Dr. Luke Brander

Luke published an article in the journal Ecosystem Services on the economic value of forests in regulating landslide risk. The role of forests in regulating landslide risks is well established but estimates of the economic value of this ecosystem service are limited. In order to incorporate the role of forests for landslide risk mitigation in spatial planning and other decision-making contexts, there is a need for spatially explicit information regarding the value of this service. The paper develops a methodological framework to combine bio-physical modelling of natural hazard risk and socio-economic exposure in a predictive model to estimate and map of the economic value of forest regulation of landslides. This method is applied in a case study of Adjara Autonomous Republic of Georgia to examine alternative scenarios for forest management and associated land cover change. The approach produces credible spatially explicit results to inform policy decisions regarding investment in forest management; and has the potential for replication in other data scarce regions.

The article can be accessed here: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1XHgC7szSIq-00

Luke co-authored a report for WWF on the current state-of-the-art in ecosystem service-economy modelling and research. The report also identifies what new modelling and analyses are needed to fill key knowledge gaps and deliver evidence on the potential global socio-economic impacts of future changes in biodiversity and ecosystem services.

The report can be accessed here: https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/2918bc_6a1412d06bb04a4f9d2b982d3bf5bdd5.pdf

Luke co-authored a guidance manual on economic valuation of marine and coastal ecosystem services. The purpose of this guidance manual is to show how the value of marine and coastal ecosystem services can be estimated and used to support decisions about the use and management of marine ecosystems. It is designed to help a broad audience of conservation managers, government officials, private sector managers, NGOs, and statisticians to understand and apply the available economic methods for valuing marine and coastal ecosystem services to inform the decisions that they make. To this end, the manual provides: 1. A simple but technical introduction to the economic valuation methods that are applicable to marine and coastal ecosystem services; 2. An explanation of the limitations of each method and potential uncertainties; and 3. Examples of the use in the Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs).

The guidance manual can be accessed here: http://macbio-pacific.info/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/MACBIO_MESV_Guidance-Manual_Web.pdf

Luke co-authored five studies on the economic value of coastal and marine resources in the South Pacific as part of the Marine and Coastal Biodiversity Management in Pacific Island Countries (MACBIO) project. The studies are for Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu; and assess the economic value of subsistence fishing, commercial fisheries, mineral and aggregate mining, tourism, coastal protection, carbon sequestration, and research and education.

The final and summary reports can be accessed here: http://macbio-pacific.info/macbio-resources/

and here: http://www.teebweb.org/areas-of-work/teeb-country-studies-2/teeb-south-pacific//

Luke recently completed a study on the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for the forestry sector of Adjara Autonomous Republic, Georgia. The study was commissioned by the WWF-Caucasus Programme Office. It assesses the economic value of forest ecosystem services under alternative scenarios for future forest management, focusing on ecosystem services that are of high importance and potentially threatened, and prepares relevant policy recommendations. Adjara is located in southwestern Georgia on the coast of the Black Sea. It is predominantly mountainous and has the highest density of forest cover of any region in Georgia, covering 66 percent of the territory. Adjaran forests provide a range of ecosystem services including timber, fuel wood, non-timber forest products (NTFPs), tourism and recreation, hunting and fishing, regulation of natural hazards such as flooding and landslides, and global climate regulation through storage of carbon. Following stakeholder discussions, the study focused on the valuation of fuel wood, NTFPs, carbon storage and landslide regulation.

The final report can be accessed here:http://img.teebweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/TEEB-Adjara-Final-Report.pdf

Luke co-authored a paper published in Nature Climate Change on the vulnerability of US shellfisheries to ocean acidification. The paper assesses multiple economic and social risk factors associated with ocean acidification, focusing on the reliance of US coastal regions on shelled mollusc harvests and the capacity of these communities to adapt to reductions in harvests. The results show that 16 out of 23 regions in the US are exposed to rapid acidification, with marine ecosystems around the Pacific Northwest and Southern Alaska expected to be affected soonest. Adaptive capacity (indicated by status of government policies on OA, employment alternatives and availability of science, for example) is combined with economic dependency on shelled molluscs, to identify the most vulnerable communities, which are found to be located along the East Coast of the US and Gulf of Mexico. This analysis demonstrates varied causes of vulnerability along the US coastline, as well as highlighting important gaps in knowledge and information that should be addressed to facilitate adaptation.

The article can be accessed here: http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate2508.html

Luke authored a “Perspective Paper” for the Copenhagen Consensus Center on the benefits and costs of the biodiversity targets for the Post-2015 Development Agenda. The “Assessment” and “Perspective” papers on this issue by Anil Markandya, Alistair McVittie and Luke Brander can be found here: http://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/post-2015-consensus/biodiversity.

Luke is a co-author of the Convention on Biological Diversity report “An updated synthesis of the impacts of ocean acidification”. The report provides a summary of likely impacts of ocean acidification and concludes that it is now near-inevitable that it will worsen, causing widespread impacts, mostly deleterious, on marine organisms and ecosystems, and on the goods and services they provide. The report is available here: http://www.cbd.int/ts.

Luke is a co-author of the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) new guidebook, Coastal Capital: Ecosystem Valuation for Decision Making in the Caribbean. The guidebook details the steps in conducting a coastal ecosystem valuation to inform decision making in the Caribbean. It guides valuation practitioners — both economists and non-economists — through the three phases of a valuation effort (scoping, analysis, and outreach), with an emphasis on stakeholder engagement in all phases.

WRI 2014 Coastal Capital Ecosystem Valuation Caribbean Guidebook

Luke authored a guidance manual on value transfer methods for ecosystem services for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The manual was launched on 3 December 2013 by Sir Partha Dasgupta at the Valuation and Accounting of Natural Capital for Green Economy (VANTAGE) conference in Nairobi, Kenya. The purpose of this guidance manual is to show how the value of ecosystem services can be estimated and incorporated into decision making. It is designed to help a broad audience of conservation managers, government officials, private sector managers, NGOs and statisticians to understand the available information on the value of ecosystem services and how this information can be transferred to inform the decisions that they make. The pdf of the manual is available for download below.

UNEP (2013) Guidance manual on value transfer methods for ecosystem services