According to Freeman (1993) and Matete (2004), "ecological value is estimated from the utility humans derive from using ecological services. […] It then follows that the basis for deriving measures of economic value of the environment and goods and services it provides is their effects on human welfare". It is easy to take ecosystem services for granted, especially when there is a disconnection between the end product and the services. We rely on ecosystem services to survive and have to recognise their importance in terms of function and economic value. Economic valuation of ecosystem services allows for the benefits of ecosystem services to be quantified and justified. This is a hotly debated topic with a number of studies providing value estimations for a number of essential services, resulting in a wide range of values for the same services. The table below is a summary of the range of economic values that have been assigned to aquatic ecosystem services on a global scale, and more specifically in developing countries (Forslund et al. 2009). Table: Economic values of aquatic ecosystem services reported in recent literature.
Source: (Emerton & Kekulandala (2002), Turpie et al. (1999), Emerton et al. (2002), Iftikhar (2002), Emerton (1994), IUCN (2001), Emerton et al. (1999), Rosales et al. (2003), Gerrard (2004), De Groot (1992), Kirkland (1988), Thibodeau & Ostro (1981), Schuyt & Brander (2004), Busk (2002), Chowdhury (2003), Rogers et al. (1998), Sadoff et al. (2003), Karanja et al. (2001), Seyam et al. (2001), Acharya (2000), Woodward & Wui (2001), Brown (1991), MRCS (1998), Ringler & Cai (2003), Pyo (2002), Seild & Moraes (2000), Schuyt & Jansen (1999), Christensen (1982), Sathirathai (1998), Bann (1997), Drew et al. (2005), Costanza et al. (1997).) As quoted in Forslund et al. 2009 * Values as assigned by the literature, not a sum of ranges minimums and maximums
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