Field evidence that ecosystem service projects support biodiversity and diversify options

The ecosystem approach—as endorsed by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB) in 2000—is a strategy for holistic, sustainable, and equitable natural resource management, to be implemented via the 12 Malawi Principles. These principles describe the need to manage nature in terms of dynamic ecosystems, while fully engaging with local peoples. It is an ambitious concept. Today, the term is common throughout the research and policy literature on environmental management. However, multiple meanings have been attached to the term, resulting in confusion. We reviewed references to the ecosystem approach from 1957 to 2012 and identified 3 primary uses: as an alternative to ecosystem management or ecosystem-based management; in reference to an integrated and equitable approach to resource management as per the CBD; and as a term signifying a focus on understanding and valuing ecosystem services. Although uses of this term and its variants may overlap in meaning, typically, they do not entirely reflect the ethos of the ecosystem approach as defined by the CBD. For example, there is presently an increasing emphasis on ecosystem services, but focusing on these alone does not promote decentralization of management or use of all forms of knowledge, both of which are integral to the CBD’s concept. We highlight that the Malawi Principles are at risk of being forgotten. To better understand these principles, more effort to implement them is required. Such efforts should be evaluated, ideally with comparative approaches, before allowing the CBD’s concept of holistic and socially engaged management to be abandoned or superseded. It is possible that attempts to implement all 12 principles together will face many challenges, but they may also offer a unique way to promote holistic and equitable governance of natural resources. Therefore, we believe that the CBD’s concept of the ecosystem approach demands more attention.La Necesidad de Desenredar Conceptos Clave del Argot Ambiente-EstrategiaResumenLa estrategia ambiental – como es promocionada por la Convención Biológica sobre Diversidad en 2000 – es una estrategia para un manejo holístico, sustentable y equitativo de recursos naturales, que habrá de implementarse por vía de los 12 Principios de Malawi. Estos principios describen la necesidad de manejar la naturaleza en términos de ecosistemas dinámicos, mientras se compromete totalmente con las personas locales. Es un concepto ambicioso. Hoy en día, el término es común en la investigación y la literatura de políticas sobre el manejo ambiente. Sin embargo, se han relacionado múltiples significados con el término, lo que resulta en confusión. Revisamos referencias a la estrategia ambiental de 1957 a 2012 e identificamos tres usos principales: como una alternativa para manejo ambiental o basado en ecosistemas; en referencia a una estrategia integrada y equitativa para el manejo de recursos según la CBD; y como un término que indica un enfoque en el entendimiento y la valuación de los servicios ambientales. Aunque los usos de este término y sus variantes pueden traslaparse en su significado, típicamente no reflejan en su totalidad los valores de la estrategia ambiental como fue definida por la CBD. Por ejemplo, actualmente hay un énfasis creciente en los servicios ambientales, pero enfocarse solamente en estos no promueve la descentralización del manejo o el uso de todas las formas de conocimiento, siendo ambas integrales para el concepto de la CBD. Resaltamos que los Principios de Malawi están en riesgo de ser olvidados. Para entender mejor estos principios, se requiere de más esfuerzo para implementarlos. Dichos esfuerzos deben ser evaluados, idóneamente con estrategias comparativas, antes de permitir que el concepto de la CBD de manejo holístico y comprometido socialmente sea abandonado o reemplazado. Es posible que los intentos por implementar los 12 principios juntos enfrentarán muchos obstáculos, pero también pueden ofrecer una forma única de promover el gobierno holístico y equitativo de los recursos naturales. Así, creemos que el concepto de estrategia ambiental de la CBD exige mayor atención.

The presumption is that ecosystem services (ES) approaches provide a better basis for environmental decision making than do other approaches because they make explicit the connection between human well-being and ecosystem structures and processes. However, the existing literature does not provide a precise description of ES approaches for environmental policy and decision making, nor does it assess whether these applications will make a difference in terms of changing decisions and improving outcomes. We describe 3 criteria that can be used to identify whether and to what extent ES approaches are being applied: 1) connect impacts all the way from ecosystem changes to human well-being, 2) consider all relevant ES affected by the decision, and 3) consider and compare the changes in well-being of different stakeholders. As a demonstration, we then analyze retrospectively whether and how the criteria were met in different decision-making contexts. For this assessment, we have developed an analysis format that describes the type of policy, the relevant scales, the decisions or questions, the decision maker, and the underlying documents. This format includes a general judgment of how far the 3 ES criteria have been applied. It shows that the criteria can be applied to many different decision-making processes, ranging from the supranational to the local scale and to different parts of decision-making processes. In conclusion we suggest these criteria could be used for assessments of the extent to which ES approaches have been and should be applied, what benefits and challenges arise, and whether using ES approaches made a difference in the decision-making process, decisions made, or outcomes of those decisions. Results from such studies could inform future use and development of ES approaches, draw attention to where the greatest benefits and challenges are, and help to target integration of ES approaches into policies, where they can be most effective. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2017;13:41-51. © 2016 SETAC.

