Accounting For Maryland’s Ecosystem Services Renewable Energy Ecosystem Services Human Feedback Ecosystems People Heat Sink Elliott Campbell, PhD Integrated Policy and Review Maryland Department of Natural Resources

Outline What are ecosystem services and what is the appropriate way to value them? Biophysical quantities and monetary value of ecosystem services from Maryland forests, wetlands, and the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay/coastline How ecosystem services vary spatially Policy implications in Maryland and beyond

What Are Ecosystem Services? “Benefits gained by people from the environment” As classified by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA 2005)

Emergy-Money Across the Economy

How Do We Value Ecosystem Services? Assessing economic value (i.e. willingness to pay) for ES is difficult because in most cases a market does not exist (contingent valuation or hedonic pricing are often used) Other methods try and assess societal preference for ES in a non-economic way (usually surveys) Studies that only assess biophysical aspect sometimes assess services, usually assess function All of these options typically miss the vital connection between sustainability of a resource and the contribution it makes to human well-being

Revealed Societal Preference Recent studies suggest that use of revealed societal preference is the more appropriate way to assess the value of ecosystem services in a broadly applicable way Uses examples of real investments made by society in increasing ecosystem services or avoiding costs of ecosystem damage This is how ecosystem services are paid for, through collective investment of governments, NGO’s, private business, people do not directly pay for “public goods” Avoids “theoretical bias” inherent in contingent valuation for elusive, non-market ES Economic BiophysicalSocial

The Eco-Price Reveals Social Preference Ratio of the biophysical value of an environmental good or service or analog to a monetary investment in said service Examples One ton of carbon divided by the trading price per ton in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) marketplace The amount of runoff from a taxed land area divided by the tax charged through the Stormwater Fee law Nutrients avoided through BMP implementation divided by the cost of establishment Avoids biases of survey and hedonic pricing, acknowledges that society values ES different ways and that the end-use is not constant.

Maryland Ecosystems 42 nd Largest State in US 40% forested (1 million ha) 9.5% wetlands 5.4% palustrine (139,000 ha) 4.1% estuarine (102,000 ha) Physiographically diverse Chesapeake Bay: 1,160,100 ha ~14,600 ha of oyster beds remain, 1% of historical area ~11,700 ha of SAV, 6% of historical area

Methodology Quantify each ecosystem service in terms of biophysical flow on a consistent baseline (i.e. joules of solar energy) using environmental accounting (i.e. emergy accounting) Relate biophysical flow to currency by observing instances where people have exhibited monetary preference for the work of the environment (i.e. market payments, cost of regulatory programs, costs avoided), termed “eco-price” Quantify ES in both biophysical and monetary terms allows for flexibility of the model

Eco-Prices

Eco-price Categories

Renewable Emergy Signature Maryland Forests

Forest Ecosystem Services, per acre Total eco-priced services:$1642 ha -1 year -1 Total, including market/non-market services: $2724 ha -1 year -1

Freshwater Wetlands Renewable Emergy Signature

Freshwater Wetlands Total, eco-priced services: $3824 ha -1 year -1 Total, including market: $4202 ha- 1 year -1

Renewable Emergy Signature, Estuarine Wetlands

Estuarine Wetlands Total eco-priced services:$5685 ha -1 year -1 Total, including market: $6618 ha -1 year -1

Renewable Emergy Signature, Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay Total eco-priced services:$33 ha -1 year -1 Total, including market/non-market services: $1095 ha -1 year -1

Oyster Reef Ecosystem Services Total:$5,113 ha -1 year -1 Total, including shoreline stabilization: $39,532 ha -1 year -1

Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Total:$5,013 ha -1 year -1 Total, including shoreline stabilization: $$22,213 ha -1 year -1

Ecosystem Services in Maryland Total non-market: $2.847 billion yr-1 Market: $2.664 billion yr-1 Total: $5.511 billion yr-1

Biophysical supply of ES changes over the landscape for all services (carbon sequestration, groundwater recharge, wildlife habitat, nutrients/sediment) For some services the “demand” for the service changes as well Stormwater, air quality more important in urban areas Wildlife habitat/biodiversity more important in rural systems Spatial Variability of Ecosystem Services

Carbon Sequestration

Stormwater Runoff Abatement/ Flood Protection Relates percent impervious cover in 12 digit watershed to value provided by forests and wetlands in the corresponding watershed at high, med., low Wetlands Forests

Stormwater Abatement Wetlands Forests

Integrating ES Value into Decision Making in Maryland Potential Applications Inform zoning and land-use decision making at the state or local level Evaluate investments in state restoration and land acquisition Support existing, and catalyze new ecosystem service markets Incorporating ecosystem service values in a business sustainability plan or other “triple bottom line” (i.e. social, economic, and environmental) accounting practices Inform Cost-benefit analysis being done in the state

Currently Developing… Model specific to agricultural lands, rivers and streams Integration of spatial models Scenarios for Restoration alternatives Sea level rise Climate change adaption strategies BMP implementation Rate of land-use conversion

Current Collaborators EPA UMD Center for Smart Growth Watershed Resources Registry Greater Baltimore Wilderness Coalition Charles County Maryland

Questions? = $ For Publications Campbell, E.T. and D.R. Tilley The Eco-Price: How environmental emergy equates to currency. Ecosystem Services. Vol Campbell, E.T. and D.R. Tilley Valuing ecosystem services from Maryland forests using environmental accounting. Ecosystem Services. Vol