1.3 The HOW: from academic model to practical management tool

How are these valuations actually being used in the management of the marine environment?

In recent years there have been an increasing number of studies investigating the value of marine ecosystems. If the ecosystem services concept is to lead to more sustainable management of natural resources we need to work out how the concept can make the difficult transition from academic model to practical model to practical management tool.

Ecosystem service valuation can be used to support marine management decision making in three different ways:

• Informative use: to support policy and decision making in general,
• Decisive use: to inform a specific decision, legislation, regulation, project, etc...
• Technical use: to design economic instruments, for example fees, taxes.