The primary functions of coastal ecosystems include providing livelihoods through fisheries and tourism, as well as acting as carbon sinks. The concept of ecosystem services is not new in environmental management and is used as a foundation for ecosystem-based management and a crucial component in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Therefore, knowledge related to the valuation of coastal ecosystem services is crucial for decision-makers.
To support academics, practitioners, and decision-makers in the marine and coastal sectors in developing insights and competencies regarding the importance of marine and coastal ecosystem services, the Center for Marine Studies, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Indonesia, held an online Coastal Ecosystem Economic Valuation Method Training on March 9, 2022.
Head of the Center for Marine Studies Dr. Riani Widiarti, M.Si. said, “The purpose of this activity is to provide general knowledge regarding valuation methods that are generally used to assess coastal ecosystem services along with the tools used, especially software for assessing marine and coastal ecosystem services and software for assessing coastal ecosystem habitat conditions.”
The training was attended by 80 participants from academics, including lecturers and students, government agencies, marine and coastal environmental practitioners, and the general public. Before attending the training, the participants first attended a training session. pretest yang telah disiapkan oleh penyelenggara.
The resource persons present in this training are experts in the field of marine and coastal economic valuation, and have experience in using marine and coastal ecosystem service assessment software, and assessing the condition of marine and coastal ecosystem habitats.
“The software used in this training to assess marine and coastal ecosystem services is Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST), while the software used to assess the condition of marine and coastal ecosystem habitats is Coral Point Cout with excel extension (CPCe) 4.1,” ujar Dr. Riani.
The first material is Introduction to Economic Valuation of Coastal Ecosystems compiled by Dr.rer.nat. Mufti Petala Patria, M.Sc. and presented by Eko Burhannuddin, M.Si., followed by the material on Environmental Services Valuation using InVEST software by Anindita Diah Kusumawardhani, M.Si.
In his presentation, Dr. rer.nat Mufti P. Patria explained that economic valuation is defined as an effort to monetize the value of objects in the environment, services provided in the environment, and natural resources. From a mining perspective, it can be seen through the potential for mining products. Then, from the perspective of those who like to vacation, it can be seen through the potential for tourism. Meanwhile, from a fisheries perspective, it is the potential for fish catch. However, from an ecosystem perspective, all of these have values that can be combined so that per meter has tourism value and the value of other resources.
“This material has been used in several situations to assess real-world ecosystems related to events or cases in Indonesia. Reflecting on several countries that already have ecosystem values incorporated into regulations and policies, this is somewhat different from Indonesia, which has significant variation between regions,” Eko said during a presentation to 80 participants.
Through this economic valuation basis, it is hoped that it can encourage equal distribution of economic valuation values in Indonesia or at least create a standard for economic valuation values based on region
Meanwhile, Anindita explained in her presentation material that the InVEST software uses a model open-source with four categories, namely Supporting Ecosystem Service, Final Ecosystem Service, Ecosystem Service Analysis, and Supporting Tools, so this application has developed very rapidly. InVEST allows decision-makers to obtain the latest information regarding environmental services and their changes (if there are changes in the ecosystem). InVEST, Anindita continued, is also a spatially-explicit model, the input data is mostly in the form of spatial data or spatialized tabular data.
“InVEST is a Python base programming. “However, the knowledge needed to run InVEST is GIS knowledge,” said Anindita.
He further revealed that at least 495 publications have used InVEST as their base. Asia dominates the distribution of InVEST usage. However, he lamented that Indonesia alone has only produced six publications using InVEST.
“InVEST provides input to decision-makers regarding ecosystem services and their changes. This software can be used to assess current ecosystems and future scenarios,” he emphasized.
The presentation session continued, in the third session entitled Analysis of Coral Reef Cover using CpcE 4.1 software as a Basis for Valuation of Coral Reef Ecosystems presented by the first speaker, Eko Burhanudin, M.Si.
“CPCe 4.1 is windows based program to determine coral cover dari Underwater Photo Transecti. “CPCe uses spatially random points on transect photos for identification. CPCe is calculated statistically and the results are converted into Microsoft Excel. Other functions of CPCe include image calibration and benthic analysis. This software is an alternative to Image J and Sigma Scan Pro, which are paid software,” Eko explained about the benefits of the CpcE 4.1 application.
“The advantages of CPCe include a long duration, easy reconfirmation or collaborative work, high validation, programmed statistical calculations, and data presentation in Excel format,” he continued.
Following the presentation, the participants, who had previously downloaded the CPCe 4.1 application as directed by the resource person, were then guided through its operation. Through this application, they were trained to identify coral reef ecosystem conditions using the CPCe 4.1 software.
