Valuation Methods and Their Relevance in Achieving Marine Protected Areas Targets: A Systematic Review

The prolific human-induced pressures on marine ecosystems leading to negative externalities such as beach erosion, biodiversity loss, and climate change are matters of global concern. Marine protected areas (MPAs) have emerged as a tool to conserve marine biodiversity and support human livelihoods. This paper reviews the global research landscape, the evolution of concepts and the relevance of valuation techniques related to the assessment of the contribution of MPAs to societal welfare. The review indicates that less than 3% of the wider MPA literature explores the economic valuation of MPA designation. Of those, there is an obvious preference for non-market-based methods of valuation. This may be driven by an increased focus on protecting marine biodiversity rather than the ocean economy revenue streams. Results also show that the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia carry out the majority of MPA valuation research, while Europe exhibits the most active MPA research collaborative network. The results suggest that South America and Africa appear to have minimal MPA research and collaboration networks. Contingent valuation methods and choice experiments are the preferred valuation tools used for MPA ecosystem service benefit estimation. Integrating conventional valuation techniques with contemporary predictive analytics algorithms such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, could offer an intriguing path for future MPA valuation efforts and natural capital accounting more broadly.