Valuation of changes in ecosystems based on their impact on quality of life

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) advocates a pluralistic approach to valuation, focusing among others on quality of life (QoL) as endpoint. We take this latter suggestion forward and outline a QoL-approach to the valuation of changes in ecosystems and their services, based on subjective wellbeing. Although such an approach is not new, it has hardly been applied to the valuation of nature. We start with the definition of QoL and distinguish two dimensions, hedonistic and eudaimonic wellbeing. Furthermore, we show how a QoL-approach to valuation can take instrumental, relational, and even intrinsic values of nature into account, based on how we define these values. An open question is how to arrive from a valuation at the individual level to one a the collective level, taking distributive and intergenerational justice issues into account. In applying a QoL-approach, the operationalization of QoL itself is of paramount importance and the common use of a single question on life satisfaction is questioned. Strengths and limitations of the suggested approach are briefly discussed. Even though there are several issues that need addressing, we think that a QoL-approach will complement existing economic approaches to the valuation of nature.