A way to map the value of ecosystem services delivered by lakes in Europe

This study provides the first assessment of the economic value of ecosystem services provided by lakes at the large scale (Europe). We rely on a meta-analytic benefit transfer approach based on a new meta-database consisting of 107 observations for 35 distinct lakes located in 12 different European countries and delivering 8 different ecosystem services. Our value function transfer makes a distinction between the value of the biophysical potential of a lake to generate ecosystem services, and the value of the effective delivery of ecosystem services to local populations. We provide high-resolution maps of the economic value of lakes at the European scale and we discuss how this mapping may support water policy-makers. A scenario analysis shows that an improvement of the ecological conditions of all European lakes to a moderate status at least would generate an aggregated benefit of 5.9 billion EUR per year. This gain corresponds to 12,184 EUR per ha of restored lake per year, a figure significantly higher than the cost of lake restoration reported in the literature. This study grounds conservation and restoration measures of lakes on an economic analysis of the benefits they provide to citizens and, therefore, is relevant to the implementation of the EU water policy.

REYNAUD Arnaud;  LIQUETE GARCIA Maria Del Camino;  LANZANOVA Denis;  GRIZZETTI Bruna;  BROGI Cosimo; 

2017-10-09

EAERE

JRC107451

http://fleximeets.com/eaere23/?p=programme,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC107451,