Co$tingNature
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Tool Description
Co$tingNature is a global, web-based policy-support tool that maps and analyses ecosystem service provision, beneficiaries, and conservation priorities using spatial models and scenarios. It is primarily a screening and prioritisation tool rather than primarily a monetary valuation tool, although economic valuation functionality is available at higher access levels, supporting natural capital accounting and decision-making at national to local scales.
The tool estimates the current provision of 18 ecosystem services including:
- Timber (softwood, hardwood), fuelwood (softwood, hardwood)
- Grazing/fodder, non-wood forest products, water provisioning (quantity, quality)
- Fish catch
- Carbon
- Natural hazard mitigation (flood, drought, landslide, coastal inundation)
- Culture-based tourism
- Nature-based tourism services
- Environmental and aesthetic quality services
- Wildlife services (pollination, pest control)
- Wildlife dis-services (crop raiding, pests)
It then identifies the beneficiaries of these services and analyses current human pressures on the land, future threats, and levels of biodiversity. It derives conservation priority from these factors.
Users can then apply scenarios for land-use or land management change and examine the impacts on ecosystem services and the implications for beneficiaries. The tool can be used to assess the impacts of human interventions on conservation prioritisation and planning. It also calculates metrics linking ecosystem services to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
It then identifies the beneficiaries of these services and analyses current human pressures on the land, future threats, and levels of biodiversity. It derives conservation priority from these factors.
Users can then apply scenarios for land-use or land management to change and examine the impacts on ecosystem services and the implications for beneficiaries of those ecosystem services. The tool can be used to assess the impacts of human interventions on conservation prioritisation and planning. It can calculates nature’s contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Running the Tool
Tool Inputs
Global spatial data (GIS, remote sensing) at 1 square km or 1 ha resolution are provided by the tool globally. Users can also provide their own datasets. Users can run 10° tiles, countries and major basins at 1 km resolution or 1° tiles at 1 ha resolution; selected Co$tingNature/local applications operate at approximately 1-100 m resolution. For those requiring a simpler tool Co$tingNatureMAP provides access to baseline and scenario runs of Co$tingNature globally and regionally and allows, at the click of a button, comparison between sites where conservation or development investments are planned.
Resource Requirements
Access to the internet (with best functionality in Chrome or Firefox)
time Requirements
<1 hour – multiple days | Time requirements vary widely depending on the tool. For example, half an hour for a standard application using supplied datasets, to multiple working days for applications using users’ own data or more complex analysis.
skill Requirements
Low to moderate computer literacy for CN4SD dashboard and Co$tingNatureMAP; Moderate to high computer literacy for full Co$tingNature PSS and scenario analysis
How does it work?
Co$ting Nature incorporates detailed global datasets, spatial models for biophysical and socioeconomic processes and scenarios for climate and land-use. It calculates a baseline for current ecosystem service provision. It also allows interventions (policy options) or scenarios of change to be applied to understand their impact on ecosystem service delivery. By combining more than 140 input maps, the tool calculates the spatial distribution of 18 ecosystem services and combines these with maps of conservation priority, threatened biodiversity and endemism to understand the spatial distribution of critical ecosystems and to determine conservation priorities. Outputs are a series of summary maps expressed in relative terms (0-1) which combine the outputs from the different modules (ecosystem service bundles).
There are four main tools featured in the Co$tingNature suite of tools.
- Co$tingNatureMAP – a simple visualisation and analysis tool for global Co$tingNature data, open access here.
- Co$tingNature/global – a dashboard of national-scale nature and poverty metrics for nature-investment prioritisation, open access here.
- Co$tingNature/local – hyper-resolution site-scale applications of Co$tingNature, see e.g. Kalu Oya, Sri Lanka (open access).
- Co$tingNature Policy Support System: Access PSS here (V3.x scientist user level, free for non-commercial uses. Simply create an account)
Using Tool Outputs
Tool Outputs
Guidance; Maps; GIS databases; Quantitative data on ecosystem services including tables/statistics/reports; economic assessment; Environmental asset portfolio; Ecosystem service impact scores and development impact scores.
How can the tool be used to inform decisions?
Outputs are explored via dashboards and maps, compared across countries or regions, and interpreted alongside socio-economic data to understand trade-offs and priorities.
Identify priority countries or regions for conservation/restoration investment, compare trade-offs between nature and development goals, support climate and biodiversity finance decisions, assess risks to ecosystem services, and inform policy, funding allocation, and strategic planning.
Validation
According to the Version 2 Modules Model Documentation, “Co$tingNature outputs have been verified through application in studies throughout the modelling domain. We make the model easy to apply anywhere globally and expect our users to also verify and validate simulation outcomes in their own study sites. As model developers we cannot validate these models for every study site and application that users may have: it is thus the responsibility of those applying these models to validate them for their own application and study site. The FreeStation project can provide equipment designs to help with this” (2024).
Limitations of Use
Limited inclusion of marine and urban services; relies on global datasets therefore has coarse resolution; not ideal for fine-scale local decisions.
Case Studies
Thames River Basin NFM modelling
Other information
Co$tingNature can be used to compare overall service generation with biodiversity and conservation priorities and can be rapidly applied in terrestrial environments globally (Bagstad et al., 2013).
It can act as a low-cost, spatially explicit screening tool to identify potential ecosystem service hotspots (Bagstad et al., 2013)
Available in English, Spanish, and French
Version 1 is also available for use (faster but less sophisticated – does not include land-use or climate scenarios)
Developer Organisations
King’s College London (applications, data and models), AmbioTEK (software, data and models) and United Nations Environment Programme – World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) (applications and data).
