Ecosystem valuation facts for kids

Ecosystem valuation is a way to figure out how much nature is worth. It helps us understand the impact people have on our planet. We do this by giving a money value to an ecosystem (like a forest or ocean) or to the helpful things nature does for us, called ecosystem services.

Why Do We Value Nature?

Sometimes, we value an ecosystem by looking at what it produces. This is like seeing how much its water, wood, fish, or game would sell for. This helps us put a price on the "natural capital" of an ecosystem. It shows how much value it creates each year.

Nature's Hidden Services

Nature does many things for us that we don't always think about. These are called "nature's services." For example, trees clean the air, and wetlands filter water. In the 1990s, a scientist named Robert Costanza studied these services. He found that the value of Earth's ecosystems was huge. It was even more than the world's entire economy at that time!

Other studies look at how much value changes when an ecosystem is harmed or improved. This helps people decide if new environmental policies are worth the cost.

Different Ways to Value Nature

There are four main ways to think about the value of ecosystems:

• Direct use value: This is the value from using nature directly. Think of catching fish to eat or cutting wood for building.
• Indirect use value: This is the value from nature's helpful side effects. For example, a forest helps clean the air, even if you don't directly use the trees.
• Option value: This is the value of keeping nature safe for the future. We might not use a certain plant today, but it could be important for medicine later.
• Non-use value: This is the value of an ecosystem just existing. It has three parts:

* Knowing it helps other people. * Knowing it will be there for future generations. * Simply knowing it exists, even if you never see it.

How Do We Estimate Value?

It's hard to put a price on things nature does for free. Scientists use different methods to estimate this value:

• Stated preference methods: These methods ask people directly how much they would pay for an ecosystem service. For example, they might ask how much you would pay to protect a clean river.
• Revealed preference methods: These methods look at how people behave to guess what they value. For instance, they might see how far people travel to visit a beautiful park. This helps estimate how much they value that park.

Is Valuing Nature About Money or Life?

When we talk about valuing nature, it often sounds like an economics topic. This is because economics usually deals with how humans get food, build homes, and use resources.

However, ecology also studies how living systems work. Animals don't use money, but they act as if nature is valuable. They might defend their territory or access to water. So, you could say they "value" their ecosystem too.

Some people think that "valuation" is only a human idea. They believe it's not an "objective" part of nature itself. But even ecology, which studies nature, is a human way of understanding the world. Concepts like a food chain are human ideas to help us make sense of ecosystems.

Sometimes, people fight over resources because they see them as very valuable. This shows that the resources or ecosystems are worth a lot to them, even if it means taking risks.

Images for kids

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  Figure 1. Example of ecosystem services range for mangrove habitat

See also

In Spanish: Valuación de ecosistema para niños