Andrew Lovett

Bringing Ecosystem Services into Economic Decision-Making: Land Use in the United Kingdom

Monitoring Land Use Land-use decisions are based largely on agricultural market values. However, such decisions can lead to losses of ecosystem services, such as the provision of wildlife habitat or recreational space, the magnitude of which may overwhelm any market agricultural benefits. In a research project forming part of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment, Bateman et al. (p. 45) estimate the value of these net losses. Policies that recognize the diversity and complexity of the natural environment can target changes to different areas so as to radically improve land use in terms of agriculture and greenhouse gas emissions, recreation, and wild species habitat and diversity. The value of using land for recreation and wildlife, not just for agriculture, can usefully factor into planning decisions. Landscapes generate a wide range of valuable ecosystem services, yet land-use decisions often ignore the value of these services. Using the example of the United Kingdom, we show the significance of land-use change not only for agricultural production but also for emissions and sequestration of greenhouse gases, open-access recreational visits, urban green space, and wild-species diversity. We use spatially explicit models in conjunction with valuation methods to estimate comparable economic values for these services, taking account of climate change impacts. We show that, although decisions that focus solely on agriculture reduce overall ecosystem service values, highly significant value increases can be obtained from targeted planning by incorporating all potential services and their values and that this approach also conserves wild-species diversity.

Bringing ecosystem services into economic decision-making

Monitoring Land Use Land-use decisions are based largely on agricultural market values. However, such decisions can lead to losses of ecosystem services, such as the provision of wildlife habitat or recreational space, the magnitude of which may overwhelm any market agricultural benefits. In a research project forming part of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment, Bateman et al. (p. 45) estimate the value of these net losses. Policies that recognize the diversity and complexity of the natural environment can target changes to different areas so as to radically improve land use in terms of agriculture and greenhouse gas emissions, recreation, and wild species habitat and diversity. The value of using land for recreation and wildlife, not just for agriculture, can usefully factor into planning decisions. Landscapes generate a wide range of valuable ecosystem services, yet land-use decisions often ignore the value of these services. Using the example of the United Kingdom, we show the significance of land-use change not only for agricultural production but also for emissions and sequestration of greenhouse gases, open-access recreational visits, urban green space, and wild-species diversity. We use spatially explicit models in conjunction with valuation methods to estimate comparable economic values for these services, taking account of climate change impacts. We show that, although decisions that focus solely on agriculture reduce overall ecosystem service values, highly significant value increases can be obtained from targeted planning by incorporating all potential services and their values and that this approach also conserves wild-species diversity.

Car travel time and accessibility by bus to general practitioner services: a study using patient registers and GIS.

Accessibility to general practitioner (GP) surgeries was investigated in a population study of East Anglia (Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk) in the United Kingdom. Information from patient registers was combined with details of general practitioner surgery locations, road network characteristics, bus routes and community transport services, and a geographical information system (GIS) was used to calculate measures of accessibility to surgeries by public and private transport. Outcome measures included car travel times and indicators of the extent to which bus services could be used to visit GP surgeries. These variables were aggregated for wards or parishes and then compared with socio-economic characteristics of the populations living in those areas. The results indicated that only 10% of residents faced a car journey of more than 10 min to a GP. Some 13% of the population could not reach general medical services by daily bus. For 5% of the population, the car journey to the nearest surgery was longer than 10 min and there was no suitable bus service each weekday. In the remoter rural parishes, the lowest levels of personal mobility and the highest health needs indicators were found in the places with no daytime bus service each weekday and no community transport. The overall extent of accessibility problems and the existence of inverse care law effects in some rural localities have implications for the NHS, which aims to provide an equitable service to people wherever they live. The research also demonstrates the potential of patient registers and GIS as research and planning tools, though the practical difficulties of using these data sources and techniques should not be underestimated.

GIS-based visualisation of rural landscapes: defining ‘sufficient’ realism for environmental decision-making

Abstract Visual communication is an increasingly common part of environmental decision-making, being used as a ‘common currency’ to facilitate dialogue between policymakers and non-experts, increase understanding, and thereby improve the decisions made. GIS-based landscape visualisation is one method of producing images for consultation exercises, and while continuing advances in technology allow expansion into new areas such as the visualisation of rural landscapes, there is considerable feeling that we should not allow ourselves to be guided simply by what the technology can do. Instead, we should carefully assess whether each of these increases in capability can enhance the usefulness of visualisations. The need for a critical eye is particularly apparent when considering the advances in realism, since opportunities for realistic visualisations are rarely matched by the availability of suitably detailed data, and viewers’ perceptions of factors such as accuracy and certainty are also affected by the level of realism in an image. Following suggestions in the literature, the research described here attempts to determine whether there might be a ‘sufficient’ level of realism somewhat below the maximum possible level, and also begins to investigate the relative importance of various elements within an image such as buildings and foreground vegetation. Several visualisations of English rural scenes, with elements at varying levels of detail, were rated by survey respondents according to how well they felt they communicated the appearance of the landscape. The results do not show evidence of a ‘sufficient’ level of realism, but strongly indicate that some elements are more important than others. Foreground vegetation and the appearance of the ground surface over the whole scene were found to have significant effects on ratings, although the precise effect varied between the three scenes used, and much variation in ratings was not accounted for.

Applying geographical information systems (GIS) to environmental and resource economics

Many of the analyses undertaken byenvironmental and resource economics areintimately concerned with spatial variations.This article examines the contribution whichGeographical Information Systems (GIS) mayprovide in incorporating the complexities ofthe spatial dimension within such analyses. Thepaper introduces the reader to the types ofdata handled by a GIS and overviews thepractical functionality offered by suchsystems. A brief literature review issupplemented by a number of more detailedapplications illustrating various GIStechniques which may be of use to the appliedenvironmental or resource economist.

