Luke Brander

• PhD
• Economist at Brander Environmental Economics

Aiming at understanding the role of plural values in decision-making, the IPBES Values Assessment defined nature valuation broadly as including biophysical, economic and socio-cultural assessments, including ecosystem service assessment. IPBES reviews of scientific literature revealed a lack of documentation of uptake by stakeholders across method...

This paper presents a global synthesis of economic values for ecosystem services provided by 15 terrestrial and marine biomes. Information from over 1,300 studies, yielding over 9,400 value estimates in monetary units, has been collected and organised in the Ecosystem Services Valuation Database (ESVD). This is a substantial expansion of data since...

Coral reefs and many associated fish populations may cease to exist by the end of the century without additional long-term strategic conservation effort. This paper examines the willingness of the general public to pay for global coral and reef fish conservation in 12 countries of varying income and tropical reef proximity. We analyse preferences f...

Background: Human activities have induced unprecedented global shifts in natural systems including the climate, the oceans, cryosphere and biosphere. The impacts of these changes on physical health are clear and are accelerating at an alarming rate. Climate change and its consequences, especially disruptive events like floods, droughts and heat wa...

Working paper analysing the economic implications of the proposed 30% target for areal protection in the draft post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

Climate change may affect mental health. We conducted an umbrella review of meta-analyses examining the association between mental health and climate events related to climate change, pollution and green spaces. We searched major bibliographic databases and included meta-analyses with at least five primary studies. Results were summarized narrative...

Coral reefs and many associated fish populations may cease to exist by the end of the century without additional long-term strategic conservation effort. This paper examines demand for global coral and reef fish conservation in twelve countries of varying income and tropical reef proximity. We analyze preferences for several conservation measures,...

The System of Environmental Economic Accounting - Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA) provides a framework for quantifying and valuing ecosystem services that is consistent with the System of National Accounts (SNA). As such, monetary estimates for ecosystem services are required to be measured as exchange values. The environmental economics literature...

Global climate change is leading to rapid deteriorations of the health and productivity of coral reefs. There is limited research on the associated human welfare implications, particularly in terms of the non-use values that people hold for coral reefs. We examine climate related changes in non-use values of coral health, coral cover, water clarity...

Nature-based solutions (NBS) to climate change and other environmental challenges face a well-documented shortfall in financing and resource allocation. Economic evaluations of NBS that apply stated preference methods increasingly use time contributions instead of the traditionally used monetary contributions, especially in developing countries. Th...

This study provides a global review and summary of the literature on the economic value of marine turtles. It also estimates the value of provisioning services and non-use values provided by marine turtles in the Asia-Pacific — a region characterised by the highest diversity of marine turtles, gravest threats and ongoing population decline.

Developing countries are increasingly impacted by floods, especially in Asia. Traditional flood risk management , using structural measures such as levees, can have negative impacts on the livelihoods of social groups that are more vulnerable. Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) provides a complementary approach that is potentially more inclusive of g...

The exclusive economic zone of the Cook Islands, nearly 1,960,000 km2 of ocean, is 7,000 times larger than the country’s land area of just 240km2. Coastal and marine resources provide the Government of the Cook Islands, businesses and households with many real and measurable benefits. This report describes, quantifies and, where possible, estimates...

The year 2020 is a critical year for sustainable development policy and practice with the review and renewal of various international commitments including the Sustainable Development Goals, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Paris Agreement. The post-2020 agenda needs to be informed by more robust analytical approaches that capture the...

Trail running has evolved from a fringe to mainstream activity but is associated with a rise in adverse environmental impacts including trail degradation, littering and disturbance of wildlife. This study explores the preferences of trail running race participants for sustainable use of country parks in Hong Kong. We use a face-to-face survey and d...

The Ecosystem Services Valuation Database (ESVD) is a follow-up to the “The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity” (TEEB) database which contained over 1,300 data points from 267 case studies on monetary values of ecosystem services across all biomes. The TEEB database had not been updated since 2010 and naturally many gaps exist across biomes,...

