Ecologizar la economía o economizar la ecología controversias teóricas y desafíos prácticos en la valoración de los servicios de los ecosistemas

Abstract

Humans depend on the delivery of ecosystem services for the fulfilment of basic biological and material needs. Many ecosystems services are declining worldwide, however, as a result of the growing conflict between the scale of global economic metabolism and the biophysical limits of the biosphere. Although ecosystem service science has emerged in an attempt to tackle this economy-ecology mismatch, the particular way the ecosystem service concept should be brought from theory to implementation is surrounded in controversy. First conceived as a metaphor to reflect societal dependence on nature, ecosystem services have now become a cornerstone of the emerging market-based approaches for global environmental governance. The years to come will thus be critical for settling the theoretical foundations of future conservation policies, designed on the basis of a wider recognition of the socio-economic role of ecosystems and the services they provide. Related to this urgent issue, the aim of this thesis is to investigate theoretical controversies and operational challenges related to the articulation of ecosystem services in policy and economic decision making. In this thesis it is argued that The notion of the ¿ecologisation of economics¿, contained in the original aim of the ecosystem service approach in fact leads to an ¿economisation of ecology¿ as ecosystem service-based policy design moves into profit logics and exchange-based allocation structures. Approach of the thesis The thesis adopts an interdisciplinary approach, drawing largely on ecosystem service science, resilience theory and political ecology. The approach of ecological economics is taken as the overall framework for analyzing the dynamic interaction between ecosystems, institutional systems, and the economy. The thesis takes the ontological position that economic systems are embedded in ecological and institutional structures. Several core issues emanate from this stand, such as the co-evolutionary interplay between humans and nature as coupled social-ecological systems, the different types of knowledge flowing from diverging forms of ecology-economy interactions, and the institutional transformations following from societal modernization, economic development, and commodification of environmental resources. Methodology and study area The methods used in the thesis include literature analysis, ecological inventories of ecosystem functions and services, analysis of proxy data from historical records, participatory field observation, structured, semi-structured, and in-depth interviews, surveys, focus groups, and statistical methods such as multiple regression. Field data were collected from the Doñana natural areas, South Western Spain, in five sampling campaigns that together lasted three and a half months. Sampling sites were selected within cultural landscapes that are actively managed for the delivery of ecosystem services. These included nine villages located in areas that surrounded the Doñana protected areas, as well as a number of sites within the protected areas, including research centres, ranger stations, and visitor centres. Initial local contacts were expanded using snowballing techniques. Targeting of informants was based on two criteria: vulnerability to changes in ecosystem service flows and degree of influence in ecosystem service management. Accordingly, stakeholder relevance was classified as primary (high vulnerability), secondary (low vulnerability but high influence), or tertiary (low vulnerability and low influence), the latter being disregarded from the sample. In-depth interviews were held with key informants selected among primary stakeholders. As these were mainly resource users (most vulnerable to losses in ecosystem services), field information draws largely on traditional ecological knowledge held by local inhabitants. Structure and papers The dissertation consists of a compilation of six papers focusing on the interface between ecological and economic systems and their interrelated dynamics. This set of papers can be broadly divided in three parts (Figure 1). Figure 1. Levels of analysis of the thesis. While being interrelated, Parts I, II and III correspond to different levels of analysis in ecological economics. ¿ Chapter 2 Coping with disturbance ¿ Chapter 4 Knowledge for adaptation ¿ Chapter 5 Monetization of nature ¿ Chapter 6 Commodification I. TO ECOLOGISE ECONOMICS II. NURTURING RESILIENCE TO SECURE ECOSYSTEM SERVICES ¿ Chapter 1 Ecosystem services and natural capital III. THE ECONOMISATION OF ECOLOGY ¿ Chapter 3 Institutional change Markets for Ecosystem Services and Payments for Ecosystem Services Knowledge, practices and institutions for ecosystem service management Natural capital, ecosystem structure and processess, ecosystem functions and ecosystem services ECOLOGICAL SYSTEM INSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM ECONOMIC SYSTEM The first part, covered by the first paper, addresses the potential of the ecosystem service approach as a tool to ¿ecologise economics¿, by providing concepts and accounting methods to better reflect the links between ecosystems and human well being. Paper I explains the rationale behind the