Evaluating factors influencing groundwater vulnerability to nitrate pollution: developing the potential of GIS

The 1991 EU Nitrate Directive was designed to reduce water pollution from agriculturally derived nitrates. England and Wales implemented this Directive by controlling agricultural activities within their most vulnerable areas termed Nitrate Vulnerable Zones. These were designated by identifying drinking water catchments (surface and groundwater), at risk from nitrate pollution. However, this method contravened the Nitrate Directive because it only protected drinking water and not all waters. In this paper, a GIS was used to identify all areas of groundwater vulnerable to nitrate pollution. This was achieved by constructing a model containing data on four characteristics: the quality of the water leaving the root zone of a piece of land; soil information; presence of low permeability superficial (drift) material; and aquifer properties. These were combined in a GIS and the various combinations converted into a measure of vulnerability using expert knowledge. Several model variants were produced using different estimates of the quality of the water leaving the root zone and contrasting methods of weighting the input data. When the final models were assessed all produced similar spatial patterns and, when verified by comparison with trend data derived from monitored nitrate concentrations, all the models were statistically significant predictors of groundwater nitrate concentrations. The best predictive model contained a model of nitrate leaching but no land use information, implying that changes in land use will not affect designations based upon this model. The relationship between nitrate levels and borehole intake depths was investigated since there was concern that the observed contrasts in nitrate levels between vulnerability categories might be reflecting differences in borehole intake depths and not actual vulnerability. However, this was not found to be statistically important. Our preferred model provides the basis for developing a new set of groundwater Nitrate Vulnerable Zones that should help England and Wales to comply with the EU Nitrate Directive.

Modelling environmental equity: access to air quality in Birmingham, England

Many studies in the USA have noted inequities with regard to the socioeconomic status or racial character of communities and their relative exposure to environmental disamenities. In this paper the authors focus particularly on the environmental equity of air pollution in the English city of Birmingham. Using statistical methodologies they examine the pattern of exposure to two key air pollutants: carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) across certain population groups in the city. Estimated emission levels of CO and NO2 were mapped by using modelled associations between vehicle densities and measured emissions at existing monitoring stations. These data were input to a geographical information system (GIS) for subsequent comparisons with population maps. Three types of variables were considered to distinguish possibly disadvantaged populations: age profile, ethnic make-up, and poverty indicators. From the 1991 Census, relevant statistics were derived for each enumeration district in the city. No relationship could be established on the age variable (that is, neither children nor pensioners appear to differ from the general population in their likely exposure patterns). However, there was a striking relationship between modelled emissions and poverty indicators and ethnicity. The effects are difficult to separate out but there is strong evidence to suggest that the two factors (poverty and ethnicity) operate in an independent manner. The implications of these findings, with regard to the causes of the disparities and the likely impacts of possible efforts to improve air quality in Birmingham, are discussed.

Modelling environmental influences on property prices in an urban environment

The aim of this research was to assign money values to the negative impacts associated with road development, more specifically noise and visual intrusion. These impacts do not have observable prices and so have to be calculated indirectly. One way of doing this is to examine their effect upon house prices. The valuations such a method produces can then be included alongside other costs and benefits in the appraisal of a road development. However in order to calculate these prices, one also has to control for the many other factors that affect house prices, in addition to specifying the two road variables. In previous research this has required much time and effort which has consequently limited the scope of such studies. The aim of this project was to use a geographical information system (GIS) and large-scale digital data to derive all the required variables in a quick and efficient manner. The flexibility of a GIS allows a large number of possible explanatory variables to be calculated, leading to a large and complex dataset. This paper describes how such a dataset was modelled and price estimates for road noise and the visual intrusion extracted. It concludes by commenting upon the benefits of using GIS in this type of study and considers the main limitations to their wider adoption.

GIS-based visualisation of development proposals: Reactions from planning and related professionals

Public participation has been recognised as a desirable element of the planning process, but traditional consultation and communication methods have not always been able to engage a sufficiently broad cross-section of the public to be truly representative. One factor behind this is the relative complexity of much of the information used in the planning process, and the difficulty of presenting it to a lay audience. Visual communication is a well-established way of trying to overcome this barrier, and while computer visualisation, particularly that based on GIS databases, is a fast-emerging part of that field, relatively little research has been done to investigate how an audience might relate to such images, and what factors might influence them. The research behind this paper attempts to identify the most important issues regarding the use of such visualisations with the public, using a set of visualisations for a real project in Norwich, UK, with a series of interviews with planners and other related professionals.

Potential Accessibility, Travel Time, and Consumer Choice: Geographical Variations in General Medical Practice Registrations in Eastern England

The availability of choice is a neglected aspect in studies of geographical accessibility, which typically concentrate on distance to the nearest service. Records of patient registrations with general medical practices offer the opportunity to examine the geographical distribution of choice for an essential service. This population study of two million residents of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk used postcodes extracted from patient registers and estimated car travel times from residential locations to general practice surgeries in a geographic information system. Only 56% of the population were registered with the practice nearest their home. People were more likely to use the nearest practice if they lived in rural rather than urban areas and where a surgery was within walking distance. Choice, as measured by the number of practices used by 95% of residents, was highest in the larger urban areas and lowest in small towns and rural areas with a local surgery. Ten percent of the population were served by monopoly practices. Overall, the distribution of registrations reflected a regular and predictable substitution of choice for increased travel time. People were 29% less likely to register with a practice for every additional minute of travel time: an almost perfect distance-decay relationship that was used to calibrate a potential model of accessibility over the study area. The resulting values of potential accessibility were found to approximate the combination of travel time to the nearest surgery and the actual range of choice exercised by residents. This demonstration that the potential accessibility model reflects consumer behaviour has applications beyond the health field.