BC3. Basque centre for climate change – Klima aldaketa ikergai

Seminar given by Aline Chiabai, Research Professor in BC3.

Title: "Economic Valuation of Forest Ecosystem Services: Methodology and Values".

Date: 19^th of June

Location: Sarriko

Ecosystem services are expected to be strongly affected in the near future stressed by climate change. Far from being a mere accountability issue, the crucial issue under debate is the impact of this loss on the welfare of current and future populations, as well as wider ethical questions on the role of humans in the stewardship of the planet’s natural resources. The seminar will present the methodological framework for economic valuation of selected ecosystem services for world forest biomes and the potential total economic losses from policy inaction. Results suggest that any attempt to provide a monetary estimation of the services provided by the ecosystem still represents a very challenging task for researchers. On the one hand this task is made difficult due to the partial lack of original valuation studies that provide reliable estimates of the WTP for forest ecosystem values. On the other hand, the worldwide approach adopted here will need to be reinforced by taking into consideration uncertainty and a lack of information on local ecosystem conditions.