Valuing the many faces of biodiversity
To face the biodiversity crisis, we must reconcile the ways we value nature
We’re in a pickle.
As the biodiversity crisis rumbles on, an inconvenient truth hits home: Saving species on a changing planet means triaging them into those receiving conservation help and those left to their own fates.
Deciding what pieces of nature get saved is made harder by a simple but wicked question: What is the value of a species or ecosystem? Take a wild orchid. To some, it is a commodity destined for the market. To others it is a symbol of fragile beauty. For still others, it is irrelevant greenery in a forgotten forest.
The question of value trips us up because biodiversity has no single kind of worth. Rather, the values of biodiversity are like facets on a diamond: Some are visible and some are hidden, but they all add to the gem’s overall value.
Consider the various ways we can slice, dice and weigh the contributions of biodiversity and nature to people:
The tangible: Ecosystems and the species they contain are the ultimate source of material value. Half of economic activity stems from nature and the production of sellable products like crops, construction materials and tourist experiences. Not captured in this statistic is that many communities still rely on subsistence practices, such as foraging and hunting. Option values further exist for species that may provide future opportunities, such new antibiotics found through bioprospecting.
The intangible: Unlike tangible contributions of biodiversity, intangible ones cannot be held, traded or consumed. Or (alas) even valued particularly well. Culturally, biodiversity forms part of the social fabric of a people, like the deep and ancient tradition of keeping pets. The intellectual value of biodiversity lies in new ideas and insights, such as fruit flies as model organisms for human diseases. Various relational values arise when nature improves wellbeing, such as window views that reduce the length of hospital stays. Spiritual, existence or moral values exist when biodiversity connects with our inner psychological and emotional experiences, felt by many when experiencing wilderness. Suquamish Chief Seattle’s words capture well the possible depth of this connection that is not to be overlooked: “If all the beasts were gone, [wo]men would die from a great loneliness of spirit.”
Supporting and regulating: The supporting and regulating value of biodiversity lies in how species and habitats underpin the working of ecosystems. We do not eat pollinators, yet these species are indispensable for agriculture and flowering plants. Riverside reeds have no timber or food value yet keep water supplies clean. As a twist, suites of species also support the future functioning of an ecosystem. They have a type of insurance value when they blunt the ecological impact of a future event. Some tree species, for instance, step in to sequester carbon during extreme weather when other species cannot.
Pluralism: Embracing many values
The multiple virtues of biodiversity adds complexity, but makes each species more valuable than if it were judged just by, say, economic value alone. This is because species tend to add value in more ways than one – shown as overlaps in the above diagram. Trees, for instance, provide lumber value but as foundation species also add vital habitat support for many more species. Grape varieties at once provide tangible products like wine and a link to a long and vibrant cultural history. Shark species support healthy coral reefs in Hawaii but also spiritual value as ancestral guardians in traditional culture.
And in the diagram’s centre, we find win-win-win biodiversity - like the Sugar Maple of North American - that is equally vital to ecosystem health, human wealth and cultural wellbeing.
Developing models that better capture the full value of nature will hinge on the idea of pluralism – that people experience the benefits of nature differently. Having different experiences doesn’t mean tossing consensus out the window. Rather, it gives us a more penetrating and true perspective on value. Embracing the range of views on nature lets us - citizens, companies and governments - reframe our questions. Together, we shift from narrowly asking “what is the dollar or carbon-capture value of a species?” to “what is the worth of a species contributing to multiple values of nature?”
“We should preserve every scrap of biodiversity as priceless while we learn to use it and come to understand what it means to humanity.”
Recognizing the full value of nature
The conservation advantage of the ‘one species, many values’ reality is that protecting a species can serve multiple benefits. High-value targets, like kelp for instance, may all at once support new industries, provide habitat, sequester carbon and sustain recreation and cultural traditions.
But the pluralistic value of nature also poses a danger if we don’t adequately account for multiple values. Too-narrow valuation of biodiversity risks underestimating its true value and losing more than bargained for with each species lost. Removal of “valueless” cats from a World Heritage site, for instance, ended in widespread ecosystem degradation when their regulating value was not recognized - rabbit populations exploded from losing their only predator. This is akin to what statisticians refer to as omitted variable bias, where a factor’s importance is misjudged or missed entirely because it is not part of the mental model.
The moral of the story is that biodiversity’s value is multifaceted. So it’s awkward that we are educated, trained and rewarded professionally to value things in a single currency (e.g., dollars). Many of nature’s benefits fly therefore under our radar as indirect, intangible and remote in the hypothetical future. They are the forgotten facets. Solving the biodiversity crisis can only happen when we have the awareness, the tools and the will to recognize biodiversity value in its many forms.
Picture an orchid: What do you see?