MA6 NRDA: Injuries, Pathway, and Restoration
Room 18A/B, Level 4
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Monday, 10 November 2003
Chair: Brosnan, Tom ,
Co-chair: Mancini, Gene ,
(058) The role of services in quantifying natural resource damages.
Desvousges, W1, Kinnell, J1, Bingham, M1, Iannuzzi, T2, Ludwig, D2, 1 Triangle Economic Research, Durham, NC, United States2 BBL Sciences, Annapolis, MD
ABSTRACT- A key step in the Natural Resource Damage Assessment process involves identifying and quantifying changes to a natural resource's services that result from specific releases of oil or hazardous substances. This is a difficult process that requires state-of-the-science technical tools and methods. The focus on services in the regulatory process is important since natural resources are valued based on the functions that they provide within the ecosystem and to humans. In this context, only quantifiable service impairments can be considered damages. Ecological services refer to the physical, chemical, and biological functions that one natural resource provides for another. Examples include the provision of food, protection from predation, and breeding habitat. Human-use services refer to the functions that natural resources provide to society and include examples such as fishing, hunting, and wildlife viewing. The methods used to assess changes in human-use services are well founded in economic theory and can include models that use both revealed preference and stated preference data. Methods for assessing ecological services are less developed and often rely on simplistic approaches that focus on one or two services or attributes of an ecosystem, despite the fact that ecosystems are highly dynamic and typically composed of a large number of valuable resources. In this presentation we discuss current technical methods that can be used to evaluate changes to both human-use and ecological services and quantitatively compare potential restoration options for a given site. The methods include the application of random utility models (RUMs) to assess changes in human-use services and the development of an integrated ecological benefit index using an analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The presentation provides specific applications of these methods for both quantifying potential damages and evaluating restoration alternatives.
Key words: Natural Resource Damage Assessment, Services, Analytical Heirarchy Process, Random Utility Models