InVEST
A Tool for Mapping and Valuing Environmental Services
Nirmal Bhagabati
World Wildlife Fund
and
The Natural Capital Project
What we will cover
• What is InVEST? What does it do?
– Questions InVEST is / is not designed to inform
– Key characteristics
• Examples
–
–
–
–
World Bank investment prioritization in Malawi
Spatial planning in Sumatra
Coastal zone management in Belize
etc
• Practical considerations
– Common challenges
– Resources required
3
Challenge: Integrated decision-making
“You can only manage what you can measure”
– Ecosystem services ‘invisible’ in decisions
– Need to evaluate choices, quantify tradeoffs
Decision-maker questions
– What would be the best (marine) spatial plan for
balancing stakeholders’ visions for the future?
– Where to invest to optimize nature’s benefits for
people?
– Where may REDD, payments for watershed services,
and other environmental services-based programs be
feasible?
– Where should payments be targeted to be costeffective?
ANSWERS:
Accounting tools that quantify ecosystem services
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InVEST
(Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services
and Tradeoffs)
Quantify, map & value ecosystem service
impacts of alternative resource decisions
InVEST within decision making
Policy input
Now
Mapping tool
2050
Now
Stakeholders
Scenarios
C (tons)
Results
Policy implementation
2050
InVEST attributes
– Multiple services
– Evaluate change
– Spatially explicit
– Biophysical & economic
– Production functions
– Free and open source
Currently ArcGIS-based, but platform independent
version in development
Models
Simple
Complex
Data
Tier 0
Tier 1
Tier 2
Tier 3
Multiple Ecosystem Services
Recreation
Aquaculture
Fisheries
Sediment retention
Water purification
Crop pollination
Coastal Protection
Hydropower
Wave Energy
Biodiversity
Carbon sequ’n
Commercial timber
Agricultural prod’n
Flood control
Irrigation water
Aesthetic Quality
Water Quality
Habitat Risk Asst
NTFP
InVEST Models & Linkages
Crop
Pollination
Water
Purification
Managed
Timber
Production
Reservoir
Hydropower
Production
Sediment
Retention
Groundwater
Recharge
Agricultural
Production
Marine
Water
Quality
Aquaculture
Renewable
Energy
Habitat Risk
Assessment;
Biodiversity
Coastal
Vulnerability
Aesthetic
Quality
Coastal
Protection
Recreation
Fisheries
(including
recreational)
Overlap
Analysis
Flood Risk
Mitigation
Carbon
Storage &
Sequestration
(Blue Carbon)
Terrestrial/freshwater model: Tier 1 supporting service
Optional model linkage, no sequencing
Terrestrial/freshwater model: Tier 1 that quantifies service
Required/optional model linkage,
sequencing needed
Marine model: Tier 1 supporting service
Marine model: Tier 1 that quantifies service
Marine model: Tier 0
Model coming soon!
Outputs of ecosystem service levels
supplied and
demanded
And ecosystem service values in currency units
• Social value
– Carbon
• Market valuation
– Timber
– Non-timber forest products
• Avoided damage costs
– Water purification
– Flood mitigation
– Avoided reservoir sedimentation
• Production Economics
– Water for irrigation
– Pollination of agricultural crops
Strong Scientific Foundation
100 +
authors
Oxford
University
Press
Published
April 2011
Accompanying Tools
AVAILABLE NOW:
• TEEB (& other) Case Studies
• Screening Criteria
• InVEST in Practice e.g. SEA
• InVEST Tip Sheets e.g. REDD
• Scenario Guidance & Primer
• Scenario generation tools
COMING SOON:
• Engaging stakeholders
• Conditions that enable uptake
• Linking to human wellbeing
InVEST models – a sampler
The carbon model - big picture
Climate
Atmosphere
Atmosphere
Land use history
Aboveground biomass
Species
Harvested Wood Products
Dead wood
Soil carbon
Soil type, moisture
Microbes, chemistry
Belowground biomass
Land management
InVEST Carbon Storage Model
Climate
Atmosphere
Atmosphere
Land use history
Aboveground biomass
Harvested Wood Products
Species
Dead wood
Soil carbon
Land management
Soil type, moisture
Microbes, chemistry
Belowground biomass
5 pools
x
f(cost/ton) =
Value
InVEST avoided sedimentation model
Where are the Sediment
sources?
Where are the Sediment
retention areas?
How much is retained?
What is the Value of this
retention?
