Some approaches to the economic valuation of the wetlands biodiversity in Moldova

The article presents principal results of the first experience of economic valuation of wetlands biodiversity in Moldova. The country’s largest Ramsar site “Lower Dniester” served as a case study. This  wetland,  located  in  the  Dniester  River  basin,  occupies  60,638  ha  and  includes  18  natural complexes. The initial material for the study was extracted from available sources; GIS technologies provided   spatial   analysis.   The   long-time   intensive   anthropogenic   pressure   has   led   to   the transformation, fragmentation and reduction of this wetland’s biological diversity. In almost half of its area, natural ecosystems are either absent or occupy less than 10%; only in 4% their share exceeds

60%. Another factor determining the economic value of this wetland is its fragmentation, the level of which was assessed through coefficient of fragmentation (CF), calculated as a ratio of a natural object’s perimeter to its area: the higher the CF, the more pronounced the level of fragmentation. CF of large forests was significantly lower (about 3.0) than its values for grass (6.7), marsh (6.90) and water (8.9) ecosystems. For the economic valuation of the wetland biodiversity, a “reference value” was found through averaging numerous literature data on the value of the rich, particularly in relation to their biodiversity territories, and two reference values: the average minimum ($3,520) and the average maximum ($6,705), both per hectare, were identified. Using these indicators, the economic value of the “Lower Dniester” key territories, or territories−cores of the national ecological network due to their rich biological diversity, were assessed both in market and spatial terms.

Cazanteva et al_Some approaches to the economic valuation of the wetlands

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