Economic Valuation of Coral Reef Ecosystems

At the last ICRI General Meeting, WRI agreed to assist ICRI in an effort to compile information, references, and good examples of economic valuation in practice, with an emphasis on coral reefs. To that end, WRI would appreciate if you could provide feedback on the following short list of questions.

ICRI would like to compile a set of the best references on economic valuation, with a focus on coral reefs, but not limited to coral reefs.

Here are examples of the recommended citation style:

  • Book:

    Van Beukering, P., L. Brander, E. Tompkins, and E. McKenzie. 2007. "Valuing the Environment in Small Islands - An Environmental Economics Toolkit." United Kingdom: Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). Online at: http://www.jncc.gov.uk/page-4065.

  • Article:

    Brown, K., W. Adger, E. Tompkins, P. Bacon, D. Shim, and K. Young. 2001. "Trade-off Analysis for Marine Protected Area Management." Ecological Economics 37: 417-434.

  • Web: (description and site)

    Coral Reef Economics Community of Practice - www.communities.coastalvalues.org/coralreef

  1. Please provide a list of 2-5 of your favorite resources which provide an overview of economic valuation methods, or background on conducting an economic valuation.

    • Books
    • Articles \ Papers
    • Web sites

  2. If you know of a good coral reef valuation methodology or of training materials or tools for implementing a valuation of coral reefs, please provide those references.

    • Methodologies (books, papers or web sites)
    • Training Materials

  3. Are there any databases summarizing economic valuation studies which you find useful? If so, please provide references.

    • Databases \ Summaries of Coral Reef Valuations
    • Databases \ Summaries of Valuations for other ecosystems

  4. Please provide references for 2 - 10 of your favorite coral reef valuation articles or papers.

  5. Are there examples of economic valuation applications which have resulted in tangible outcomes (changes in development, investment, or policy, etc. such as establishment of an MPA, implementation of user fees, increased enforcement of regulations…)

    • Examples for coastal ecosystems
    • Examples for terrestrial ecosystems

  6. We are exploring the idea of compiling a database summarizing economic valuation literature with an emphasis on coral reefs. Below are some essential fields in such a database. What else do you think is important / essential:

    1. Citation
    2. Ecosystem valued (i.e. coral reefs, mangroves, forests, etc)
    3. Geographic area
    4. Goods and services evaluated
    5. Method(s) used
    6. Estimated value(s) (described by category, such as direct use value, indirect use value, non-use value)
    7. Summary of results
    8. Limitations of study
    9. Has the study lead to changes in public policies or private sector actions
    10. Who commissioned the study
    11. Flags which can be checked to note whether valuation

      1. is a total economic valuation (TEV)
      2. covers direct use value
      3. covers indirect use
      4. includes non-use values

    12. Link (provide a link, if the study is available on-line.)

Download the Word file of the questionnaire.

Please e-mail responses to Richard Waite (rwaite@wri.org) and Lauretta Burke (Lauretta@wri.org).