Postgraduate Course: Ecosystem Values and Management (PGGE11188)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course focuses on the concept of ecosystem services, its history and rise to prominence. We explore the ways in which ecosystem services can be
valued, measured and monetized by society, across the spectrum from intrinsic values (aesthetics, inspiration, cultural) to extractive (e.g. fisheries, forestry, mining). Both theoretical and practical applications of ecosystem valuation are explored through case studies of policies and projects, and case studies.
Real-world examples of ecosystem services being valued will be examined, including payment for ecosystem services projects, biodiversity offsets,
certification schemes and REDD+. Students have the opportunity to explore a case study in depth. The course concludes with a critique of the idea of valuing ecosystem services, looking at the importance of governance and power structures, the difficulties in valuing complex and unpredictable
ecosystems, and the trade-offs between efficiency and equity that often occur. |
| Course description |
The course is organised into two distinctive blocks as follows:
1. An introduction to the ecosystem services concept. (weeks 1-4) This block is largely contextual. It involves critical reflection on the ecosystems services concept and explore its emergence in policy and management.
2. Exploring ecosystem service valuation to support policy. (weeks 4-8) Both social (non-monetary) and economic valuation and their links to policy instruments are explored in this block by reading the foundational literature and exploring themed case studies.
Aside from the expected contributions to the weekly programme there are two coursework assignments (each of which is weighted at 50% of each student's final mark for the course).
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | This online course is only available to students registered on the Certificate in Global Health Challenges or the MSc in Global Challenges. |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 40 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
| Course Start Date |
11/01/2027 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
196 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- appreciate the role that core ecosystem functions and dynamics play in terms of underpinning critical services for sustainable humanity
- recognise examples in the case studies of services e.g. food, coastal protection, carbon capture, water supplies, recreation. Distinctions and diversities of environmental governance mode related to common property and private resource regimes
- construct and model different applications of non-monetary and monetary economic assessment to ecosystem components and services
- demonstrate interdisciplinary scenario analysis examining application of different ecosystem service concepts for different habitat and cultural contexts
- understand ecosystem provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting services; intrinsic and extrinsic valuation, interdisciplinary frameworks, adaptive institutional design, scenario analysis
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Reading List
MA, (2005) Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Synthesis. Washington, DC.
Schulz, C. (2026). Chapter 9: Valuing Environments for Sustainable Development: Considering Monetary Valuation of the Environment and Alternative Approaches. In: Brown, A., Gilgan, S. (eds) Rethinking Sustainability. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-13886-6_9
Gómez-Baggethun, Erik & de Groot, Rudolf & Lomas, Pedro L. & Montes, Carlos, 2010. "The history of ecosystem services in economic theory and practice: From early notions to markets and payment schemes," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 1209-1218, April.
Carpenter, S. R., et al. (2009). Science for managing ecosystem services: Beyond the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(5), 1305, 1312..
M.A. Chan, Terre Satterfield, Joshua Goldstein,(2012) Rethinking ecosystem services to better address and navigate cultural values, Ecological Economics, Volume 74, Pages 8-18, ISSN 0921-8009, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2011.11.011.
Bateman, I. J., et al. (2023). Natural capital accounting: Integration into decision-making for sustainable outcomes. Nature Sustainability.
Kate E Pickett, Robert Costanza, Roberto De Vogli, Ida Kubiszewski, Jacqueline McGlade, Lars F Mortensen, Kristin Vala Ragnasdottir, Stewart Wallis, Richard G Wilkinson, (2026) Wellbeing for people and the planet: how to value everyone and everything on a thriving planet beyond 2030,The Lancet Planetary Health, 101475, ISSN 2542-5196, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101475.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Ecosystems,Distance Learning |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Dominic Moran
Tel: (0131 6)51 7439
Email: Dominic.Moran@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Lynn Taylor
Tel:
Email: Lynn.Taylor@ed.ac.uk |
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