I'd like to calculate the value of trees based on Net Present Value (NPV) in which the value of oxygen supplied by trees in their whole life cycle is also included. Can the learned audience share the easiest method for the same?
I get highly concerned when economic measurements are applied to ecologic functions.
Start with the discount rate - what is appropriate, and why? The discount rate of fish might be 10% per year, based on the rate of biomass increase. The discount rate for trees might be 1%, as they gain biomass much more slowly than fish. The discount rate for soils would be much, much lower than that. But there are other ecological services than just accumulating biomass - the conversion of CO2 to O2, for example. How would that change the appropriate discount rate?
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