ 3,212-17,772 per hectare per year, including for already highly degraded areas. Cautions apply to the lack of including non-use values and limited possibilities to adequately capture ecosystem services with non-monetary value (such as health benefits) and more subtle benefits (such as a space-specific sense of identity). Another concern is the often significant time lag between the investment in, and the benefits accruing from, ecosystem restoration. While these limits show the need for further research, this article provides a basis for a range of stakeholders such as urban planners, policymakers and conservationists to argue for the viability of investing in the provision and restoration of ecosystem services, which provide the fundamental basis for life in urban areas.