Chapter 3 Measuring biophysical quantities and the use of ... - TEEB

Figure 1:Map of ecosystem services of water flows for the Little Karoo region of SouthAfrica. These data were used by Reyers et al. (2009) to assess changes inecosystem services supply over time.In summary, few indicators at present move beyond the quantification of a stock or flow of aservice to the actual valuing of the service, and despite developments, calculating the contributionof biodiversity and effects of changes in its state to these values remains a challenge.2.6 LessonsDespite the array of biodiversity and ecosystem service indicators available, few lend themselvesto a direct application of determining the economic consequences of biodiversity and ecosystemchange. We will need a representative set of indicators to ensure that all relevant aspects ofbiodiversity and ecosystem change are captured and valued – from diversity to condition. Areliance on existing indicators will in all likelihood capture the value of a few species andecosystems relevant to food and fibre production, and will miss out the role of biodiversity andecosystems in supporting the full range of ecosystem services, as well as their resilience into thefuture.An alternative avenue is to focus on pressures and their use in models of the economicconsequences of policy inaction in the arena of land cover or climate change. This approachbypasses the actual measurement or modelling of biodiversity and ecosystem change, andinvestigates the implications for land cover and climate change on ecosystem services directly(e.g. Schroter et al. 2005; Metzger et al. 2006). However, this approach will not necessarilyadvance the case for biodiversity and ecosystem governance which is the key purpose of TEEB,27