Download analysis note 147 – Promoting biodiversity: current situation and perspectives
Depending on whether we use the estimates from the French Assessment of Ecosystems and Ecosystem Services (Efese) or the European Commission, the monetary value associated with eight ecosystem services in France is between 18 and 49 billion euros per year. , or 0.6% to 1.8% of GDP. However, these estimates cannot be interpreted as the value of nature in France. It is in fact only the aggregation of values associated with a limited number of ecosystem services, such as the recreational service in nature (between 5.8 and 29 billion euros per year), or the contribution of pollination to agricultural production (between 0.5 and 3.8 billion euros per year). Furthermore, they do not take into account the non-use values associated with nature: the evaluation of the pollination service does not take into account the contribution of pollinators to the stability and functioning of ecosystems. Consequently, these data would not make it possible to satisfactorily describe the contribution of nature to national wealth within environmental accounts.
The marginal values of ecosystem services, often expressed in euros per hectare, can serve as reference values for the socio-economic evaluation of investment projects. For example, the carbon sequestration service benchmark value is on average 240,000 euros per hectare in wetlands. Such reference values could be developed for many other ecosystem services (recreational uses, water purification, etc.).
Monetary valuation can thus inform public or private decisions having an impact on the state of ecosystems and ecosystem services. The methodological limits of these evaluations require them to be supplemented by non-monetary approaches, and more generally by deliberative processes, in order to take into account all the values relating to biodiversity but also to strengthen the acceptability of decisions.
The opinions expressed in this document are those of the authors.
and are not intended to reflect the position of the government.
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