Assessing the Value of Cultural Landscapes Through the Integration of Biophysical-Economic Valuation, Risk Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis

This contribution is a part of an ongoing research work that aims to increase the resilience of cultural landscapes through the development of an integrated method, to safeguard, valorise, and manage cultural landscapes, with benefits on the mobilization of resources, on the participatory process, on the co-design of solutions. The paper aims to explore how ecosystem services and economic valuation can integrate risk assessment of cultural landscape. Two literature reviews are made on the state of the art of Ecosystem Services Approach and Cost-Benefit Analysis to assess the biophysical-economic value of cultural landscapes, mostly in relation with the climate-related hazards and socio-demographic vulnerabilities. The main findings are considered to develop an integrated assessment method, where Ecosystem Services framework will be adapted and integrated within the Risk Assessment, while interacting with the Cost-Benefit Analysis to estimate benefits from measures of conservation and restoration and also costs of adaptation and avoided damage cost. This research work can aid environmental engineers and urban planners to integrate biophysical and economic valuations with landscape conservation and disaster risk reduction. The method can also be addressed to public bodies to better understand the complexity of cultural landscape value and to be informed on potential implications for damages or losses caused by natural hazards.