Valuing Ecosystem Services in the Lower Mekong Basin: Country Report for Lao PDR

This report begins with a description of what ecosystem services are and how they can be categorized. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment is the most ubiquitous and comprehensive categorization of ecosystem services, which fall into four broad categories: provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural (MEA 2005). The case study also touches on four valuation techniques—avoided cost, replacement cost, market prices, and market substitutes. There are several more. After reviewing categories and examples, the report discusses each major valuation technique in detail. The report then highlights several policy venues in Lao PDR where ecosystem service valuation can play a role, such as pending decisions to approve several new large dams on the Mekong main-stem which jeopardize a range of ecosystem services associated with fisheries and wetlands.