Valuing Ecosystem Goods and Services in the Columbia River Basin
The management of the resources of the Columbia River under the Treaty has significantly changed the distribution of benefits and costs among the economies of the region.
This report makes the case for including the value of ecological goods and services in any discussion of an adjusted Canadian Entitlement, including an outline of potential next steps for translating basin-wide ecosystem goods and services values into the more limited and specific parameters of the Columbia River Treaty.
This report has three objectives:
- To identify the connections between food, water, energy, and biodiversity (the nexus) in the Columbia River Basin.
- To estimate the economic value of some of the non-market benefits that ecosystems in the CRB provide to the US – as well as some of the costs to British Columbia incurred by the co-ordinated management of water flows under the Columbia River Treaty.
- To consider the effects on these values and connections between changing supplies and demands driven by a changing climate and a growing population.
