Valuation of the ecosystem services: A psycho-cultural perspective

Please note that this event has been cancelled.

Kumar Pushpam, Professor at University of Liverpool, the University of Cambridge, the Institute of Economic Growth and the University of Delhi.

Presented by the David O'Brien Centre for Sustainable Enterprise at the John Molson School of Business

Friday, February 17, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. – noon
Concordia University MB Building, Room MB 6.240
1450 Guy Street (de Maisonneuve Blvd. West), Montreal, Quebec. View map

Valuation of ecosystems services has been a challenging issue for economists. There is a growing concern to capture the total and incremental changes in services of different types of ecosystems, mainly, due to perturbations arising from anthropogenic activities. Market-based valuation techniques have long been declared inadequate and a constructed market method such as the contingent valuation method albeit a robust tool does not seem to capture the expanse, nuances, and intricacies of many of the ecosystem services. Dr. Pushpam addresses the lacunae in valuation of ecosystem services from a psychological perspective by arguing that the common person's perception of the ecosystem is quite different from what is conceptualized by conventional economists. Pushpam also shows how the ecological identity of individuals is revealed at various levels of the decision-making hierarchy that is, from local to regional and further onto a global level. Further, he outlines recent research findings from experimental psychology to redefine concepts such as ecological identity, self-other dichotomy, and the fostering of identification with nature, as issues that must be embraced in the valuation of ecosystem services.

Kumar Pushpam

Over the past two decades, Dr. Pushpam Kumar has acquired extensive experience as a teacher, researcher and research coordinator in the field of environmental economics and management at the University of Liverpool (current), the University of Cambridge, the Institute of Economic Growth and the University of Delhi. His research interests include: valuation and accounting of ecosystem services and environmental damages; policies and response options for ecosystem management; and poverty-ecosystems linkages. He was Coordinating Lead Author and Coordinator, Responses Working Group for the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. He was also Lead Author for the Fourth Assessment of the IPCC (Mitigation) which won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

For more information, please contact:

Andrew Ross
David O’Brien Centre for Sustainable Enterprise
John Molson School of Business
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514-848-2424 ext. 5131