Editorial

Citation

Leal Filho, W. (2012), "Editorial", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 23 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/meq.2012.08323baa.001

Editorial

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, Volume 23, Issue 2.

Welcome to another issue of MEQ. Readers will find in this issue a further set of very interesting papers dealing with environmental management issues, from various countries. A set of papers derive from the project “North Sea Skills Integration and New Technologies”, funded by the Interreg IVB North Sea Programme, a transnational programme of cooperation among North Sea countries.

As more and more emphasis is being given to ecosystem services, this Editorial reports on a new document recently released as part of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP). The report, titled “Economic valuation of the benefits of ecosystem services delivered by the UK Biodiversity Action Plan” highlights the findings of research commissioned by UK Agency DEFRA in 2008, undertaken by a consortium led by Aberystwyth University, which aimed to estimate the value of changes in biodiversity and associated ecosystem services which will result directly from the delivery of the UK BAP.

Its specific objectives were to assess: the marginal value of ecosystem services associated with the UK BAP; the levels of ecosystem services delivered by different BAP habitats; and the marginal value of UK BAP conservation activities – across the UK as a whole, within different regions of the UK, and across different BAP habitats and species. In the study, it was assumed that the investigated changes to the UK BAP would be achieved over a ten year period (2010-2020) and that the resultant ecosystem service benefits would be retained for a further ten years. Whilst a number of caveats were highlighted, in the current scenario, the value of the ecosystem services directly attributed to UK BAP conservation activities across the UK as a whole were estimated to be £1,366m per year (range: £1,259m-£1,472m). The additional benefits of fully implementing the BAP in an increased spend scenario were estimated at £746m per annum (range: £654m-£838m).

The figures show one very interesting trend: the cash value of the services provided by ecosystems is substantial, and the more we can understand them, the more cost-effective ecosystems services may be.

Enjoy your reading!

Available at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/natural/biodiversity/uk/

Walter Leal Filho