Economic valuation of ecosystem services, the case of Lake Elliðavatn and Lake Vífilsstaðavatn

• Main Author: Halla Margrét Jóhannesdóttir 1983-
• Other Authors: Háskóli Íslands
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Hagfræði; Umhverfis- og auðlindafræði; Vistkerfi; Auðlindahagfræði; Elliðavatn; Vífilsstaðavatn; Reykjavíkurborg; Garðabær; Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1946/4358

Managing the environment is a complicated task constantly faced by decision-makers in all the world´s communities. In Iceland heated debates have been going on over the recent years concerning whether natural areas should be industrially developed or protected for recreational purposes. The aim of this paper is to bring another perspective to the Icelandic debate, an economic valuation of ecosystem services. The term “ecosystem services” refers to the benefits human population derives from ecosystems. The ecosystem services provided by two lakes in the capital area of Iceland, Lake Elliðavatn and Lake Vífilsstaðavatn were assessed according to the categorization scheme of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) published in 2005. The MEA classifies ecosystem services into four categories; provisioning services, regulating services, cultural services and supporting services. Services from each category were identified and valued with economic valuation methods; market price, defensive behavior, travel cost and factor income. The final result is that the annual value of ecosystem services provided by Lake Elliðavatn in 2009 is in the range of ISK 83.263.647 - 101.308.524 (constant ISK 2009). For Lake Vífilsstaðavatn this value is in the range of ISK 5.713.925 - 5.981.560 (constant ISK 2009). It was concluded that although an economic valuation of ecosystem services can only serve as an indicator of a potential value of the ecosystem services provision, it still provides an important contribution to the debate of environmental manament in Iceland. Rannís, Orkuveita Reykjavíkur, Garðabær, Reykjavíkurborg