Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Tradeoffs (inVEST)

InVEST is a family of free and open-source tools used to map and value goods and services from nature that are essential for sustaining and fulfilling human life. If properly managed, ecosystems yield a flow of services that are vital to humanity, including the production of goods, life-support processes, and life-fulfilling conditions, and the conservation of options. InVEST, which stands for Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Tradeoffs, enables decision makers to assess the trade-offs associated with alternative choices and identify areas where investment in natural capital can enhance human development and conservation in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems.

Features

• Estimates how the current location, amount, delivery, and value of relevant ecosystem services are likely to change in the future within user-defined scenarios.
• Produces detailed maps and results that describe biophysical (e.g., amount of eroded shoreline) or economic data (e.g., shoreline erosion damages).
• Provides models for marine and coastal planning, including coastal protection, renewable energy (wind and wave), marine fish aquaculture, aesthetic quality, water quality, recreation, and habitat risk.