Abstract

Title: The Natural Capital Project, InVEST, and China: Towards integration of ecosystem services into decision-making

Authors: Christine Tam

The Natural Capital Project, Stanford University

Abstract: The Natural Capital Project’s aim is to align economic forces with conservation by supporting better understanding and incorporation of ecosystem service values by decision-makers. In China, the Natural Capital Project is working to demonstrate this ecosystem services approach through application of InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs), a software tool that maps and values ecosystem services, to influence plans, programs, and policies within the Upper Yangtze River and Pearl River basins. First tested in the Willamette Basin, Oregon, USA, InVEST aims to empower decision-makers most powerfully by addressing multiple services and facilitating scenario comparisons. Important challenges to application in China include (1) how to best build on current and past modeling and valuation efforts; (2) data limitations; and (3) overcoming the tradition of a single-sector approach.