Våtmarker förser oss människor med ett stort antal viktiga ekosystemtjänster, såsom vattenrening, vattenreglering, klimatreglering och rekreation. Delvis eftersom många våtmarker försvunnit och försämrats i Sverige under drygt de senaste hundra åren finns ett behov av att restaurera och anlägga våtmarker. Ekosystemtjänsternas värde uttrycks vanligtvis inte på marknaden, och restaureringstakten är för låg. Ett möjligt sätt att hantera detta är att värdera våtmarkers ekosystemtjänster ekonomiskt. Syftet med denna rapport är att utreda hur ekosystemtjänster och de värden de genererar synliggörs och påverkar beslut kring restaurering och anläggning av våtmarker i Sverige. Detta har uppnåtts genom att intervjua tre personer som varit inblandade i restaurering eller anläggning av våtmarker, samt att sammanställa syften som angetts för projekt inom bidragssystemet LONA våtmark. Resultatet visar att förbättring till tillgången till flera olika ekosystemtjänster eftersträvas, bland annat utjämning av vattenflöden, minskning av näringsämnen och rekreation. Våtmarkers ekosystemtjänster har dock sällan värderats och deras värden lyfts inte fram i någon större utsträckning. Hur värdering av ekosystemtjänster skulle kunna användas i större utsträckning vid restaurering och anläggning av våtmarker diskuteras också. / Wetlands provide us humans with a large number of important ecosystem services, such as water purification, water regulation, climate regulation and recreation. Partly because many wetlands have disappeared and deteriorated from Sweden for just over the last hundred years, there is a need to restore and build wetlands. The value of ecosystem services is usually not expressed in the market, and the rate of restoration is too low. One possible way to handle this is to evaluate wetland ecosystem services economically. The purpose of this report is to investigate how ecosystem services and the values they generate are made visible and influence decisions regarding the restoration and construction of wetlands in Sweden. This has been achieved by interviewing three people who have been involved in the restoration or construction of wetlands, as well as compiling objectives stated for projects within the LONA wetland grant system. The results show that improvement in access to several different ecosystem services is sought, including equalization of water flows, reduction of nutrients and recreation. However, wetland ecosystem services have rarely been evaluated and their values are not highlighted to any great extent. How valuation of ecosystem services could be used to a greater extent in the restoration and construction of wetlands is also discussed.

Presently, conventional development does not adequately incorporate functional ecosystems into development design. Largely due to the intangible nature of most ecosystem services, functional ecosystems have not been directly identified as valuable and are, therefore, often ignored in economic decision frameworks. This has resulted in the degradation and loss of functional ecosystems and ecosystem services as the value and the associated costs of lost ecosystem services are not accounted for. The valuation of ecosystem services is a means by which ecological costs and values can be adequately represented in urban planning and decision-making processes. However, using current valuation methods, ecosystems are continuously being valued for their aggregated ecosystem service values and not for the value of their ability to resist/recover from disturbances and continue proving goods and services over time. The Swan Lake watershed case study was utilized to show that the estimated ecosystem service values are not risk adjusted to reflect the functional condition of an ecosystem. Specifically, based upon the current valuation estimates alone and without reference to the functional condition, the estimated ecosystem service values for the Swan Lake study suggest that the watershed is in a good (proper) functional condition, when in-fact, the overall health of the watershed is in a poor condition of health and its resilience to disturbance is low. Furthermore, the estimated values do not reflect the loss of ecosystem services due to past urbanization and agricultural activities. Because the estimated values do not provide the critical information decision makers require, the valuation of the functional condition of ecosystems is recommended. Due to the complexity involved in valuing the functional condition of an ecosystem, the integration of ecosystem valuation methods and ecosystem evaluation assessments is proposed and explored. In the context of post-urban planning and development, the proposed approach has immediate application as it would provide effective financial arguments for the preservation and restoration of ecosystems as well as facilitate more informed decisions in managing existing urban ecosystems for their function rather than ecosystem services. In a pre-development application, there exists a opportunity wherein an ecosystem’s functional condition could be valued as part of an integrated development design and planning process (IDP). The British Pacific Properties (BPP) Rodgers Creek development is used as a case study to describe how the proposed approach could be incorporated into the integrated design and planning (IDP) process. By clarifying the ecological tradeoffs between various land-use/development scenarios using a sieve analysis, the proposed approach could help a design team render more informed judgments regarding the functional condition of ecosystems and the value of the ecosystem services. The proposed approach also contributes to a much needed business case, which demonstrates that when urban developments are planned using an IDP process, where the landscape informs the design, there can be greater financial reward to the developer, community and municipality