Assessment of ecosystem services of water resources of port water areas by the amount of water rent

Abstract

Ecosystem services of the marine environment can be considered as ecological, economic and social components of sustainable development, but at present, they are not fully evaluated. In this regard, the article sets the task of identifying and valuing ecosystem services in port waters. As a result of the study, the attribution of the benefits created by the port waters to the ecosystem services of the marine environment is justified, their division into two categories is carried out—into providing and supporting services, a methodology for their cost estimation is proposed. It is proposed to calculate ecosystem services by the amount of port water rent, which is understood as the residual income in port activities after deducting from it all costs and profit margins on fixed assets of port infrastructure. According to this methodology, calculations of the total cost of ecosystem services of port water areas for Russia as a whole and specific values of the cost of ecosystem services per 1 km² of port water area for all seaports of the country were carried out. Supporting services are proposed to be assessed by the rent of assimilation potential formed when compensatory measures are not carried out for environmental damage caused by port activity. According to the results of calculations, it was revealed that the total port rent is approximately 33–38 billion rubles. At the same time, payments for the use of water resources in the waters of seaports entering the budget system amount to an insignificant part of this value—0.17 %, which indicates the inefficiency of the current payment system. To correct the situation, an algorithm for calculating fees for ecosystem services in port waters with the inclusion of an environmental component is proposed, the maximum share of port water rent (10 %) is justified, without disturbing the balance between the state and private structures. The significance of the work carried out is to substantiate a new category of ecosystem services of the marine environment, ecosystem services of port waters, and to show the possibility of using their valuation for management purposes, including through the formation of additional budget revenues.