Blue Planet Prize Story

Connection Between Society, Economy, and Nature

Nature and human society influence each other. For example, abundant forests purify the air and provide an environment where people can live with peace of mind. Oceans rich in fish support the fishing industry and sustain the livelihoods of many people. In this way, nature provides diverse services to people. On the other hand, while nature is sometimes protected by human activity, it is also sometimes destroyed. When we destroy nature, the services that nature provides are lost; this has a significant impact on our lives. Services that nature provides to people are called ecosystem services. Professor Costanza began to evaluate and quantify the value of ecosystem services to clearly show the negative impact that the loss of nature would have on people.

Methods for Evaluating the Value of Ecosystem Services

So, what methods can we use to evaluate the value of ecosystem services? One approach is the concept of "calculating replacement costs." For example, if natural wetlands play a role in preventing floods, what would happen if those wetlands disappeared? In order to replace that function, we would need to build large dams and drainage facilities. Calculating the cost of that infrastructure would give us the monetary value of the role that wetlands play.

Another example is the role of forests in purifying water. If forests were lost, it would become necessary to build large water treatment facilities to purify water. Estimating the cost of these facilities would show the monetary value of the water purification function that forests provide.

Professor Costanza also worked on estimating the non-material values of nature, such as the enjoyment and satisfaction it provides us. For example, to investigate how much joy people get from playing at a beautiful park or strolling in nature, he employed a survey method that asked, "if you had to pay to enjoy this park, how much would you be willing to pay?"

While there are various other methods, Professor Costanza used approaches like these to reveal the value of ecosystem services in monetary units.

Total Value of the World's Ecosystem Services

In 1997, Professor Costanza embarked on an ambitious challenge that no one had ever undertaken before: quantifying the value of ecosystem services around the world in monetary units.

There had already been several studies on ecosystem services, including the role of mangroves in protecting coastal infrastructure, the role of forests in purifying the air, and the role of wetlands in water quality in different regions; however, no studies had attempted to integrate all these findings and clarify the total value of ecosystem services on a global scale.

To tackle this challenge, Professor Costanza believed it was essential to integrate research from a wide range of fields. He then resolved to collect and analyze data from around the world, aiming to clearly demonstrate the value that nature holds.

Evaluation of Ecosystem Services

Professor Costanza and his colleagues divided the ecosystem services into 17 categories across 16 biomes. Some of the ecosystem services are shown below:

Professor Costanza and his team looked at the extent of each of the 17 ecosystem services in each of the 16 biomes to quantify them. The 16 biomes included the open ocean, estuaries, shelf, tropical forest, temperate forest, tidal marsh, desert, tundra, cropland, urban, etc. They collected relevant data from around the world. Since the internet was not widely available at that time, collecting such a vast amount of information from diverse regions posed a major challenge. The team reviewed each study individually to estimate the value of the ecosystem services in each category and ultimately succeeded in calculating the value of the world's ecosystem services in monetary units; it was estimated to be approximately 33 trillion USD per year. The figure was considerably larger than the world's entire GDP at the time (the total GDP of individual countries). In other words, this showed that our lives and economic activities significantly depended on gifts of nature.

The World's First Nature Evaluation Attempt and Its Significance

This research was the first attempt to integrate individual studies on the value of a number of ecosystem services and reveal the overall picture on a global scale. At the time the paper was written, there was no model for compiling research data on individual ecosystem services into one place. Furthermore, research material on ecosystem services was significantly scarcer than it is today. The paper also acknowledged the limitations in the methods and figures used to estimate the value of natural capital, such as ecosystems, and noted that many issues remained unresolved. Professor Costanza remarked, "Even if these challenges had been resolved, the estimated amount would still have been enormous." In other words, his conviction that the value of the benefits provided by nature is beyond measure remained unshaken.

This paper gained considerable attention, and its impact spread internationally. It facilitated international initiatives such as the establishment of the UN Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment . As a result, the concept of integrating ecosystem services into the decision-making process became broadly accepted around the world.

Professor Costanza's research laid a crucial foundation for discussions on natural environmental protection and sustainable development. By expressing the value of nature in monetary terms, it gave many policymakers and scientists the impetus to take concrete action.

Integrating Ecology and Economics

While conducting research on wetlands, Professor Costanza collaborated with Herman Daly, an economics professor at Louisiana State University, later to become one of the 2014 Blue Planet Prize laureates, and his other colleagues. Their research, which explored the interrelationship between ecology and economics, led to the creation of a new academic field called ecological economics, launching the academic journal, Ecological Economics.

4. Development of New Indicators to Measure Happiness