The economics beneath the waves: Valuing marine natural capital to inform policy

A well-functioning marine environment underpins economic activity, public welfare and long-term environmental resilience, yet a full account of its benefits is often missing from policy appraisal. 

Drawing on three recent projects in England, this presentation examines how economic valuation and the natural capital approach can be applied to the marine environment across different decision contexts:

• Expenditure and income-based approaches trace how marine wildlife and recreation support local economies;

• Stated preference surveys with visitors and households reveal the values people place on coastal sites and species recovery; and

• A natural capital framework is used to organise this evidence for policy appraisal.

By combining market and non-market economic value evidence and a structured account of ecosystem dependencies, the projects show how economic analysis can improve decisions about conservation, sustainable use, and the trade-offs involved in achieving good environmental status.

About Mark Collar

Mark is an Environmental Economist and Chartered Accountant (Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland). His work includes the generation and use of economic value evidence in the domestic and international conservation policy cycle, from rationale and appraisal to monitoring and evaluation. Using market and non-market valuation approaches, Mark has experience leading primary valuation research projects to support policy in marine conservation. He has also led large evidence reviews to support economic analysis of the actions required to deliver the targets under multilateral environmental agreements, such as the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework and the Ramsar Convention.