InVEST Avoided Sedimentation Model
Uses a modified version of the Universal Soil
Loss Equation (USLE)
Corn
Forest
Corn
Forest
Also maps value of
avoided erosion to
downstream beneficiary
NEXT
Mainstreaming InVEST: case studies
Mainstreaming InVEST
Coastal & Marine
Terrestrial
WCVI, B.C.
Puget Sound
California
Hawai’i
Chesapeake Bay
Galveston Bay
(E. Himalayas)
Virungas
Belize
Colombia
Ecuador
Amazon
Basin
Eastern
Arc Mtns
China
(Mekong)
Indonesia
Since Dec 2011, over 1700 InVEST
downloads from 45+ countries (>100
countries overall)
Many kinds of decision context
Decision Context
Geography
Spatial Planning
Tanzania, Indonesia, British
Colombia, Hawai’i, China, Belize
Ecosystem-based management
(terrestrial-marine links)
USA (Puget Sound, Galveston &
Chesapeake Bays)
Climate adaptation
USA - Galveston & Monterey Bays
Payments for ecosystem services
Colombia (water funds), Indonesia
(REDD), Tanzania
Impact assessment, permitting,
licensing
Colombia (mining)
Multilateral development bank
investments
World Bank in Malawi
Corporate strategy
Lafarge in Michigan, USA
Challenges
– Data – even for Tier 0 / 1 models
– Capacity to interpret and apply
– Water-related services
– Government silos
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Resources required
• Expertise needed
– GIS expertise for gathering and formatting data
– Subject matter experts e.g. hydrology, economics, carbon
– Project lead who understands policy questions
• Time estimate vary depending on
– location
– scale of work
– expertise of working team
• Full run of model, from data gathering to results
– As little as 1 to 3 months
– But often longer!! (18-24 months and counting)
More information
www.naturalcapitalproject.org
People
Andrew Balmford
Taylor Ricketts
Neil Burgess
Gretchen Daily
Brendan Fisher
Peter Kareiva
Eric Lonsdorf
Guillermo Mendoza
Robin Naidoo
Erik Nelson
Nasser Olwero
Steve Polasky
Jim Regetz
Amy Rosenthal
Mathieu Rouget
Mary Ruckelshaus
Heather Tallis
Buzz Thompson
Kerry Turner
…
People
Anne Guerry
Jodie Toft
Katie Arkema
Rich Sharp
Jon Foley
CK Kim
Gregg Verutes
Driss Ennaanay
Stacie Wolny
Amy Rosenthal
Nirmal Bhagabati
Jim Salzman
Chris Colvin
Mike Papenfus
Greg Guannel
Joey Bernhardt
Spencer Wood
Pam Matson
…
Thanks…
Support
NSF
NSF-NCEAS
NASA
Leverhulme Trust
Google
Packard Foundation
MacArthur Foundatio
Moore Foundation
Summit Foundation
Roger and Vicki San
Peter and Helen Bin
25
…
Any questions?
Terrestrial sites
California
China
Virungas
Hawai’i
Amazon
Colombia
Tanzania
Sumatra
Marine sites
Vancouver Island
Puget
Sound
Monterey
Bay
Chesapeake Bay
Galveston Bay
Belize
Production functions
• Carbon storage
~ f(veg, storage/ha, harvest, decay)
• Inputs: land use/cover, C densities, harvest rates, decay rates of
harvested wood.
• Outputs: C stored/ha
• Valuation: damage costs avoided
Sediment retention
~ f(soil, slope length, veg, rain, neighbors)
• Inputs: land use/cover, topography, soils, precip, basins
• Outputs: tons sediment retained/ha
• Valuation: replacement costs avoided (dredging)
Biophysical & socio-economic
outputs
Water for Irrigation
Total surface runoff
from each land
parcel on landscape
(vol. ha-1)
Crop Pollination
Insect abundance
(# insects ha-1)
Use
Intermediate service
Amount of water
used for crop
irrigation (vol. ha-1)
Insect abundance
contributing to crop (# of
insects ha-1)
Use
Final service
Additional crop yield
given additional
water available for
irrigation (kg ha-1)
Crop yield due to insects
(kg crop ha-1)
Value
NPV of additional
crop yield($ ha-1)
NPV of additional crop
yield ($ ha-1)
Supply
Maximum potential
services
Free and open source
Ready to use, but customizable
www.naturalcapitalproject.org/download
Why assess ecosystem services?
• Important for economy and human wellbeing
• More comprehensive accounting of impacts
• Engage a wider array of stakeholders
• Generate financing for conservation
• Suggest innovative policy mechanisms