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2005 Valuation of Ecosystem Services in Agriculture
Purpose
Farmland ecosystems cover one-quarter of the United States, more than any other ecosystem that is directly managed by humans for human goals. Yet our understanding of the ecological functions and services provided by agricultural ecosystems is strikingly incomplete. Methods to measure and place values on their services are even less developed. Despite great strides by environmental economists in non-market valuation, little attention has been paid to ecosystem services from agriculture. This workshop unites leading ecologists and environmental economists to discuss priority approaches to advancing knowledge about the measurement and valuation of ecosystem services in agriculture. The workshop is organized by the KBS Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) Program, with special funding from NSF.
Format and desired outcomes
The two-day workshop will begin from ideas expressed in short written briefs prepared by invited participants and distributed in advance. Synthesizers will lead workshop discussions that use the briefs as a springboard to detailed and interactive consideration of three broad areas:
- Defining ecosystem services from agriculture,
- measuring ecosystem services from agriculture, and
- estimating values of ecosystem services from agriculture.
We anticipate two major outcomes. First, a short consensus manuscript will be developed to advocate a changed focus in science policy toward ecosystem services in agriculture. The manuscript will target a high-profile general science journal. Second, a journal special issue will be organized to focus on the state-of-the-science for valuation of ecosystem services in agriculture. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to expand upon the written briefs (or develop separate ideas) to contribute to this issue.