Author Archives: Eric Miller

About Eric Miller

I am an Ecological Economist, currently working as a consulting economist and university lecturer. Most of my career has been in the Ontario and federal public service. About half of my work these days relates to ecosystem services: communicating the concept, assessing available information, and proposing ways to integrate the concept and measurement into policies and programs. I earned an MES in Ecological Macroeconomics from York University, a BA in Economics from McMaster University and a BSc in Biology from Carleton University.

The Economics of Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity in Ontario (TEEBO) 2018 update

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This report aims to inform Ontarians about key economic issues involving ecosystem services and biodiversity in Ontario. These are considered together because their economic issues are similar. This follows the practice of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), of which Canada is a member.

This report updates an earlier 2012 report with the same title (Miller & Lloyd-Smith, 2012). The present report includes new information and sources, removes some outdated material, and adjusts the amount and ordering of some content.

Many professions and sectors of the marketplace are taking an interest in this subject. Businesses and investors are improving the ways that they measure and manage their interactions with ecosystems, with the aid of accounting professionals. Professional planners, engineers, and infrastructure specialists are improving their conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems, and the use of green infrastructure. Public health professionals are discovering how human health is dependent upon the health of biodiverse ecosystems. Ecological economists and other economists are working to recalibrate economic signals and policies for the sustenance of life on Earth.

Market prices fail to reflect the full economic value of nature. A solution is for economists to generate non-market values, using specific valuation techniques that quantify the importance of changes in biodiversity and ecosystem services. The resulting information helps to make land-use decisions more effective, balance sheets more complete, and economic accounts more comprehensive. All of this enhances efficiency and sustainability, especially when used with economic instruments. Economic instruments aim to more closely align economic self-interest with shared interests in the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Several instruments are available, including ones that affect information, prices, quantities, and legal liabilities, and behaviour.

Fortunately non-market values and economic instruments are increasingly prevalent in Ontario. This is helping several policies and practices that mandate their consideration.

Combatting Canada’s Rising Flood Costs: Natural infrastructure is an underutilized option

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This report demonstrates how to quantify the benefits and costs of natural infrastructure as a strong complement or a viable alternative to grey infrastructure option for flood mitigation.

Natural infrastructure can be a cost-effective way to mitigate material financial losses that would otherwise result from flooding Moreover, natural infrastructure can offer other valuable environmental and social benefits that are often not attainable through the implementation of traditional, grey-engineered solutions.

A thorough cost-benefit analysis should measure all infrastructure options through a common cost-benefit lens. For example, although naturally occurring ponds provide stormwater storage capacity, which helps attenuate flooding, they also create habitat for aquatic species, improve biodiversity and provide aesthetic benefits to the community. These additional benefits are not available through a grey infrastructure solution, such as a stormwater storage tank, and this needs to be reflected in a cost-benefit analysis.

A comprehensive assessment of the financial, environmental and social costs and benefits (i.e., a total economic value [TEV] assessment) is required to illuminate these otherwise uncaptured benefits. Canada will continue to experience loss and degradation of its natural infrastructure assets if it does not start to apply a robust TEV assessment for natural versus grey infrastructure solutions.

To assist governments, practitioners and investors with land-use planning and infrastructure investment decisions, this report includes a framework for natural infrastructure project implementation

Latornell Symposium

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A draft program is not yet out, but the theme is:

“ecological, policy and organisational succession, and continuing contributions to knowledge. Let us explore where we have been, how that has informed who we are today, and where we are headed.”

Ecosystem Services Provided by Forests in Canada: Case Studies on Natural Capital and Conservation

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This report calculates the natural capital value of forests that are located on properties that are conserved by Nature Conservancy of Canada through the TD Forests program. The report includes two main parts:

1. The first part provides general background on Canada’s forests and approaches to natural capital valuation.

2. The second part presents case studies for each of Canada’s eight forest regions. Each study provides an introduction to the forest region and explores the natural capital value of at least one conserved forest property.

This assessment uses a “defensive expenditures” approach. Monetary valuation of the benefits used the value of the Social Cost of Carbon that is used by Environment and Climate Change Canada.

TEEB-AgriFood Canada

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This is an exciting opportunity to meet with three global leaders in the field of environmental economics and true cost accounting while they are in Toronto.

The objectives of the workshop are to:

Introduce researchers, businesses and government in Canada to TEEB-AgriFood and to the potential benefits of doing full-cost accounting studies using the valuation framework.

Solicit feedback on how TEEB-AgriFood can be strengthened and enhanced as an innovative solution to the complex and entrenched ecological and societal challenges we face.

Generate ideas and concrete actions on how to apply TEEB-AgriFood’s cutting-edge framework to work in Canada with key stakeholders.

Natural Capital in Ontario

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The Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation is hosting a full day workshop on natural capital valuation methods and management in partnership with the Natural Capital Lab and Ontario Network for Ecosystem Services.

The workshop will be relevant to municipalities, conservation authorities and other stakeholders interested in learning about recent advances in natural capital valuation and its applications from local and national projects.

This workshop will provide delegates:

An introduction to natural capital valuations and the work of the Natural Capital Lab.

A detailed understanding of the valuation process and available data sources using ‘Ontario’s Good Fortune; Appreciating the Greenbelt’s Natural Capital’ as an example

An introduction and progress update from the Municipal Natural Assets Initiative pilots including Peel and Oakville.

Break out sessions on how and why natural capital can be applied in your local context

Grey to Green

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Grey to Green: Quantifying Green Infrastructure Performance

This conference is the leading forum for designers, policy makers, manufacturers, growers, landscapers, and other green infrastructure professionals to discuss the benefits of the important green infrastructure industry, and how to grow it even further.

This interdisciplinary conference explores the latest science on green infrastructure performance, economic valuation and public policy developments, new technological developments, and best practices in design, installation and maintenance. The conference also includes a trade show, cutting edge workshops which include tours of outstanding projects, and special networking events.

Comprehensive wealth in Canada: Measuring what matters in the long run

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This study reviewed Canada’s comprehensive wealth performance over the 33-year period from 1980 to 2013. This timeframe extends well beyond business and political cycles, ensuring that the results reveal trends free from the ebb and flow of markets and policies.

Comprehensive wealth focuses on the role of people, the environment and the economy in creating and sustaining well-being. Complementing indicators like gross domestic product (GDP) and addressing issues the can’t capture on their own, comprehensive wealth measures are key to successfully guiding Canada through the 21st century and beyond.

Comprehensive wealth measures human capital, natural capital, produced capital, and social capital.

The report’s focus on natural capital is on natural capital stocks, which supply ecosystem goods, and not also natural capital funds, which supply ecosystem services. The report draws attention to the drawdown of natural capital (stocks) which usually implies a drawdown in natural capital (funds).

The report says: “Due to a combination of physical depletion and changing market conditions, the value of Canada’s minerals, fossil fuels, timber and agricultural land per person declined by a startling 25 per cent between 1980 and 2013. More recent data signal an even greater decline due to the steep drop in global oil prices. A series of climate and ecosystem indicators compiled for the study point to declines in other forms of natural capital.”

Why We Need to Change How We Measure Our Wealth

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Comprehensive wealth (or inclusive wealth) is about measuring what matters in the long run.

It focuses on the role of people, the environment, and the economy in creating and sustaining well-being. It goes beyond merely measuring gross domestic product (GDP) and addresses issues that GDP cannot capture on its own.

Made up of five components: produced, financial, natural, human and social capital, comprehensive wealth is the holistic approach that will prove key to successfully guiding Canada through the 21st century and beyond.

You need to register in order to participate.