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Sustainability and the value of the 'regulating' services: Wetlands and water quality in Lake Victoria

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  • Simonit, Silvio
  • Perrings, Charles

Abstract

The regulating services provided by ecosystems are amongst the most important for the sustainability of resource use, and yet they are also amongst the least understood. This paper considers one set of regulating mechanisms - the buffering functions of wetlands - and considers the information needed to identify both the value of the services offered by wetlands, and their substitutes. Using data from a catchment discharging water and nutrients to the Kenyan segment of Lake Victoria, the Yala catchment, the paper models the interactions between agriculture and fisheries as mediated by wetlands at the lake margin. More particularly, it estimates the value of the forgone nutrient retention function involved in the conversion of the wetland to agriculture, and the scope for providing the same services through land use change elsewhere in the catchment. The total cost of the payments that would compensate farmers for on-farm nutrient buffering services is 3.86Â M US$Â year-Â 1, or 35% of the total gains from wetland conversion to crop production. This finding contributes to an understanding of both the value of regulating services and how they might most effectively be delivered in alternative ways.

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  • Simonit, Silvio & Perrings, Charles, 2011. "Sustainability and the value of the 'regulating' services: Wetlands and water quality in Lake Victoria," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(6), pages 1189-1199, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:70:y:2011:i:6:p:1189-1199
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    2. Natacha Fauvet & Jean-Christophe Pereau, 2014. "Nutrient Allowances Market and Wetland Abatement," Working Papers 2014.06, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    3. Crossman, Neville D. & Burkhard, Benjamin & Nedkov, Stoyan & Willemen, Louise & Petz, Katalin & Palomo, Ignacio & Drakou, Evangelia G. & Martín-Lopez, Berta & McPhearson, Timon & Boyanova, Kremena & , 2013. "A blueprint for mapping and modelling ecosystem services," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 4(C), pages 4-14.
    4. Nedkov, Stoyan & Campagne, Sylvie & Borisova, Bilyana & Krpec, Petr & Prodanova, Hristina & Kokkoris, Ioannis P. & Hristova, Desislava & Le Clec'h, Solen & Santos-Martin, Fernando & Burkhard, Benjamin, 2022. "Modeling water regulation ecosystem services: A review in the context of ecosystem accounting," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    5. Currie, William S. & Goldberg, Deborah E. & Martina, Jason & Wildova, Radka & Farrer, Emily & Elgersma, Kenneth J., 2014. "Emergence of nutrient-cycling feedbacks related to plant size and invasion success in a wetland community–ecosystem model," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 282(C), pages 69-82.
    6. Schägner, Jan Philipp & Brander, Luke & Maes, Joachim & Hartje, Volkmar, 2013. "Mapping ecosystem services' values: Current practice and future prospects," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 4(C), pages 33-46.
    7. Jan Philipp Schägner & Luke Brander & Joachim Maes & Volkmar Hartje, 2012. "Mapping Ecosystem Services’ Values: Current Practice and Future Prospects," Working Papers 2012.59, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    8. Chatzinikolaou, Parthena & Raggi, Meri & Viaggi, Davide, 2015. "The evaluation of Ecosystem Services production: an application in the Province of Ferrara," Bio-based and Applied Economics Journal, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), vol. 4(3), pages 1-25, December.
    9. Murphy, David M. A. & Berazneva, Julia & Lee, David R., 2015. "Fuelwood Source Substitution and Shadow Prices in Western Kenya," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205084, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

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