Understanding Perverse Consequences of Ecosystem Services: a Literature Review

Abstract:

UCSC GEOPATHS is an NSF-supported initiative to improve student success in the geosciences, driven by a desire to broaden participation. One component of the program is undergraduate student internships that provide authentic, career-relevant experiences – across all employment sectors – to increase student engagement in the geoscience pipeline.

My GEOPATHS Internship at the Coastal Resilience Lab at UCSC focused on identifying limitations in the use of ecosystem services and valuation studies for conservation. Ecosystem services/economics is a growing field, and as payment for ecosystem services (PES) schemes and other ecosystem service programs grow there has been (theoretical) criticism that by valuing ecosystems we may exclude or de-value them as options for management. This project sought to discern if there was evidence of such limitations in ecosystem service case studies. We used a systematic search using a bank of keywords and 4 databases to compile a literature review on the topic, finding that while relatively few cases had major perverse outcomes, there were examples where the use of ecosystems was limited after it was valued economically. As ecosystem services become a greater tool for environmental policy makers, understanding the possible perverse outcomes from these programs is important for ensuring appropriate tools and policies are in place.