Dr. Luke Brander

Luke recently published this paper, which estimates the non-use values provided by marine turtles in Asia-Pacific — a region characterised by the highest diversity of marine turtles, gravest threats and ongoing population decline. The study uses a large-sample (n =7765) global household survey with a focus on six countries in the region (China, Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam) and received responses from over 80 countries in total. A discrete choice experiment was used to elicit willingness-to-pay (WTP) for marine turtles, defined in terms of population trends (increasing, stable or declining) and species diversity (avoided extinctions). We find that a high proportion of households (82%) express a positive WTP for turtle conservation, and that the donation amounts are substantial. The median WTP for ensuring stable marine turtle populations, adjusted for demographic differences between the survey sample and the general population, is estimated at US $79 per household per year.

The paper can be accessed here

This report for the International Seabed Authority (ISA) provides information on the economic value of ecosystem services from the seabed and ocean floor beyond the limits of national jurisdiction (the Area) and the potential loss of this value through exploitation activities. Such information can be used to set fees for damage to natural capital (i.e., internalisation of external costs of activities), determine compensation payments to beneficiaries facing loss of ecosystem services, and to optimise mitigation efforts in mining operations by protecting high value ecosystem services.

The report can be accessed here

Luke contributed to the recently launched World Bank guidelines on Assessing the Benefits and Costs of Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Resilience. The guidelines aim to inform the design, implementation, and use of studies to value the benefits and costs of NBS for climate resilience projects. Reliable quantification of the costs and benefits of NBS for climate resilience can facilitate further mainstreaming of NBS by articulating the value proposition of NBS across sectors and identifying additional funding and financing for projects. The guidelines can be accessed here

This study for WWF-Australia provides a global review and summary of the literature on the economic value of marine turtles. It also estimates the value of provisioning services and non-use values provided by marine turtles in the Asia-Pacific — a region characterised by the highest diversity of marine turtles, gravest threats and ongoing population decline.

Luke conducted an economic valuation of ecosystem services provided by the marine environment of the Cook Islands. This study was part of the Cook Islands Ridge to Reef (R2R) project, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in partnership with the Cook Islands Government with support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The report describes, quantifies and, where possible, estimates the economic value of the Cook Islands’ marine and coastal resources. The key marine ecosystem services that are assessed in detail are: subsistence and commercial fishing; trochus; pearls; sand and coral aggregate; seabed minerals; coastal protection; tourism; recreation; and existence values related to marine biodiversity.

The report can be accessed here

Luke recently published an update of the Ecosystem Services Valuation Database (ESVD) in collaboration with the Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD) and Scotlands Rural College (SRUC). This update was funded by the UK Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The ESVD now contains 4,042 records on the economic value of ecosystem services. This data is drawn from 693 studies. The report provides an overview of the economic value of 23 ecosystem services from 15 biomes standardised in International dollars per hectare per year.

The ESVD report and database can be accessed here

Luke recently published an article in the journal Marine Policy on the global costs and benefits of expanding marine protected areas. Marine ecosystems and the services they provide contribute greatly to human well-being but are becoming degraded in many areas around the world. The expansion of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) has been advanced as a potential solution to this problem but their economic feasibility has hardly been studied. We conduct an economic assessment of the costs and benefits of six scenarios for the global expansion of MPAs. The analysis is conducted at a high spatial resolution, allowing the estimated costs and benefits to reflect the ecological and economic characteristics and context of each MPA and marine ecosystem. The results show that the global benefits of expanding MPAs exceed their costs by a factor 1.4–2.7 depending on the location and extent of MPA expansion. Targeting protection towards pristine areas with high biodiversity yields higher net returns than focusing on areas with low biodiversity or areas that have experienced high human impact.

The paper can be downloaded here

As part of the current revision process of the UN Statistics System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA), Luke authored a background paper for the Expert Meeting on Ecosystem Valuation in the context of Natural Capital Accounting organised by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) in Bonn. The paper provides an overview of the environmental economics literature on the value of ecosystem services. During the past 30+ years, the discipline of environmental economics has attempted to produce information on the economic value of ecosystem services, i.e. their contribution to human wellbeing. This body of knowledge now comprises thousands of studies covering all regions of the world and all ecosystem services. This information may potentially be used as input into ecosystem service accounts and represents an important resource for the implementation of SEEA.

The proceedings of the meeting are available here: https://www.bfn.de/fileadmin/BfN/service/Dokumente/skripten/Skript525.pdf

Luke authored a toolkit on environmental economic methods for marine ecosystem management for the GEF Large Marine Ecosystems Learning Exchange and Resource Network (GEF LME:LEARN) project. GEF LME:LEARN is a GEF-UNDP-IOC/UNESCO project designed to improve global ecosystem-based governance of Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) and their coasts by generating knowledge, building capacity, harnessing public and private partners and supporting south-to-south learning and north-to-south learning.

The purpose of this toolkit is to show how environmental economic methods can be used to produce information to support decision-making in the context of LME, Marine Protected Areas (MPA), Integrated Coastal Management (ICM), Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) and climate change adaptation. Specifically, it is designed to help a broad audience of practitioners, managers, government officials, private sector managers, NGOs, and statisticians to understand the available environmental economic tools and how the information generated can be used to inform the decisions that they make.

The toolkit can be accessed here: https://iwlearn.net/manuals/environmental-economics-for-marine-ecosystem-management-toolkit

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