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Are Ecosystem Services Replaceable by Technology?

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  • Alastair Fitter

Abstract

This paper assesses the evidence for and against the view that the processes that deliver ecosystem services are so fundamental within ecosystems that neither the services themselves nor the goods that they deliver to humans could be replaced technologically. I consider cases where the natural processes have been replaced and also the probably more common and usually less invasive cases where they have been enhanced by technological interventions. Supporting services are probably least amenable to technology, with the major exception of nutrient cycling, which has been extensively replaced by the use of chemical fertilizers. Final services offer more examples of actual or potential replacement, including the highly controversial example of geoengineering for climate regulation. Finally, there are numerous examples of replacement technologies for environmental goods, especially in the case of energy (fossil and many renewable fuels), fibres (artificial fibres) and biochemicals (industrial pharmaceuticals). The full economic costs of replacement technologies have rarely been explored, and in some cases it appears that the replacement is more expensive than the natural service. Enhancement technologies, in contrast, supplement the output of ecosystem services and are probably in most cases more benign. The doubts about true costs and the fact that many supporting and final services seem either irreplaceable or only replaceable at huge cost adds to the need to protect them. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

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  • Alastair Fitter, 2013. "Are Ecosystem Services Replaceable by Technology?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 55(4), pages 513-524, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:55:y:2013:i:4:p:513-524
    DOI: 10.1007/s10640-013-9676-5
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Brennan, Liam & Owende, Philip, 2010. "Biofuels from microalgae--A review of technologies for production, processing, and extractions of biofuels and co-products," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 557-577, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Moritz A. Drupp, 2018. "Limits to Substitution Between Ecosystem Services and Manufactured Goods and Implications for Social Discounting," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 69(1), pages 135-158, January.
    2. Jarisch, Isabelle & Bödeker, Kai & Bingham, Logan Robert & Friedrich, Stefan & Kindu, Mengistie & Knoke, Thomas, 2022. "The influence of discounting ecosystem services in robust multi-objective optimization – An application to a forestry-avocado land-use portfolio," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    3. Das, Saudamini, 2024. "Examining weak sustainability for storm protection by mangroves," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    4. Schirpke, Uta & Ghermandi, Andrea & Sinclair, Michael & Van Berkel, Derek & Fox, Nathan & Vargas, Leonardo & Willemen, Louise, 2023. "Emerging technologies for assessing ecosystem services: A synthesis of opportunities and challenges," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    5. Arndt Feuerbacher & Theresa Herbold & Falk Krumbe, 2024. "The Economic Value of Pollination Services for Seed Production: A Blind Spot Deserving Attention," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 87(4), pages 881-905, April.
    6. Jules Pretty, 2013. "The Consumption of a Finite Planet: Well-Being, Convergence, Divergence and the Nascent Green Economy," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 55(4), pages 475-499, August.
    7. Georgina M Mace, 2019. "The ecology of natural capital accounting," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 35(1), pages 54-67.

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