Ecosystem Services Valuation Database (ESVD)
The continued loss of ecosystems and biodiversity is endangering the prosperity of current and future generations (Dasgupta, 2021). To make better informed decisions about the trade-offs involved in ecosystem management, land-use change, or any activity affecting ecosystems and biodiversity, we need better information about the full importance of ecosystems to our wellbeing. The Ecosystem Services Valuation Database (ESVD) has been developed with the long-term goal of providing robust and easily accessible information on the economic benefits of ecosystems and biodiversity, and the costs of their loss, to support decision making regarding nature conservation, ecosystem restoration and sustainable land management.The focus of the ESVD is to gather information on economic welfare values related to ecosystem services measured in monetary units. By communicating such values in monetary units, we provide recognisable information that can be used to internalise the importance of Nature in decision making.The ESVD currently contains 10,874 value records from over 1100 studies distributed across all biomes, ecosystem services and geographic regions. Our repository of valuation studies contains over 2000 studies and the number is growing continuously so the number of value records in the ESVD will increase over time.
Secreteriat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP)
About the ESVD & RegistrationTo use the ESVD, you can register for a free account. By signing up, you are indicating agreement with the Terms of Use specified in the card below.You can search the ESVD in the “Database” page using a set of drop-down lists and/or free text search. Here you can view your search results, generate summary statistics, and download data.The valuations from your search query can be toggled between table format and a map. The table provides different relevant variables on ecosystem type, ecosystem services, standardized values, beneficiaries, valuation methods, location information and bibliographic information. Additionally, it highlights whether or not a valuation has been checked by an external reviewer.The map shows the valuations based on their point location coordinates. Hovering over a valuation pointer on the map shows basic information. Clicking on a pointer opens a window to show more information on the ecosystems and ecosystem services of your valuation(s) of interest. Please note that a map pointer can contain multiple valuations from multiple studies and that it can reflect a small or large study area.The values included in the ESVD are obtained from reports and academic publications. The study sites for which values have been estimated can be a single ecosystem type or contain multiple different types of ecosystem. Similarly, value estimates can be for a single ecosystem service or a bundle of multiple ecosystem services. In some cases, it is not possible to disaggregate value estimates for multiple ecosystem types and/or bundles of services to individual ecosystem types or services. We advise to use these value estimates with care in your specific research or decision-making context. For more information consult our info website or send us an email.Notes on using the ESVD:Where possible, value records are standardised to a common set of units (International dollars/hectare/year in 2020 price levels for all relevant beneficiaries of the service).Some value records cannot be standardised to a common set of units due to missing information but nevertheless contain potentially useful information for users. For this reason, some search results may contain data but do not contain standardised values. Only standardised values are included in the summary statistics.The data is under an ongoing review process to check that the interpretation and coding of study results are correct but not all data have been reviewed yet. The review status of each value record is indicated in the data.