Valuing Victoria’s Parks Accounting for ecosystems and valuing their benefits: Report of first phase findings Project Sponsors Bill Jackson (PV) Paul Smith (DELWP) Report prepared by: Tony Varcoe (PV) Helen Betts O’Shea (DELWP) Dr Zaida Contreras (DELWP) Working Group Project Control Group Tony Varcoe (Project Manager, PV) David Nugent (Chair, PV) Mark Eigenraam (DELWP) Peter Brennan (PV) Helen Betts O’Shea (DELWP) Brian Doolan (PV) Dr Zaida Contreras (DELWP) Vivienne Clare (DELWP) Peter Egan (PV) Will Guthrie (DELWP) Ian Campbell-Fraser (DELWP) Acknowledgements This project was a collaboration between Parks Victoria (PV) and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) (formerly the Department of Environment and Primary Industries, DEPI). Thanks to the following people who contributed to the project: Tamara Boyd, Alysia Brandenberg, Dale Appleton, Steve Shelley and Peter Egan (from Parks Victoria) and Freya McCormick, Pearl Tan, Gordon Forbes, Charlie Showers, Jaymie Norris, David Parkes and Gordan Ivancic (from DELWP). Thanks also to Carl Obst, Josh Bishop, David Cochrane and Michael Vardon for their advice. We are grateful to Carl Obst, Drew Collins and Neil Byron for their review of an earlier version of this report. Valuing Victoria’s Parks Table of Contents Summary and key findings ...................................................................................................................................... v Glossary .................................................................................................................................................................. x 1. Introduction and context .................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 The Victorian parks network ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 The purpose, value and benefits of Victoria’s parks .................................................................................... 2 1.3 Natural capital and ecosystem services ....................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Classification of ecosystem services ............................................................................................................. 6 1.5 About this study ........................................................................................................................................... 8 1.5.1 Purpose of this work ............................................................................................................................. 8 1.5.2 Study approach ..................................................................................................................................... 9 1.5.3 How will this report be used? ............................................................................................................... 9 1.5.4 Caveats on the report ......................................................................................................................... 10 2. Review of environmental accounting and valuation frameworks .................................................................... 11 2.1 Ecosystem accounting frameworks ............................................................................................................ 12 2.1.1 System of Environmental-Economic Accounting ................................................................................ 12 2.1.2 SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting ......................................................................................... 12 2.1.3 The Victorian experience in ecosystem accounting ............................................................................ 14 2.2 Valuation of ecosystem services ................................................................................................................ 15 2.2.1 Environmental valuation concepts ..................................................................................................... 17 2.2.2 Economic valuation methods .............................................................................................................. 19 2.2.3 The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity .................................................................................. 21 2.3 Synthesis of relevant valuation and accounting frameworks .................................................................... 22 3. Application of ecosystem accounting and valuation frameworks to Victorian parks ...................................... 25 3.1 Park management framework in Victoria .................................................................................................. 25 3.2 Use of ecosystem accounting and valuation for park management .......................................................... 26 3.2.1 Accounting for parks’ natural assets ................................................................................................... 26 3.2.2 Accounting for ecosystem services provided by Victoria’s parks ....................................................... 26 3.2.3 Valuing benefits from parks ecosystem services ................................................................................ 29 4. Ecosystem asset and service flow accounts ..................................................................................................... 31 4.1 Methodology to construct pilot ecosystem accounts ................................................................................ 31 4.2 Ecosystem Accounting Units ...................................................................................................................... 32 4.3 Ecosystem asset accounts .......................................................................................................................... 32 4.3.1 Environmental metrics used ............................................................................................................... 32 4.3.2 Overview of parks ecosystem assets and their condition ................................................................... 33 4.4 Built asset accounts .................................................................................................................................... 37 4.5 Cultural assets accounts ............................................................................................................................. 38 4.6 Ecosystem service flow account ................................................................................................................. 40 4.7 Case study: Ecosystem assets and services in the Mallee parks ................................................................ 43 4.8 Case study: Ecosystem assets and services in the Alpine National Park .................................................... 46 5. Valuation of ecosystem service benefits from Victoria’s parks ........................................................................ 49 5.1 Purpose of valuation .................................................................................................................................. 49 5.2 Methodology to value benefits from ecosystem services.......................................................................... 49 5.3 Ecosystem service benefits from Victoria’s parks ...................................................................................... 56 6. Summary of findings and further work ............................................................................................................. 59 6.1 Application for Parks Victoria ..................................................................................................................... 59 6.2 Learnings and further work ........................................................................................................................ 60 6.3 Implications of climate change ................................................................................................................... 63 6.4 Data requirements to assess return on investment ................................................................................... 63 Appendix 1: Types of parks in the Victorian parks network ................................................................................. 66 Appendix 2: Assessment of selected ecosystem services in parks ....................................................................... 67 A2.1 Provisioning services from parks.............................................................................................................. 67 (i) Provision of clean water............................................................................................................................... 67 (ii) Honey production ....................................................................................................................................... 72 A2.2 Regulating services from parks ................................................................................................................ 75 (i) Water purification and filtration services .................................................................................................... 75 (ii) Flood and stormwater regulation services ................................................................................................. 79 (iii) Climate regulation services .......................................................................................................................