Research Highlight - Rising importance of economic valuation of ecosystem services in protecting Canada's vital resources
As part of Aquanty’s ongoing “Lunch ‘n’ Learn” our newest team member (Dr. Tariq Aziz) had the chance to present his recent research on quantifying the 'hidden' value offered by Southern Ontario's ecosystems. The valuation of ecosystem services is something that Aquanty believes strongly in, and we're excited to welcome Dr. Aziz to the team so he can help us to translate HydroGeoSphere model outputs into economic metrics that are more relevant for water resources professionals and policy makers.
Before joining the team Tariq worked for the BC Government as an environmental economist and carried out province-wide environmental assessments. At the University of Waterloo, Tariq’s PhD and postdoc work largely focused on integrating water and other natural resources into economic accounts, with the aim of supporting policy makers and practitioners in implementing sustainable practices at watershed scale and beyond.
To learn more about this topic please review the following resources:
Aziz, T., Van Cappellen, P., 2020. Valuation of Ontario’s ecosystem services and relevance for decision-making, in: Selam A. Lund (Ed.), Canada: Past, Present and Future Perspectives. Nova Science Publishers, New York, pp. 131–165. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/345311399_Valuation_of_Ontario's_ecosystem_services_and_relevance_for_decision-making
Economic valuation of suspended sediment and phosphorus filtration services by four different wetland types: A preliminary assessment for southern Ontario, Canada: https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.14442
Comparative valuation of potential and realized ecosystem services in Southern Ontario, Canada: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2019.06.014
Abstract:
Economic valuation of ecosystem services offers support for environmental policy making at local, regional, and global scales. However, high uncertainties associated with monetary estimates have hindered their relevance for decision-making processes. These uncertainties arise from the wide variety of valuation methods, data inconsistencies, and underlying assumptions used to capture complex ecosystem processes and functions. In the first part of the talk, I present consistent valuation frameworks that can yield scientifically defensible and policy-relevant estimates. The estimates generated by applying consistent valuation approaches provide a rationale for their consideration into policy-making processes and, thus, can help protect our natural resources, such as water. Most water models now have a capacity to capture fundamental hydrological processes fairly accurately. Yet, we need to transform these modelling outputs to policy-relevant metrics for protecting and improving our waters. Therefore, the second part of my talk describes two examples of comprehensive impact valuation of water quality changes in Ontario to illustrate why we need to go beyond the development of time-series of hydrological variables.