TEEB Manual for Cities

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The TEEB Manual for Cities: Ecosystem Services in Urban ManagementValuing Trees inEdmonton, CanadaIn 2009, the City of Edmonton analyzedthe environmental effects, value andstructure of Edmonton’s urban forestusing the ‘Urban Forest Effects Model’(www.nrs.fs.fed.us/tools/ufore/). Thismodelling software can approximatethe effectiveness of the urban forestin at least three ecosystem services:cleansing the air; sequestering carbon;and, reducing storm water in theCity. It relies on monetary values foreach service which have been takenfrom other contexts (benefit transfermethod) and can be quite uncertain.But the advantage of this method isthat it is comparatively easy to apply. Ifdone for similar (e.g. North American)contexts it can quickly deliver usefulfirst approximations.For the City of Edmonton, which has12.8 million trees, it was a sufficientlyrobust approach to understand, andto communicate to their Counciland citizens, some of the additionalservices offered by trees and how theuse of trees can save the City money.Financial benefits were tallied and thecost of their boulevard, centre medianand buffer trees calculated, focusing on:structure (species composition, extentand diversity); function (environmentaland aesthetic benefits); value (annualmonetary value of the benefits providedand costs accrued); and, managementneeds (diversity canopy cover, pruningneeded).It was found that the average benefitper tree in Edmonton’s urban forestwas US$74.73. The cost for caring foreach tree is US$18.38 resulting in a netbenefit of US$56.35.Source: Grant Pearsell, City ofEdmonton (pers. comm.).City of EdmontonFurther reading:● TEEB – The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for Local and Regional Policy Makers. (2010) (page 43-49), foradditional details about the selection of methods provided in the Table above.● Pearce et al. 2002. Handbook of Biodiversity Valuation: A Guide for Policy Makers. This OECD handbook for practitionersprovides guidance on biodiversity valuation, points out tradeoffs and contrasts economic and non-economic valuation.● World Bank; IUCN; TNC (2004) How much is an ecosystem worth? Assessing the economic value of conservation.This brochure introduces the approach of ecosystem services and compares different valuation methods in an easilyaccessible format. biodiversityeconomics.org/document.rm?id=710● A easily understandable introduction on ecosystem service valuation, along with essentials, ‘the bigger picture’ and anoverview of existing valuation methods is available at www.ecosystemvaluation.org.● Bann C. 2003. The Economic Valuation of Mangroves: A Manual for Researchers. This academic ‘how-to’ guide points outhow to conduct a Cost-Benefit-Analysis of mangroves and presents possible management options. http://network.idrc.ca/uploads/user-S/10305674900acf30c.html.● Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). 2007. An introductory guide to valuing ecosystem services(http://archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/policy/natural-environ/documents/eco-valuing.pdf) provides a good introduction tovaluation techniques.● Kumar P, Verma M, Wood MD and Negandhi D. 2010. Guidance manual for the valuation of regulating services.Ecosystem Services Economics (ESE) Working Paper Series. United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi.● Building natural value for sustainable economic development: The green infrastructure valuation toolkit user guide(Green infrastructure Northwest 2011) (www.greeninfrastructurenw.co.uk/resources/Green_Infrastructure_Valuation_Toolkit_UserGuide.pdf) guides stakeholders to make good decisions about the decision options associated with a greeninfrastructure.● Turner RK, Georgiou S and Fisher B. 2008. Valuing Ecosystem Services (www.urbanforestrysouth.org/resources/library/valuing-ecosystem-services; www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=102770) provides guidance on the valuation of ecosystemservices, using multifunctional wetlands as an example.● The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity in National and International Policy Making (2010), especially Chapter 4,explores a range of instruments to reward those offering ecosystem service benefits, to reduce the incentives of thoserunning down our natural capital, and to offer subsidies that respond to future priorities.23
The TEEB Manual for Cities: Ecosystem Services in Urban ManagementStep 4Assess (future changes in) ecosystem servicesHaving determined the methodologyfor assessing the value of therelevant ecosystem services inStep 3, the logical next step is toconduct the valuation. This stepis, therefore, simply putting theselected methodology into practiceand assessing how the problem orpolicy issues will affect ecosystemservices. The examples belowillustrate some of the ways in whichthe methods, introduced above, havebeen implemented. This is the ‘study’component of the process, which canbe time consuming and often requiresvery specific expertise. It is thereforeusually worthwhile considering hiringexperts to undertake the assessmentdespite the cost.Ideally, this step in the process shouldconsider not only the current value ofecosystem services to the city, but alsohow those values have changed overtime and how they will change underdifferent scenarios – i.e. as a result ofthe problem or under different policydecisions. An integral component of thisassessment is understanding the driversof change. While it is not always possibleto include all of these issues into a singleassessment or valuation study – it isimportant to draw on whatever additionalinformation is available for designing theanalysis (step 3) and for interpreting itsresults (steps 4 and 5).City of Cape TownThe values of Cape Town’s ecosystem services were estimated by experts.City of Cape Town’s ecosystem services valuation process (continued)Expert advice was sought from a groupof experienced resource and environmentaleconomists on the consultingteam, and validated with experts outsidethe team. The valuation techniquesused and key results were as follows(all values based on 2007 data):Tourism:● Total tourism value: US$137 millionto US$418 million per annum; basedon the amount of revenue generatedby visitors who were travelling to, orin, the City in 2007; as a result of theattraction of natural features.Recreation:● Local recreational values: US$58million to US$70 million per annumbased on benefits transfer fromprevious valuation studies in CapeTown for recreation.Globally important biodiversity:● Donor funding of US$32 million forconservation has flowed to the regiongiving a proxy of value - it can easilybe argued that Cape Town is one ofthe most important cities in the worldfor biodiversity conservation.Aesthetic and sense of placerelated values:● Evidence shows that natural spacesplay an important role in improvinghealth and well-being in cities.● Natural assets help to attract skilledentrepreneurs and others that driveeconomic development. CapeTown’s branding is now stronglylinked to its natural assets.● Natural assets are a key driver of thefilm and advertising industry and arevalued between US$18.8 million andUS$56.4 million per annum, basedon industry expenditure ascribableto natural asset locations.● Cape Town boasts some of themost sought-after property, largelybecause of its natural assets. At asite specific scale, rehabilitation andrestoration projects have createdsignificant values.Natural hazard regulation:● US$650,000 to US$8.6 million perannum for natural hazard regulation(wildfires, floods and storm surge)based on estimates of the cost ofdamages avoided from buffering offires, flooding and storm surge bynatural assets.Water purification and wastetreatment, assimilation:● Case studies show values and risks.For example, the need to dredgeZeekoevlei Wetland for US$8.5– US$9.9 million represents theminimum clean-up costs needed forthe wetland to function normally andavoid ecosystem collapse.Source: De Wit and van Zyl 2011;De Wit et al. 2009.24
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TEEB Manual for Cities

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