ecosystem service approach and reviews the various positions taken concerning the understanding and appraisals of ecological systems as underpinning societies and their economies. Concepts and methods to estimate the value of natural capital and ecosystem services are reviewed and critically discussed, with an emphasis on the implications of the multidimensionality of values for the design of tools to support decision making processes. The paper can be seen as providing two basic inputs to the academic debate on ecosystem services valuation. The first concerns a model that develops previous schemes describing the relationships between ecological systems and human well-being. This model is presented as a layered structure of the different levels of interaction in the ecology-economy interface, ranging from core ecological structure and processes to the final benefits provided by ecosystems for human use. The second concerns how the specific social contexts influence the framing of the valuation process, an issue that is further developed later in the dissertation. The second part of the thesis, covered by papers 2-4, uses the case study of the Doñana natural areas (SW Spain), to analyze local devices for building resilience to secure durable flows of ecosystem services. Paper II draws on environmental history to analyse the interplay between disturbance and social responses to crises in the process of building adaptive capacity for ecosystem service management. Knowledge systems, practices and institutions contributing to develop resilience to shocks are identified and discussed. The paper emphasizes especially how experience is turned into institutionalized practices and beliefs. Paper III investigates cross-scale interactions in social-ecological systems. More specifically, it examines the effects of institutional change in ecosystem services, and the way they accrue at different scales. The paper emphasises disruptive effects that top-down interventions from larger decision making agents can cause in locally evolved institutions and knowledge systems for ecosystem service management. The paper acknowledges the need to coordinate actions between levels in multilayered governance systems. Paper IV analyses traditional knowledge and practices for adaptive management of ecosystem services among three generations of resource users. It examines changes in traditional ecological knowledge across age cohorts, showing that losses in traditional knowledge were greatest in resource management systems were intensification and market integration were the largest. The paper shows the potential of protected areas in protecting remaining bodies of traditional ecological knowledge in developed country settings. Nevertheless, it is noted that strict environmental protection in cultural landscapes involving forbidding resource use can contribute to disrupt transmission of traditional knowledge if local resource users are excluded from ecosystem management. Part three of the thesis is covered by papers 5-6. This part returns to theoretical analysis in order to evaluate the evolution of the ecosystem service approach since its inception through its articulation as the basis market-based instruments for environmental governance. It is argued that the quest of ¿ecologising economics¿ originally underlying the ecosystem service approach flips into an ¿economization of ecology¿ as the approach accommodates into market logics and allocation structures. Paper V situates this shift in an historical context by analysing critical landmarks in economic theory and practice with regard to the incorporation of ecosystem services into markets and payment schemes. The paper makes an appraisal of payment for ecosystem services schemes drawing on insights from the history of the environmental externality theory in economics. It shows how environmental resources, being core to the theories of pre-classical and classical economics, vanished in the models of the neoclassical school. The paper also shows how the language of money has been increasingly adopted by conservationists for the valuation of the environment, not because it is found to be the correct language, but on the grounds that it is the one that has the best capacity to influence decisions in market societies. The reasons behind this and the paradoxes this observation raises for policy are laid out and discussed. Paper VI analyzes the links between the ecosystem services approach, monetary valuation processes and the commodification of ecosystem functions. The paper provides a critical evaluation of the underpinning of conservation having moved from the ¿intrinsic-value approach¿ to be based on an economic framing under the ¿market-value approach¿, and stresses how the development of the ecosystem service concept has facilitated this shift. Based on previous research of the stages through which ecosystem functions are turned into commodities (utilitarian framing, monetization, and creation of institutional structure for exchange), the paper shows how monetary valuation can in, market economies, act as a driver of commodification irrespective of the original purpose of those making the valuation. Discussion The insights from the papers are taken up to address theoretical controversies and operational challenges related to the incorporation of ecosystem services in economic