Monetary Values of the Non-Market Benefits of Estuarine and Coastal Cultural Ecosystem Services

The role of economic analysis in guiding the sustainable development of estuarine and coastal ecosystems is investigated based on a comprehensive review of the literature on the monetary valuation of their cultural ecosystem services. The focus is on benefits that are not reflected in market exchanges, but nevertheless contribute to human well-being. This includes, for instance, benefits accrued through the support of nature-based recreational activities, or through the flow of cultural information with aesthetic, inspirational or spiritual significance. After reviewing the most commonly applied non-market valuation techniques, we present a comprehensive global review of non-market valuations of estuarine and coastal cultural ecosystem services, which substantially extends previous databases. We then discuss the potential of novel approaches to non-market valuation that rely on passive crowdsourcing of digital data (e.g., from social media and mobile phone applications) and demonstrate a case-study application to a coastal wetland in India. The results of the study support the conclusion that the non-material benefits provided by coastal and estuarine ecosystems in terms of cultural services represent a substantial component of human well-being, which should be accounted for when applying cost-benefit frameworks in environmental policy.