Assessing benefit transfer for the valuation of ecosystem services
The valuation of ecosystem services can play an important role in conservation planning and ecosystemâbased management. Unfortunately, gathering primary, siteâspecific data is costly. As a result, a popular alternate method is to conduct a âbenefit transferâ (applying economic value estimates from one location to a similar site in another location). Among the potential pitfalls of such an approach, the correspondence (or lack thereof) between the locations is probably the most important for evaluating the probable validity of the benefit transfer.