Teaching and Learning Ecosystem Assessment and Valuation

There has been very little research on teaching, learning and communicating core concepts from Ecological and Environmental Economics. Yet, shedding light on these issues is important for more effective teaching, and to support the public debate on ideas, which aim to shape a sustainable future. This paper investigates teaching and learning about one of the most researched, applied and contested concepts in Environmental and Ecological Economics: Ecosystem Assessment and Valuation (ESAV). It presents students’ conceptions on ESAV gained through group discussions. The transcripts were analyzed with the phenomenographic and documentary method. The analysis focuses both on the way students describe ecological, social and economic aspects, and on the criteria they use to make political and management decisions. The main results are that students tend to see nature as a place for recreation and wildlife, do not see knowledge as uncertain and hardly bring up the idea of an economic valuation. Based on students’ conceptions, as well as research from Ecological and Environmental Economics and Economics Education, I suggest a curriculum for ESAV.