We study the incorporation of ecosystem services in German water infrastructure planning exemplified by a projected deepening of the Lower Weser river channel. Therefore, we recalculate the project's benefit-cost ratio by integrating the monetary value of changes in different ecosystem services:...

Discounting future costs and benefits is a crucial yet contentious practice in the appraisal of long-term public projects with environmental consequences. The standard approach typically neglects that ecosystem services are not easily substitutable with manufactured goods and often exhibit...

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) has introduced economic principles for water resource management, including the environmental cost recovery on the basis of the polluter pays principle (PPP). Agriculture, as a potential driver of pressures on water bodies, can produce environmental costs....

The Scheldt is a tidal river that originates in France and flows through Belgium and the Netherlands. The tides create significant flood risks in both the Flemish region in Belgium and the Netherlands. Due to sea level rise and economic development, flood risks will increase during this century....

Marine and coastal ecosystems – and thus the benefits they create for humans – are subject to increasing pressures and competing usages. For this reason, the European Union (EU) adopted the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), which is to guide future maritime policy in the EU and...

Understanding the economic value of nature and the services it provides to humanity has become increasingly important. In this paper we review the progress to date on both the necessary conceptual framework and empirical valuation studies required to bolster decision support systems targeted at...