Hi all,

The following are some reading that will ive some more background on the issues and give us some food for thought as we come together with some ideas as to where we would like this project to go.  The first four readings listed below under "Academic debates..." are short opinion pieces with interesting responses - try and read these for this week. The other readings listed should eventually be read so peruse as you are able. Later I will pose some "disscussion point" type questions and I encourage all of you to do the same.

Academic Debates Regarding the Issues of ES, ES Valuation and PES

McCauley, D.J. 2006. Selling out on nature. Commentary. Nature. Vol. 443, 7. September 2006. pp. 27-28. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v443/n7107/pdf/443027a.pdf

Reid, W.; Costanza, R.; Marvier, M. et al.; McCauley. Correspondence Re: Selling out on nature. Nature. Vol. 443, 19. pp. 749 -750. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v443/n7113/pdf/443749a.pdf

Ferraro, P. J. and A. Kiss. 2002. Direct Payment to Conserve Biodiversity. Science. Vol 298: 1718-1719 (2002).  http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/298/5599/1718.pdf

Swart et al. 2003; Ferraro, P.J. and A. Kiss. Letters: Will Direct Payments Help Biodiversity? Science. Vol 299, 1981-1982 (2003). http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/299/5615/1981b?etoc

PES Survey

Mayrand, K. and M. Paquin. 2004. Payments for Environmental Services: A Survey and Assessment of Current Schemes. Unisfera International Center. For the Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America. Montreal, September 2004. http://www.cec.org/pubs_docs/documents/index.cfm?varlan=english&ID=1697

Issues in Economic Valuation: A Starting Point

de Groot, R. S., M. A. Wilson, and R. M. J. Boumans. 2002. A typology for the classification, description and valuation of ecosystem functions, goods and services. Ecological Economics. 41: 393 – 408. http://www.sciencedirect.com (do a title search)

Tegtmeier and Duffy. 2004. External costs of agricultural production in the US. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability. Vol. 2, No. 1, 2004. pp. 1-19.  http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs/staff/files/externalcosts_IJAS2004.pdf

Another recent article from the LA Times - "How to get Wall Street to Hug a Tree":

http://www.latimes.com/features/magazine/west/la-tm-greenies06feb11,0,7457674.story?coll=la-home-magazine

Additionally, the following websites are also of interest to this theme and we will likely refer to them at some point in the future.

Conservation International
A U.S.-based, international organization, Conservation International (CI) is a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

CI applies innovations in science, economics, policy and community participation to protect the Earth's richest regions of plant and animal diversity in the biodiversity hotspots, high-biodiversity wilderness areas as well as important marine regions around the globe. With headquarters near Washington, D.C., CI works in more than 40 countries on four continents.

http://www.conservation.org/xp/frontlines/partners/03150604.xml

Ecosystem Valuation -  provides a very nice general overview of economic valuation methods:

http://www.ecosystemvaluation.org/

Natural Capital Project — Natural Capital Project is a partnership of Stanford University, The Nature Conservancy, and World Wildlife Fund.

http://www.naturalcapitalproject.org

Nature Valuation and Financing Network - The aim of the Network (NV&F) is to stimulate the development and exchange of practical tools and best practice for the valuation of ecosystem goods and services, so that decisions concerning economic development are made with full awareness and understanding of all the costs and benefits involved.

http://topshare.wur.nl/naturevaluation