ECOSYSTEM APPROACH TO VALUATION OF DAMAGE FROM ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION

Abstract

In connection with Ukraine’s preparation to accession to the EU, legislative acts include provisions for the implementation of an ecosystem approach to managerial practice. Therefore, it is important to develop methodological approaches to valuation of damage from environmental pollution based on the use of the ecosystem approach. The following issues are developed: (i) innovative methodology of ecosystem estimation of such losses; (ii) corresponding author’s model of estimation; (iii) classification of these losses; (iv) methods of differentiation of the size of its’ compensation depending on the type of ecosystem, which is a novelty of the research.
The main directions of development of the theory of losses from volley and other accidental pollutions, taking into account ecosystem principles (including factor of time), are presented. It is established that (unlike traditional ones) the most up-to-date in foreign practice and the newest method of estimating economic losses from environmental pollution is their valuation on the basis of the cost of restoration works, since this takes into account the market value of resources and services involved in the work on restoration, i. e. rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems to the state preceding the damage caused. Under the modern technology development, the basis for such a valuation may be the conditional equalization of the cost of “work” of an assimilation potential of ecosystem to the cost of work of an artificial waste recycling plant.
An example of estimation of the cost of “work” of the assimilation potential of the soil ecosystem and the use of ecosystem approach to valuation of damage from soil contamination, based on estimation of the cost of remediation and bioremediation of soils, is presented.
On the basis of the author’s methodological approach, the size of the correlation coefficients accounting the assimilation properties of ecosystems is determined for differentiation of the volume of compensation of economic losses from volley and other accidental pollutions (as a component of the author\\\'s economical classification of assimilation services of ecosystems of Ukraine).