To guide investments in ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) in developing countries, numerous stated preference valuation studies have been implemented to assess the value of ecosystem services. These studies increasingly use time payments as an alternative to money. There is limited knowledge, however, about how to convert time to money and how the t...

Marine ecosystems and the services they provide contribute greatly to human well-being but are becoming degraded in many areas around the world. The expansion of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) has been advanced as a potential solution to this problem but their economic feasibility has hardly been studied. We conduct an economic assessment of the cos...

A broad array of methods have been developed and applied to map ecosystem services and their values at various geographic scales. For example, the ESMERALDA project developed methods for ecosystem service mapping across Europe. This paper describes how different methodological interlinkages can be used in ecosystem service mapping and assessment an...

The water flow regulation ecosystem service can be subdivided into river flood regulation and coastal flood regulation. They are quite different and there are major differences in biophysical processes, scientific disciplines, data, models and methods. • The measurement of river flood regulation relatively is very well studied, whereas coastal floo...

In the context of climate change, small island developing states (SIDS) need to engage in adaptation efforts. Due to the rural, remote and specific institutional characteristics of SIDS, these efforts are commonly implemented at the community level. Therefore, the adaptive capacity of the community is an essential attribute of the adaptation proces...

This report provides an inventory of past and on-going public and private incentive and market based mechanisms with relevance for sustainable land management in Cambodia

The purpose of this report is to assess the economic value of the change in the provision of ecosystem services from forests in Cambodia over the period 2010-30 under a continuation of current trends of land use change.

The European Union (EU) Horizon 2020 Coordination and Support Action ESMERALDA aimed at developing guidance and a flexible methodology for Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) to support the EU member states in the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy’s Target 2 Action 5. ESMERALDA’s key tasks included network cr...

A case study of Adjara Autonomous Republic of Georgia to examine alternative scenarios for forest management and associated land cover change.

Identifying and applying the appropriate method for ecosystem services mapping and assessment is not trivial. To provide guidance in this task, this paper describes the creation of a database for existing studies on mapping and assessing ecosystems and their services, which records relevant information to the ecosystem studies (e.g. methods used, t...

Wetlands and the ecosystem services they provide are hugely valuable to people worldwide in many ways: for livelihood, for their biodiversity and existence values and for their economic benefits. Yet many of these services, such as the recharge of groundwater, water purification or cultural values are not immediately obvious when one looks at a wet...

Using islands as a model system, this paper seeks to understand how ecosystem service valuation (ESV) has and can move from a monetized, single-service paradigm to an integrated valuation paradigm, a participatory approach that represents a more diverse set of the values of nature, and beyond, to a more fully realized conception of the island socia...

This paper investigates spatial determinants of recreational ecosystem service values by combining Geographic Information System (GIS) and meta-analysis, and by presenting the first review on meta-analysis studies in this field. Using meta-analytic value transfer, we map the spatial distribution of recreational values across Europe. By combining me...

This report provides an overview of the main economic methods for mapping and assessment of ecosystem services.

MPAs enhance some of the Ecosystem Services (ES) provided by coral reefs and clear, robust valuations of these impacts may help to improve stakeholder support and better inform decision-makers. Pursuant to this goal, Cost-Benefit Analyses (CBA) of MPAs in 2 different contexts were analysed: a community based MPA with low tourism pressure in Vanuatu...

Ecosystems and the biodiversity that underpin them are our life support systems. But the impact of declining trends in biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES) on economies and society is not well known outside the context of one-off local case studies. There is an urgent need to better understand and, importantly, to effectively communicate the i...

Nature recreation and tourism is a substantial ecosystem service of Europe's countryside that has a substantial economic value and contributes considerably to income and employment of local communities. Highlighting the recreational value and economic contribution of nature areas can be used as a strong argument for the funding of protected and rec...

We conduct a CV and a CE experiment using a generic rather than a situation-specific study design in order to obtain a generic marginal value function for different types of natural areas with different characteristics in the Netherlands. We develop a modelling approach in which we use CV and CE choice data in one model. The value function obtained...

