Assessing the value of the Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP) in Everglades restoration: An ecosystem service approach

•We identify ecosystem services that could be affected by Everglades restoration.•The economic value of a subset of these services is quantified with existing data.•With a 2.5% discount rate, the value totals ~$1.8 billion.•Many ecosystem services could not be valued with existing data.•Results highlight the need for more primary studies in this region.

This study identifies a full range of ecosystem services that could be affected by a restoration project in the central Everglades and monetizes the economic value of a subset of these services using existing data. Findings suggest that the project will potentially increase many ecosystem services that have considerable economic value to society. The ecosystem services monetized within the scope of this study are a subset of the difference between the future-with the Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP) and the future-without CEPP, and they totaled ~$1.8 billion USD at a 2.5% discount rate. Findings suggest that the use of ecosystem services in project planning and communications may require acknowledgment of the difficulty of monetizing important services and the limitations associated with using only existing data and models. Results of this study highlight the need for additional valuation efforts in this region, focused on those services that are likely to be impacted by restoration activities but were notably challenging to value in this assessment due to shortages of data.