International Waters learning Exchange & Resource Network

What are Caribbean ecosystems worth? IWEco provides training in Economic Valuation

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) co-implemented, Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded Integrating Water, Land and Ecosystems Management in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (IWEco) Project is a five-year, regional project that seeks to address water, land and biodiversity resource management as well as climate change. IWEco’s objective is to contribute to the preservation of Caribbean ecosystems that are of global significance and to the sustainability of livelihoods through the application of existing proven technologies and approaches best suited for small island developing states. One such technology is the Economic Valuation of Ecosystem Services (ESV) approach to quantify environmental benefits.Small Island Developing States (SIDS) rely heavily on the natural environment for food and employment (via e.g., tourism, recreation, agriculture, fisheries). The concept of Ecosystem Services (ES), and the Economic Valuation (EV) of these ES, aims at shrinking the information and knowledge gap by trying to provide numbers that reflect the “true value” of ecosystems and natural resources which are usually regarded as free and taken for granted. EV assesses both the immediate economic benefits of ecosystems, such as raw materials, food, and clean water (provisioning services), as well as the benefits that are often difficult to evaluate in monetary terms, such as landscape beauty, optional use for future generations, and existence of biodiversity (optional values and non-use values).

4932: Integrating Water, Land and Ecosystems Management in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (IWEco)

23 des. 2020

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