2019 E

Problem E: What is the Cost of Environmental Degradation?

環境退化的代價是什麼？

Economic theory often disregards the impact of its decisions on the biosphere or assumes unlimited resources or capacity for its needs.

經濟理論往往忽視其決定對生物圈的影響，或假定無限制的資源或滿足其需要的能力。

There is a flaw in this viewpoint, and the environment is now facing the consequences.

這種觀點有一個缺陷，環境現在正面臨著後果。

The biosphere provides many natural processes to maintain a healthy and sustainable environment for human life, which are known as ecosystem services.

生物圈提供許多自然過程，為人類生活維持一個健康和可持續的環境，這被稱為生態系統服務。

Examples include turning waste into food, water filtration, growing food, pollinating plants, and converting carbon dioxide into oxygen.

例子包括將廢物轉化為食物、水過濾、種植食物、授粉植物以及將二氧化碳轉化為氧氣。

However, whenever humans alter the ecosystem, we potentially limit or remove ecosystem services.

然而，無論何時人類改變生態系統，我們都有可能限制或刪除生態系統服務。

The impact of local small-scale changes in land use, such as building a few roads, sewers, bridges, houses, or factories may seem negligible.

當地土地利用的小規模變化，如修建幾條道路、下水道、橋樑、房屋或工廠，其影響似乎可以忽略不計。

Add to these small projects, large-scale projects such as building or relocating a large corporate headquarters, building a pipeline across the country, or expanding or altering waterways for extended commercial use.

除了這些小專案外，還包括建造或搬遷大型公司總部、在全國各地修建管道、擴大或改變水道，以擴大商業用途。

Now think about the impact of many of these projects across a region, country, and the world.

現在想想這些專案對一個地區、國家和世界的影響。

While individually these activities may seem inconsequential to the total ability of the biosphere’s functioning potential, cumulatively they are directly impacting the biodiversity and causing environmental degradation.

雖然單獨地這些活動似乎對生物圈的整體能力沒有什麼影響，它們累積起來直接影響到生物多樣性並造成環境退化。

Traditionally, most land use projects do not consider the impact of, or account for changes to, ecosystem services.

傳統上，大多數土地利用專案不考慮生態系統服務的影響或變化。

The economic costs to mitigate negative results of land use changes:

減輕土地利用變化負面後果的經濟代價：

polluted rivers, poor air quality, hazardous waste sites, poorly treated waste water, climate changes, etc., are often not included in the plan.

汙染的河流、惡劣的空氣質量、危險的廢物場址、處理不善的廢水、氣候變化等，往往沒有列入計劃。

Is it possible to put a value on the environmental cost of land use development projects?

土地用途發展專案的環境成本，是否可以計算出來呢？

How would environmental degradation be accounted for in these project costs?

這些專案費用如何核算環境退化？

Once ecosystem services are accounted for in the cost-benefit ratio of a project, then the true and comprehensive valuation of the project can be determined and assessed.

一旦將生態系統服務計入專案的成本效益比，就可以確定和評估專案的真實和全面價值。

Your ICM team has been hired to create an ecological services valuation model to understand the true economic costs of land use projects when ecosystem services are considered.

您的ICM團隊已經被僱來建立一個生態服務評估模型，以瞭解在考慮生態系統服務時土地使用專案的真正經濟成本。

Use your model to perform a cost benefit analysis of land use development projects of varying sizes, from small community-based projects to large national projects.

使用您的模型對不同規模的土地利用開發專案進行成本效益分析，從小型社群專案到大型國家專案。

Evaluate the effectiveness of your model based on your analyses and model design.

根據您的分析和模型設計評估您的模型的有效性

What are the implications of your modeling on land use project planners and managers? How might your model need to change over time?

你的模型對土地利用專案規劃者和管理者有什麼影響？隨著時間的推移，您的模型可能需要如何改變？

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Your submission should consist of:

· One-page Summary Sheet,

· Your solution of no more than 20 pages, for a maximum of 21 pages with your summary.

· Judges expect a complete list of references with in-text citations, but may not consider

appendices in the judging process.

· Note: Reference list and any appendices do not count toward the 21-page limit and

should appear after your completed solution.

你提交的材料應包括：

一頁摘要表，

·您的解決方案不超過20頁，包括你的摘要最多為21頁。

·法官期望有一份完整的引文引用列表，但評審過程中可能不會考慮附錄的資訊。

·注：參考文獻和任何附錄不包括在21頁的限制，並且應該出現在您完成的解決方案之後。

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References:
參考文獻

• Chee, Y., 2004. An ecological perspective on the valuation of ecosystem services.Biological Conservation 120, 549-565.
  生態系統服務價值評估的生態學視角

• Costanza, R., d’Arge, R., de Groot, R., Farber, S., Grasso, M., Hannon, B., Limburg, K.,Naeem, S., O’Neill, R.V., Paruelo, J., Raskin, R.G., Sutton, P., van den Belt, M., 1997.The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 387, 253– 260.
  世界生態系統服務和自然資本的價值

• Gómez-Baggethuna, E., de Groot, R., Lomas, P., Montesa, C., 1 April 2010. The history of ecosystem services in economic theory and practice: From early notions to markets and payment schemes. Ecological Economics 69 (6), 1209-1218.
  經濟理論和實踐中的生態系統服務歷史：從早期概念到市場和支付方案

• Norgaard, R., 1 April 2010. Ecosystem services: From eye-opening metaphor to complexity blinder. Ecological Economics 69 (6), 1219-1227.
  從開眼界的隱喻到複雜的盲點

• Richmond, A., Kaufmann R., Myneni, R., 2007, Valuing ecosystem services: A shadow price for net primary production. Ecological Economics 64, 454-462.
  淨初級生產的影子價格

• Yang, Q., Liu, G., Casazza, M., Campbell, E., Giannettia, B., Brown, M., December 2018. Development of a new framework for non-monetary accounting on ecosystem services valuation. Ecosystem Services 34A, 37-54.
  開發一個新的生態系統服務估價非貨幣會計框架

原題提供的資料來源（無法連線）

Data sources:
US based data: https://www.data.gov/ecosystems/

Satellite data:
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/satellite-data/satellite-data-access?datasets

詞彙表
Glossary:

Biodiversity - refers to the variety of life in an ecosystem; all of the living organisms within a given area.
生物多樣性-指在一個生態系統中的生物多樣性；一個特定區域內的所有生物。

Biosphere - the part of the Earth that is occupied by living organisms and generally includes the interaction between these organisms and their physical environment.
生物圈-地球上被生物佔據的部分，通常包括這些生物與其物理環境之間的相互作用。

Ecosystem - a subset of the biosphere that primarily focuses on the interaction between living things and their physical environment.
生態系統-生物圈的一個子集，主要關注生物與其物理環境之間的相互作用。

Ecosystem Services – the many benefits and assets that humans receive freely from our natural environment and a fully functioning ecosystem.
生態系統服務-人類從自然環境和充分運作的生態系統中自由獲得的許多好處和資產。

Environmental Degradation – the deterioration or compromise of the natural environment through consumption of assets either by natural processes or human activities.
環境退化-通過自然過程或人類活動消耗資產而使自然環境惡化或損害。

Mitigate – to make less severe, painful, or impactful.
減輕-使不那麼嚴重、痛苦或影響。

Valuation - refers to the estimating or determining the current worth of something.
估價-指的是對某物當前價值的估計或確定。