In 2023, the Land Trust Alliance partnered with Earth Economics to develop the Ecosystem Services Valuation Tool (ESVT), an accessible tool that can be used by land trusts to provide high-level estimates of the value of co-benefits generated by the lands they steward.
The core of the ESVT is a meta-analysis of 1,467 ecosystem services values from 181 studies drawn from Earth Economics’ SERVES database, one of the world’s largest repositories of ecosystem services research. The tool values eleven services across nine ecosystem categories, including wetlands, forests, grasslands, shrublands, rivers, and lakes.
The ESVT was developed based on guidance from the Office of Management and Budget, which recommends meta-analyses—statistical models that combine multiple studies—to estimate value produced by ecosystems at new study sites with greater accuracy.
By estimating the overall value (both market and nonmarket) of the co-benefits of conservation and carbon offset projects, the ESVT can help land trusts expand access to conservation finance, including alternative environmental markets and federal grants to expand land acquisition and stewardship efforts.
Photo: Land Trust Alliance
Land trusts can use the tool to:
promote and communicate the broader economic benefits of protecting ecosystems to stakeholders and funders;
support applications for public funding that requires reporting on co-benefits;
incorporate co-benefits into benefit-cost analyses;
demonstrate the broader value and integrity of investments in nature-based solutions, via mechanisms such as carbon markets;
prioritize conservation projects across a land trust’s portfolio;
support policy advocacy efforts; and
establish empirical evidence for private sector collaborations on blended finance or payment for ecosystems services.
