New approach to valuation of biodiversity

The paper discusses an innovative approach to valuation of biodiversity. Instead of the prevailing approach of using only one indicator of biodiversity (usually number of species) , the paper provides evidence that it is possible to provide attributes describing complex characteristics of biodiversity based on sound ecological knowledge. It argues that this approach manages to value the multi-level changes in the biological diversity, by using the attributes which described structural, species and functional diversity at the same time. The study also shows that even complex indicators of multi-level biodiversity might be successfully communicated to respondents in a comprehensible and meaningful way. The results underline the importance of using multi-level indicators and question the validity of only species-level indicators. For more on this paper, you can visit: http://www.wne.uw.edu.pl/inf/wyd/WP/WNE_WP2.pdf