Ecosystem Services in the Gulf of Mexico

Ecosystem Services are the contributions from Gulf of Mexico marine and coastal ecosystems that support, sustain, and enrich human life.

This includes goods such as food and timber and services such as pollination, disturbance regulation, and soil and sediment balance.

The quantification of ecosystem services (ES) provides metrics for expressing benefits of the services provided by the ecosystem. The metrics might be monetary or non-monetary.

Our group believes that the quantification of ecosystem services is important to inform decisions and have a better understanding of changes brought by policies and/or actions. It is also important so ecosystem services are integrated into the equation of economic development and policy-making.

"Decisions are incomplete and inefficient if they not include all benefits and costs" (Yoskowitz, 2009).

So, how do we start including ES into decision -making? Environmental decision-making should include four elements: socio-cultural, science, political, and economics. Imagine a table with each leg being one element; without one of the legs, decision making is not effective (Figure 1).

Figure 1: The four elements in environmental decision-making

What is currently missing is a strong economic analysis of ES. If we don't put a value on an ecosystem service, then it will probably get an infinite value and for policy makers that is usually zero.

ES valuations can (1) develop the understanding of problems and trade-offs, (2) help make decisions, (3) demonstrate the delivery of benefits, (4) and develop institutional and market instruments to promote the sustainable management of ecosystems.

Ecosystem Services Projects

Gulf of Mexico Alliance: Ecosystem Integration and Assessment Team