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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 54(2)

Valuation of groundwater-dependent ecosystems: a functional methodology incorporating ecosystem services

Brad R. Murray A B C , Grant C. Hose A , Derek Eamus A B and Damian Licari A B
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- Author Affiliations

A Institute for Water and Environmental Resource Management, University of Technology Sydney, NSW 2065, Australia.

B Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, NSW 2065, Australia.

C Corresponding author. Email: Brad.Murray@uts.edu.au

Australian Journal of Botany 54(2) 221-229 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT05018
Submitted: 1 February 2005  Accepted: 4 July 2005   Published: 5 April 2006

Abstract

Groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs) are ecosystems that must have access to groundwater to maintain their ecological structure and function. Rapidly expanding numbers of humans are placing increased demands on groundwater for consumption, industry and agriculture. These demands alter groundwater regimes of GDEs that have evolved over millennia, resulting in the degradation of ecosystem health. As a consequence, the goods and services (ecosystem services) that GDEs provide for humans, which include food production and water purification, are at serious risk of being lost. Effective management of GDEs and their ecosystem services requires prioritisation of the most valuable ecosystems, given that increasing human demands and limited time and money preclude complete protection of all GDEs. Here, we provide an eight-step method for the valuation and initial prioritisation of GDEs. The proposed methodology improves on previous, primarily subjective methods for the valuation of GDEs by employing both economic valuation of the ecosystem services provided by GDEs, and ecological valuation of significant environmental attributes of GDEs. We apply the eight-step method to a hypothetical case study in order to demonstrate its applicability to a catchment containing a range of GDEs of different sizes, each possessing its own suite of threatened taxa. The major benefit of the valuation methodology presented here is that it can be used at three levels of complexity: (1) a full-desktop study, (2) a semi-desktop study requiring stakeholder consultation, and (3) a full field-based study, according to the time and money available for initial prioritisation efforts.


Acknowledgments

We thank Raymond Hessel for reading a draft of the manuscript. For providing funds under the Science Lectureship Program, BRM thanks the Commonwealth Department of Environment, Science and Technology (DEST), Sinclair Knight Merz, Department of Land and Water Conservation (NSW), Department of Natural Resources and Environment (Victoria), Department of Natural Resources (Queensland), Department of Lands, Planning and Environment (Northern Territory) and Perpetual Trustees Ltd. BRM also thanks Rob McLaughlan and students of Ecosystem Valuation for discussions that assisted in the development of some of the ideas presented in this article.


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