Critical Services
Ecosystem services are the direct and indirect benefits provided by nature. They include filtering water and air, providing timber and medicine, sequestering carbon and reducing the threat of flooding and fire.
The Ecosystem Services Valuer is a GIS tool designed by Eco-index to help balance finance-based decisions. This tool provides monetary valuation for 23 different ecosystem services that are generated from 33 native ecosystem types.
Benefit Transfer Approach to Ecosystem Services Valuation
Our approach to ecosystem services valuation utilises the benefit transfer methodology, backed by data from over 9,000 studies of ecosystem services across the globe*. Our economists and ecologists mapped international values to the biomes of Aotearoa New Zealand so that the Ecosystem Service Valuer tool can provide valuation of services from ecosystems that currently exist in your landscape or those you’re considering reconstructing.
Ecosystem Services Valuer
From our Economist
“The power of monetary valuation lies in its ability to increase visibility. It brings the hidden wealth of nature into the view of markets. Fortunately, it is very difficult to privatise this value, and that is not the aim of valuation. What it does do is communicate importance.”
- Dr Jay Whitehead, Eco-index Economist - Read more in How much is a mountain worth?
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$3,000 base cost + area fee.
Contact us to let us know the size of your area of interest and we can deliver a quote.
Overview of Ecosystem Services. Source: Aotearoa Circle. Click to expand.
Screenshot of Ecosystem Services Valuer tool, showing yellow selected polygon and the table of ecosystem service valuations. Click to expand.
Ecosystem services are valuable! This table presents data for four native ecosystems. Click to expand.
How does the Ecosystem Services Valuer work?
The Ecosystem Services Valuer is a GIS database that provides $NZD valuations for 23 different ecosystem services. These valuations are provided for seven biomes that comprise a total of 33 different native ecosystems. The Ecosystem Service Valuer can be applied to existing native ecosystems in your landscape, as well as ecosystem types that you’re considering reconstructing. The values are per hectare, per year and are intended to represent broad-scale benefits.
* Brander, L.M., de Groot, R., Schägner, J.P., Guisado Goñi, V., van't Hoff, V., Solomonides, S., McVittie, A., Eppink, F., Sposato, M., Do, L., Ghermandi, A., Sinclair, M., Thomas, R. (2024). Economic values for ecosystem services: A global synthesis and way forward. Ecosystem Services, 66, 101606.
Banner image: Karen Denyer