Project: Integrating valuations, markets and policies for biodiversity and ecosystem services

While the use of “market-based instruments” (MBIs) for the management of biodiversity and ecosystem services (B&ES) is currently booming, the definition and underpinning theory of these tools are matters yet to be settled. Among MBIs, Payments for Ecosystem Services and biodiversity offsetting are increasingly regarded as promising tools, but evidence regarding their performance is still far from being conclusive. More research is required to understand which policy and legal frameworks are supportive of their development. Furthermore, public policies have an essential role to play in ensuring that the main types of ecosystem values are identified and taken into account. To this end, economic valuations may be helpful for allocating public spending, and for setting guidelines and regulation in offset-schemes, just to name a few examples. In this context, the overall goal of INVALUABLE is to clarify the potential of MBIs to better integrate B&ES into society, based on appropriate institutional arrangements for relevant public policies and an improved utilisation of economic valuation approaches.

Acronym	INVALUABLE
Duration	01/01/2012 - 31/12/2014
Website	visit project website
Network	BiodivERsA2
Call	BiodivERsA Call for proposals on biodiversity and ecosystem services and their valuation

Project partner

Name	Role	Country
Agricultural Research for Development		France
Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg		Germany
Autonomous University of Barcelona		Spain
Catholic University of Louvain		Belgium
Institute for European Environmental Policy		United Kingdom
Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations	Coordinator	France
Institute of Research for Development		France
Matthieu Wemaëre Association d’Avocats		France
Radboud University Nijmegen		Netherlands
Wageningen University & Research		Netherlands