Journal of Forest Economics > Vol 21 > Issue 2

Understanding the economic value of water ecosystem services from tropical forests: A systematic review for South and Central America

Elena Ojea, Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), Spain AND Bren School for Environmental Science and Management, UCSB, USA, elena.ojea@bc3research.org , Julia Martin-Ortega, Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences Group, The James Hutton Institute, United Kingdom, julia.martinortega@hutton.ac.uk
 
Suggested Citation
Elena Ojea and Julia Martin-Ortega (2015), "Understanding the economic value of water ecosystem services from tropical forests: A systematic review for South and Central America", Journal of Forest Economics: Vol. 21: No. 2, pp 97-106. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jfe.2015.02.001

Publication Date: 0/4/2015
© 0 2015 Elena Ojea, Julia Martin-Ortega
 
Subjects
 
Keywords
JEL Codes:Q51Q00Q25Q23
Extractive water supplyIn-stream water supplyLatin AmericaMeta-analysisService usersWater services
 

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In this article:
Introduction 
The economic value of water services 
Results and discussion 
Conclusions 

Abstract

There is a well-established body of literature on monetary valuation of water ecosystem services to support the case for sustaining tropical forests. However, this literature is heterogeneous in its purposes and approaches and has not been carefully compared, providing a fragmented view of the values of forest water services. This paper addresses this knowledge gap through an orderly review and a regression meta-analysis of existing valuation studies at the regional level in South and Central America. This analysis allows identifying some factors that systematically influence forest values. However, it also reveals a lack of a systematized approach to valuation and a lack of sufficiently coherent evidence. This represents a barrier for the incorporation of the values of water ecosystem services into decision-making.

DOI:10.1016/j.jfe.2015.02.001