The living resources of the Pacific Ocean are part of the region's rich natural capital. Marine and coastal ecosystems provide benefits for all people in and beyond the region. These benefits are called ecosystem services and include a broad range of values linking the environment with development and human well-being. Yet, the natural capital of t...

The study assesses the economic value of forest ecosystem services under alternative scenarios for future forest management, focusing on ecosystem services that are of high importance and potentially threatened, and prepares relevant policy recommendations.

Wetlands and the ecosystem services they provide are hugely valuable to people worldwide in many ways: for livelihood, for their biodiversity and existence values and for their economic benefits. Yet many of these services, such as the recharge of groundwater, water purification or cultural values are not immediately obvious when one looks at a wet...

Reefs and People at Risk Increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere put shallow, warm-water coral reef ecosystems, and the people who depend upon them at risk from two key global environmental stresses: 1) elevated sea surface temperature (that can cause coral bleaching and related mortality), and 2) ocean acidification. These global str...

Background The widely reported impacts of climate change on ecosystems and biodiversity pose a threat also to the supply of ecosystem services. Ecosystem services (ES) arise when ecological structures or functions contribute toward meeting a human demand. Global change is impacting biodiversity and ecosystems properties and is therefore likely to a...

Peatlands provide globally important ecosystem services through climate and water regulation or biodiversity conservation. While covering only 3% of the earth's surface, degrading peatlands are responsible for nearly a quarter of carbon emissions from the land use sector. Bringing together world-class experts from science, policy and practice to hi...

We map recreational visits and the economic value per visit spatially explicit across Europe’s non-urban ecosystems using GIS, meta-analysis and geostatistical modelling techniques. Therefore, we developed a meta-analytic visitor arrival function and a meta-analytic value transfer function by regression analysis. Primary data on the dependent varia...

Recreation is a major ecosystem service and an important co-benefit of nature conservation. The recreational value of National Parks (NPs) can be a strong argument in favour of allocating resources for preserving and creating NPs worldwide. Managing NPs to optimize recreational services can therefore indirectly contribute to nature conservation and...

The living resources of the Pacific Ocean are part of the region's rich natural capital. Marine and coastal ecosystems provide benefits for all people in and beyond the region. These benefits are called ecosystem services and include a broad range of values linking the environment with development and human well-being. Yet, the natural capital of t...

The living resources of the Pacific Ocean are part of the region's rich natural capital. Marine and coastal ecosystems provide benefits for all people in and beyond the region. These benefits are called ecosystem services and include a broad range of values linking the environment with development and human well-being. Yet, the natural capital of t...

The living resources of the Pacific Ocean are part of the region's rich natural capital. Marine and coastal ecosystems provide benefits for all people in and beyond the region. These benefits are called ecosystem services and include a broad range of values linking the environment with development and human well-being. Yet, the natural capital of t...

The living resources of the Pacific Ocean are part of the region's rich natural capital. Marine and coastal ecosystems provide benefits for all people in and beyond the region. These benefits are called ecosystem services and include a broad range of values linking the environment with development and human well-being. Yet, the natural capital of t...

This chapter illustrates the process of mapping ecosystem service values with an application to coral reef recreational values in Southeast Asia . The case study provides an estimate of the value of reef-related recreation foregone, due to the decline in coral reef area in Southeast Asia , under a baseline scenario for the period 2000–2050. This va...

Coastal and marine ecosystems provide a variety of ecological functions1 that directly and indirectly translate to economic services with value to humans. For example, they support fish populations that constitute a significant source of protein and sustain ecosystem stability through conservation of biodiversity and mitigation of climate change th...

Ocean acidification is a global, long-term problem whose ultimate solution requires carbon dioxide reduction at a scope and scale that will take decades to accomplish successfully. Until that is achieved, feasible and locally relevant adaptation and mitigation measures are needed. To help to prioritize societal responses to ocean acidification, we...

