Benefits and costs of ecological restoration: rapid assessment of changing ecosystem service values at a UK wetland

Restoration of degraded land is recognized by the international community as an important way of enhancing both biodiversity and ecosystem services, but more information is needed about its costs and benefits. In Cambridgeshire, U.K., a long-term initiative to convert drained, intensively farmed arable land to a wetland habitat mosaic is driven by a desire both to prevent biodiversity loss from the nationally important Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve (Wicken Fen NNR) and to increase the provision of ecosystem services. We evaluated the changes in ecosystem service delivery resulting from this land conversion, using a new Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site-based Assessment (TESSA) to estimate biophysical and monetary values of ecosystem services provided by the restored wetland mosaic compared with the former arable land. Overall results suggest that restoration is associated with a net gain to society as a whole of $199 ha−1y−1, for a one-off investment in restoration of $2320 ha−1. ...

退化土地修复已被国际社会视为提升生物多样性与生态系统服务的重要途径，但目前仍需更多关于其成本与收益的相关数据。在英国剑桥郡，一项长期倡议正将经过排水处理的集约耕作耕地改造为湿地生境镶嵌体，该倡议旨在防止具有全国重要性的威肯芬国家自然保护区（Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve，Wicken Fen NNR）出现生物多样性丧失，并提升生态系统服务的供给能力。本研究采用全新的生态系统服务场地评估工具包（Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site-based Assessment，TESSA），对比修复后的湿地镶嵌体与原耕地所提供的生态系统服务，估算其生物物理价值与货币价值，以此评估此次土地改造带来的生态系统服务供给变化。整体结果显示，相较于每公顷2320美元的一次性修复投入，该修复项目可为全社会带来每公顷每年199美元的净收益。……