de wit key note address v1
DESCRIPTION
The last decade has seen several studies demonstrating the economic value of ecosystems and the fynbos biome is no exception. Despite notable criticism on some of these studies, on average they have succeeded in raising the awareness on the value of well-functioning ecosystems. In some instances this has led to conservation and restoration success on the ground, but what is needed is an institutional system that will translate abstract economic values into real financial investments in ecosystems. With continued increased pressure on the world’s biodiversity on the one hand and shifting agendas towards climate change and a rather reductionist and in practice partial ecosystems goods and services (EGS) analysis on the other, economists and ecologists need to build on their successes and find new meaning in their work on total systems value, as opposed to a focus on total economic value (TEV) or an EGS analysis only. Economists and ecologists would also do well by soliciting the services of those who can assist in the development of new institutional processes and arrangements that can capture the real financial benefits of well-functioning ecosystems beyond the usual short-term and consumptive benefits. Based on a analysis of current bottlenecks to realise real-world investments in specifically fynbos ecosystems, an action-orientated agenda focussed on performing economic valuation studies to better serve the needs of decision makers, an increased understanding of and leverage of total systems value, and a renewed focus on the institutional process and arrangements to capture fynbos ecosystem values, is proposed.TRANSCRIPT
“After all those cosy years of working together, show me the money”
From economic valuation to real-world investment in
the fynbos biome
Keynote address at Fynbos Forum, Bredasdorp,6 August 2009
byMartin de Wit
Mountains of complexity..
Image: MP de Wit
High value ecosystems, but too little investment. Why?
Investing in Natural Assets
Martin de Wit, De Wit Sustainable Options (Pty) Ltd (Project Leader)Hugo van Zyl, Independent Economic ResearchersDoug Crookes, IndependentJames Blignaut, Beatus CCTerence Jayiya, Jaymat Enviro Solutions CCValerie Goiset, De Wit Sustainable Options (Pty) LtdBrian Mahumani, De Wit Sustainable Options (Pty) Ltd
Prepared by Natural Value Joint Venturec/o PO Box 546Brackenfell7561
Prepared for
Arne PurvesCity of Cape Town
A business case for the environment in the City of Cape Town
• Total Economic Value of Cape Floral Kingdom at least R10bn per year
• Water, tourism, flower harvesting, existence values
From knowledge to investment
• Transmission
• Cognition
• Reference
• Effort
• Influence
• Application
Images: Flickr
Argument
Barriers in the economic argument
• Economic valuation studies are by definition partial and static
• Proving that fynbos has an economic value does not provide the cash
• In many times it is only the start of a long institutional process of market creation
Images: Flickr
Valuation as if decision makers matter
• Valuation of joint products or multiple services
• Values before and after environmental change
• Valuation at different states of ecosystem disturbance
• Include valuation studies in a dynamic systems-wide framework
Predictable receptors?
• Simple behavioural rules can create complex outcomes
• Large number of small, incremental changes in budgets from year to year, followed by sudden rapid changes Image: Flickr
Taking receptors seriously
• Realities of the decision-making process itself need to be explicitly included
• networks and relationships,
• why certain subjects and alternatives are considered for the policy agenda while others are not
• role of knowledge in power dynamics in particular contexts
Image: Flickr
Barriers in transmission
• Divergence between analysts and decision makers
• Mis-communication
Image: Flickr
Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly.
Plutarch, Greek biographer & moralist (46 AD - 120 AD)
Transmitting with ease
• Personal relationships and trust between researchers and decision makers are important facilitators of the use of research evidence
• Communication strategy: Who Says What In Which Channel To Whom With What Effect?
Conclusions• Economic argument needs to be
made within the context of Total Systems Value
• Choices by decision makers are driven by heuristic rules leading to complexity
• Deep-seated divergence between the cultures of analysts and decision makers
• Need for effective communicationImages: CoCT
An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.
Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790), US author, diplomat, inventor, physicist, politician, & printer