decision making. Three operational challenges are discussed. The first challenge concerns the issue of double counting in ecosystem service valuation and its implications for the design of payments schemes. It is argued that this problem results from the attempt of extrapolating relatively simple accounting models designed for economic goods and services to complex interrelated systems of ecosystem functions. Put it differently, it is a consequence of treating artificially as discrete ¿aritmomorphic¿ items, ecological structures and processes that are ¿dialectic¿ (overlapping) in nature. The need to address synergies and tradeoffs between ecosystem services is highlighted, and ecosystem service bundling is proposed as a possible way to do so. It is argued that ecosystem service research, and the design payment schemes, should move its current focus from single ecosystem services to ecosystem service bundles produced by service providing units with ecologically consistent boundaries. The second operational challenge relates to the need to acknowledge non-linear dynamics and thresholds effects in ecological systems in ecosystem services valuation. It is argued that conventional economic valuation methods based on marginal analysis are inadequate when ecosystems are close to thresholds. In such situations, small changes may lead to sudden loss of ecosystem services. Furthermore, it is argued that in such situations information provided by monetary valuation can be misleading by sending the wrong signals. It is suggested that when close to thresholds, information guiding ecosystem service management should move from monetary values to early warning biophysical indicators. Finally, the third operational challenge relates to the need of capturing the ¿invisible¿ components of ecosystems when valuing ecosystem services. It is noted that none of the value components included in the Total Economic Value approach attempts to capture the components emerging from the interaction of the elements in ecological systems. It is argued that the value of these elements, i.e., value of maintaining ecosystem functioning over time, should be acknowledged as an explicit part of the Total Economic Value of the ecosystem. Related to this issue, it is argued that growing focus on final products from ecosystems may open up the risk of masking the role of the core ecological processes and ecosystem functions underlying their production. As for the theoretical controversies, three issues are raised. The first theoretical issue relates to value incommensurability, that is, the idea that the multiple value types involved in ecosystem valuation may not be reduced to a single measurement unit, e.g. money. The concept of environmental externality, and by extension, the idea that failure to preserve ecosystem services can be tackled through their pricing and incorporation to markets, is discussed critically in the light of this theoretical stand. It is argued that, whereas money has become the hegemonic language for valuation, decision making in ecosystem services management entails dealing with conflicting and often irreducible values. Closely related to this issue, the second theoretical controversy relates to the phenomenon of commodification. The emphasis is put in the loss of information that results from the masking of diverse ecological processes behind the homogeneity of monetary figures. It is argued that if the perception of ecological elements and processes as exchange values becomes normalized, ecosystem functions lacking direct economic value may tend to become invisible to decision making. Finally, third theoretical issue addresses the social construction of value. It is highlighted that valuation methods are value articulating institutions. Valuation methods shape the way people perceive and codify ecosystem values, and can thus act as vehicles that articulate particular notions of ownership, rationalities, and ways to relate with the environment that are specific to particular societies. In this sense, it is argued that an important consequence of economic valuation and market based mechanisms for conservation is the way it may modify property systems applied to ecosystems. Concluding remarks This thesis addresses a series of issues related to the incorporation of ecosystem services in environmental policy, accounting systems and market schemes. It provides a critical discussion of the ability of present economic institutions to handle the mismatch between the economic system and the environmental foundation on which it depends. In so doing, it provides a diagnosis of what the problems are and what dynamics seem to have caused them. It also identifies the directions we might take in order to tackle these problems. The thesis can be seen as working at two levels. The first concerns the theoretical issues, with a focus on economy-environment interactions. The second is empirical, covering the analysis of the history of thought and the changes in ecosystem management and ecological knowledge following from market integration. In sum, the present thesis offers researchers and policy makers involved in the science and management of ecosystems services the opportunity to reflect on a series of theoretical issues and operational challenges related to the articulation of ecosystem services in global environmental governance.