Valuing the Ecosystem Service Benefits of Natural Infrastructure: a Quantitative Review of the Literature

Abstract

Natural infrastructure is gaining momentum as an alternative or complementary strategy to traditional 'grey' infrastructure. From a policy design perspective, choosing an optimal strategy requires complete knowledge of the costs and benefits of each alternative. Unlike traditional infrastructure, natural infrastructure delivers a host of ecosystem services that may be difficult to quantify and monetize. For example, compare a seawall to a system of beaches, dunes, and coastal wetlands. Both serve the intended primary role of flood risk management, but beaches, dunes, and wetlands provide ancillary benefits (e.g., recreation, wildlife habitat, carbon sequestration). Markets do not exist for many of the ecosystem services associated with natural infrastructure, so monetizing the suite of benefits requires specialized techniques from the field of nonmarket valuation. In this paper we use bibliometric techniques to systematically review the nonmarket valuation literature in the context of natural infrastructure and ecosystem services. We also identify knowledge gaps and provide suggestions for filling them.

Keywords: natural infrastructure, natural capital, nature-based solutions, ecosystem services, nonmarket valuation, bibliometrics, natural language processing