Upgrading Marine Ecosystem Restoration Using Ecological-Social Concepts.

Conservation and environmental management are principal countermeasures to the degradation of marine ecosystems and their services. However, in many cases, current practices are insufficient to reverse ecosystem declines. We suggest that restoration ecology, the science underlying the concepts and tools needed to restore ecosystems, must be recognized as an integral element for marine conservation and environmental management. Marine restoration ecology is a young scientific discipline, often with gaps between its application and the supporting science. Bridging these gaps is essential to using restoration as an effective management tool and reversing the decline of marine ecosystems and their services. Ecological restoration should address objectives that include improved ecosystem services, and it therefore should encompass social-ecological elements rather than focusing solely on ecological parameters. We recommend using existing management frameworks to identify clear restoration targets, to apply quantitative tools for assessment, and to make the re-establishment of ecosystem services a criterion for success.

Valuation of road safety effects in cost-benefit analysis.

Cost-benefit analysis is a common method for evaluating the social economic impact of transport projects, and in many of these projects the saving of human lives is an issue. This implies, within the framework of cost-benefit analysis, that a monetary value should be attached to saving human lives. This paper discusses the 'Value of a Statistical Life' (VoSL), a concept that is often used for monetising safety effects, in the context of road safety. Firstly, the concept of 'willingness to pay' for road safety and its relation to the VoSL are explained. The VoSL approach will be compared to other approaches to monetise safety effects, in particular the human capital approach and 'quality adjusted life years'. Secondly, methods to estimate the VoSL and their applicability to road safety will be discussed. Thirdly, the paper reviews the VoSL estimates that have been found in scientific research and compares them with the values that are used in policy evaluations. Finally, a VoSL study in the Netherlands will be presented as a case study, and its applicability in policy evaluation will be illustrated.

The value of statistical life in road safety: a meta-analysis.

Costs of accidents make up an important part of the total external cost of traffic. A substantial proportion of accident costs is related to fatal accidents. In the evaluation of fatal accident costs the availability of an estimate of the economic value of a statistical life is pivotal. We present an overview of the empirical literature on the value of statistical life in road safety (VOSL), and use meta-analysis to determine variables that explain the variation in VOSL estimates reported in the literature. We show that the magnitude of VOSL estimates depends on the value assessment approach (particularly, stated versus revealed preference), and for contingent valuation studies also on the type of payment vehicle and elicitation format. We explain that VOSL estimates cannot simply be averaged over studies. The magnitude of VOSL is intrinsically linked to the initial level of the risk of being caught up in a fatal traffic accident and to the risk decline implied by the research set-up.

Risk perception of traffic participants.

This article analyzes the risk perception of traffic participants by making use of Prospect Theory. This methodology makes a conceptual distinction between the perception of risk and the perception of the outcome of an uncertain event. In the field of transport safety such a distinction is desirable, because risks are typically very low and thus sensitive to misperception by traffic participants. Taking into account such misperception will significantly improve estimates of the valuation of transport safety. The first empirical results show that the valuation of losses is well represented by a utility function that is concave in shape. Secondly, our preliminary results show that individuals base their choice mainly on the possible outcomes and not so much on probabilities whenever there are very small probabilities (say