TEEB Manual for Cities

The TEEB Manual for Cities: Ecosystem Services in Urban Management3.1 Communicating to decision makers and other line functionsBudget decisions are inherently politicaland are subject to continuous lobbyingby competing interests. A focus onecosystem valuation can be particularlyvaluable because it translates naturalassets into the same ‘currency’ as othermunicipal concerns. When a monetaryestimate of ecosystem services isprovided, it draws attention to theimportance of ecosystems. Caution isnecessary here, because for any givenecosystem service, other alternatives(that do not benefit ecosystems) arelikely to yield more immediate gain (forexample, individual property prices arelikely to out-price ecosystem services).However, any given ecosystem providesmultiple benefits, though only one or twomay have had values assessed. Furtherbecause conserving ecosystems meansa continual flow of ecosystem servicesand not a once-off economic benefit, it ishard to compete with ecosystem serviceswhen it comes to a longer term return oninvestment.Ecosystems typically require very littleactual investment to continue provision ofbenefits; however the replacement costsare high.Furthermore, it is likely that even wheneconomic benefits cannot be quantified,social benefits are likely to be evidentand it may be useful to bring these factsto the attention of decision makers, sothat ecosystem services are stronglyconsidered when comparing policy andmanagement options. How this is donewill vary according to administration butcan be a part of the process from thestart, by meeting and presenting to therelevant politician; and, by presenting thecalculated values, or estimated worth,of ecosystems in project proposals orbudget applications.City of Cape Town’s ecosystem services valuation process (continued)City of Cape TownOne of the unforeseen benefits of the assessment and valuation of Cape Town’s ecosystem services was an increased partnership between the EnvironmentalResource Department and the Finance Department around the benefits of ecosystem services.In the case of the Cape Town study theresult was not quite what was intendedbut was nevertheless useful. Thestudy was conducted in the hope thatthe results – which were impressivelyin favour of an ecosystem-focusapproach – would be able to influencethe budget in the following budgetingcycle. However, it was discovered that itis difficult to make direct links betweenany study and increased budgetsgiven the large number of factors thatinfluence policy decisions. Equally,budget allocations do not changeimmediately in response to an issue,but tend to be delayed until largershifts occur as the importance of anissue is internalized and starts buildingmomentum. A better understandingabout the value of the City’s naturalassets was necessary, but not sufficientto bring an immediate shift in financialpolicy and budget allocations. To makematters more challenging, timing andcompeting demands were externalfactors that had an influence on theoutcome:●●Timing: results came out in themidst of the global recession.The Cape Town World CupSoccer Stadium had also justbeen completed significantly overbudget.Competing demands: servicedelivery is urgently requiredmaking it difficult to increaseenvironmental spending bydrawing from service deliverybudgets even though the benefitsof environmental investment canbe clearly shown.This study provided, in the words of theEnvironmental Resource ManagementDepartment, ‘a fantastic foundation’for the further development ofenvironmental fiscal reform strategiesin the City and turned out to be a longterminvestment. The EnvironmentalResource Department learnedinvaluable lessons from the otherdepartments with whom it engaged,especially the finance department; whileofficials from the other departments gota sense of the importance and value ofecosystems in the City for the first time.This is certain to prepare theground for future project proposals,budget allocations, etc. Furthermorethe study indicated the need and theviability for attaching payment forecosystem services to specific usergroups,and options are currentlybeing investigated.Source: De Wit and van Zyl 2011; DeWit et al. 2009.32