Making decisions between alternative investments, projects, or policies that affect the provision of ecosystem services often involves weighing up and comparing multiple costs and benefits that are measured in different metrics and are incurred at different points in time. For example, the establishment of a new protected area might involve costs i...

Social capital is an important ecosystem service, yet we lack common understanding of how it fits, and can be operationalized, within the ecosystem services framework. We review the literature to clarify the role of social capital in this context, establishing it as a multidimensional concept and a fundamental constituent of human well-being that i...

Marine and coastal biodiversity – ecosystems, species and genetic material – provide enormous benefits for human well-being. Hundreds of millions of people rely directly on marine biodiversity for their livelihoods. Oceans are critical to many important global geo-chemical processes, such as climate regulation and carbon cycling. Ocean ecosystems p...

Ocean acidification caused by the increased uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide by the oceans is likely to have serious impacts on marine organisms that make shells and exoskeletons from calcium carbonate. The consequences for the provision of marine ecosystem services such as fisheries and services generated by coral reefs are uncertain but poten...

Many countries in West Asia, defined in this study as the Arabic-speaking countries of the Arabian Peninsula plus Turkey and Iran, have enacted environmental conservation laws but regional underlying drivers of environment change, such as rising incomes and fast-growing populations, continue to put pressure on remaining wetlands. This paper aims to...

We present a novel methodology for spatially sensitive prediction of outdoor recreation visits and values for different ecosystems. Data on outset and destination characteristics and locations are combined with survey information from over 40,000 households to yield a trip generation function (TGF) predicting visit numbers. A new meta-analysis (MA)...

Coastal ecosystems are valuable to people and economies across the Caribbean, but are threatened by human pressures. Ecosystem valuation can make the economic case for protection of coastal ecosystems, but in many cases valuation studies have had a limited impact on decision making regarding coastal resource use in the Caribbean. Drawing on the les...

This perspective paper for the Copenhagen Consensus revisits the analysis of conservation targets for wetlands (Aichi Target 5) and coral reefs (Aichi Target 10) by Markandya (2014) using more refined methods for transferring ecosystem services values that account for spatial variation in the determinants of value. The use of meta-analytic value fu...

Perhaps the most understudied ecosystem services are related to socio-cultural values tied to non-material benefits arising from human–ecosystem relationships. Bequest values linked to natural ecosystems can be particularly significant for indigenous communities whose livelihoods and cultures are tied to ecosystems. Here we apply a discrete choice...

Every four years since 2004, the Copenhagen Consensus Center has organized and hosted a high profile thought experiment about how a hypothetical extra $75 billion of development assistance money might best be spent to solve twelve of the major crises facing the world today. Collated in this specially commissioned book, a group of more than 50 exper...

This paper presents a meta-analysis of the economic valuation literature on ecosystem services provided by wetlands in agricultural landscapes. We focus on the value of three regulating services, namely flood control, water supply and nutrient recycling. We construct a database containing 66 value estimates, mainly for wetlands in the US and Europe...

Flood mitigation is clearly a very important issue for Bangladesh. It is highly related to other high priority policy goals such as food security. As a result, protection against flooding has often been combined with efforts to intensify agricultural production. Most of the flood control projects in Bangladesh are so-called ‘flood control, drainage...

The Total Economic Value (TEV) of Bermuda’s coral reef reefs is based on 6 key ecosystem goods and services. These more tangible direct and indirect use values are: (1) Coral reef-associated tourism, (2) Reef-associated fisheries, (3) Amenity or reef-associated surplus value on real estate, (4) Physical coastal protection, (5) Reef-associated recre...

The purpose of this guidance manual is to show how the value of ecosystem services can be estimated and incorporated into decision making. Specifically, it is designed to help a broad audience of conservation managers, government officials, private sector managers, NGOs, and statisticians to understand the available information on the values of eco...

a b s t r a c t This paper gives an overview of the value of ecosystem services of 10 main biomes expressed in monetary units. In total, over 320 publications were screened covering over 300 case study locations. Approximately 1350 value estimates were coded and stored in a searchable Ecosystem Service Value Database (ESVD). A selection of 665 valu...