Business and biodiversity :: Ecosystem valuation

Biological diversity provides the basis for the existence of life on the Earth including the people. Its social, ethic, cultural and economic values have been recognized and appreciated by the religions and arts since the down of the human history.
In order to focus the attention of nowadays governments and investment companies on biodiversity, it is necessary to demonstrate and stress on the economic values provided by biodiversity for the social and economic development of the world. Even the partial pricing of the benefits, raised by the conservation of biodiversity, would be useful for the estimation of biodiversity importance for national budgets.
Three main approaches are used for describing the value of biodiversity:
1/ Estimation of the value of natural resources – wood for burning, food, forage, game, which are directly consumed without being offered at the market (consumptive use value);
2/ Estimation of the value of products, derived in an organized way- timber, fish, medicinal plants (productive use value);
3/ Evaluation of indirect benefits from the normal functioning of ecosystems- water retention, photosynthesis, climate regulation, soil – generation (non-consumptive use value), along with the undetected benefits from the future use (option value) and the simple knowledge that certain species exists (existence value).