New assessment of the overall benefits of Natura 2000

The prime focus of the Natura 2000 protected area network is on the conservation of biodiversity, the EU’s unique and endangered ecosystems, species, gene pool and habitats. Natura 2000 also provides a range of benefits to society and the economy via the flow of ecosystem services which support policy objectives beyond biodiversity, such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, water quality and provision, food provision and jobs.

A recent report led by IEEP provided the European Commission with a methodological framework for assessing the economic value of the benefits provided by Natura 2000, carried out a first assessment, and recommended a way forward for future assessments.

The report estimated the value of the services flowing from the ecosystems within the Natura 2000 network on the basis of existing data from sites and habitats, using a value transfer method. This allowed for a first illustrative estimate to be developed, with the services flow being valued at between €200 and €300 billion per year. Furthermore, an ecosystem-service analysis helped identify some preliminary values for a sub-set of services. For instance, it was estimated that the Natura 2000 network currently stores around 35 billion tonnes of CO2; this stock value was estimated to be worth between €600 billion and €1,130 billion. Preliminary trial monetary assessments were also carried out for water provision and purification, natural hazards management, pollination and food provision.

It is clear that only a few ecosystem services can currently be quantified and valued, given limitations in data and methodology. However, with additional investment in data and analysis, it is expected that a fuller and more robust assessment of the benefits of Natura 2000 can be achieved for some services by 2014 and for a wider range of services by 2020. These dates correspond to the two milestones for valuation, the first under the EU biodiversity strategy and the second under the CBD Aichi targets. The study also presented a ‘road map’ of how different valuation approaches can be used and improved in the future, in order to stimulate future research and increase the awareness of the value of Natura 2000.

The full study will soon be available in the European Commission’s and IEEP’s websites, while some of its key results can already be found in the recent Commission Staff Working Paper ‘Financing Natura 2000’.

The benefits of Natura 2000 in terms of tourism and recreation value, as ecosystem service values from conservations measures were also calculated in two parallel studies and will similarly soon be available from the European Commission’s website.

Contacts: Patrick ten Brink and Samuela Bassi