Protected Area management: Fusion and confusion with the ecosystem services approach

An ecosystem services (ES) approach to chemical risk assessment has many potential advantages, but there are also substantial challenges regarding its implementation. We report the findings of a multi-stakeholder workshop that evaluated the feasibility of adopting an ES approach to chemical risk assessment using currently available tools and data. Also evaluated is the added value such an approach would bring to environmental decision making. The aim was to build consensus across disparate stakeholders and to co-produce a common understanding of the regulatory benefits and feasibility of implementing an ES approach in European chemicals regulation. Workshop discussions were informed by proof of concept studies and resulted in the development of a novel tiered framework for assessing chemical risk to ES delivery. There was consensus on the substantial added value of adopting an ES-based approach for regulatory decision making. Ecosystem services provide a common currency and a ‘unifying approach’ across environmental compartments, stressors and regulatory frameworks. The ES approach informs prioritisation of risk and remedial action and aids risk communication and risk management. It facilitates a more holistic assessment, enables ES trade-offs to be compared across alternative interventions, and supports comparative risk assessments and a socio-economic analysis of management options and decisions. Key to realising this added value is a shift away from using a single threshold value to categorise risk, towards a consideration of the exposure-effect distribution for individual ES of interest. Also required is the development of an integrated systems-level approach across regulatory frameworks and agreement on specific protection goals and scenarios for framing environmental risk assessments. The need to further develop tools for extrapolating toxicity data to service providers and ES delivery, including logic chains and ecological production functions, was highlighted. Also agreed was the need for methods and metrics for ES valuation to be used in assessing trade-offs.

Biodiversity conservation strategies that overlook the interests of local people are prone to create conflicts. The ecosystem service approach holds potential for more comprehensively integrating the social dimension into decision-making in protected areas, but its implementation in conservation policies is still in its infancy. This research assesses the extent to which ecosystem services have been implemented in conservation strategies in protected areas. The study was conducted in two outstanding Spanish protected areas, covering a wetland (Donana Natural and National Parks) and a Mediterranean mountain system (Sierra Nevada Natural and National Parks). Data were collected from deliberative workshops with managers and researchers, face-to-face surveys with users and a review of management plans. We found that, beyond intrinsic values of ecosystems and biodiversity, these areas provide multiple ecosystem services that deserve further attention to ensure their sustained delivery. Our research shows that environmental managers and researchers have different perceptions and priorities regarding ecosystem services management compared with ecosystem service users. Environmental managers and researchers in both protected areas perceived that human-nature relationships and ecosystem services are already widely included in management plans, if often not explicitly. We found that different ecosystem service categories receive uneven attention in management plans. These contained measures to manage provisioning and cultural services whereas measures for managing regulating services were perceived to be largely absent. We conclude by summarizing insights on how the ecosystem service approach may enhance the consideration of social interests in the management of management protected areas.

In many regions in Western Europe the rural matrix is under high pressure because of land use fragmentation and environmental degradation. New frameworks and approaches are needed to revalue the rural matrix and stop its degradation. The Flemish Region of Belgium has a severely degraded environmental and ecological quality. Increasing environmental degradation in Flanders is mainly remediated by technical measures and infrastructure. Due to institutional fragmentation of competences in environmental management, there is a lack of integrated measures that improve environmental quality on multiple aspects, which often leads to inefficient or adverse policy initiatives. The ecosystem services (ES) approach can be a unifying concept, bringing together different environmental, social, and economic aspects. The potential of landscape management and planning for ecosystem service generation needs to be recognized as a true option to reach both environmental and societal policy objectives at different scales [1]. We use the “ecosystem service approach” as an umbrella concept to advocate for the creation or restoration of functional ecosystems as a cost-efficient and multipurpose strategy to improve environmental quality. The identification and quantification of hidden demands for ecosystem services is confronted with potential ecosystem services creation, based on hydro-geomorphologic suitability. The aim of this methodological framework is to develop an adequate scientific basis to contribute to a policy-relevant strategy for ecosystem services research in Belgium as part of the overall policy of sustainable development. A framework is presented that aims to (a) overcome the policy-science gap by presenting the ecosystem approach as an alternative for the increasing cost and failure of traditional environmental management; (b) identify and map potential ES; (c) quantify the potential delivery of ES by use of conceptual models that account for the spatial and temporal variability within a landscape context as ecosystems generate and receive fluxes from surrounding land-use; and (d) develop a policy support tool that allows optimal geographical implementation of ES generation. The proposed methodological framework will be further elaborated and implemented through a Strategic Basic Research project, funded by the Flemish Institute for Science and Technology.

Advantages and challenges associated with implementing an ecosystem services approach to ecological risk assessment for chemicals

1. By definition, ecosystem services (ES) are the “benefits that people obtain from ecosystems”, and this paradigm has been increasingly used in recent decades in ecological planning, for policy development and environmental management. 2. In this short commentary, we highlight the main criticisms suggested by several scientists against the currently used and abused ecosystem services (ES) approach. 3. We underline how this concept needs a more accurate scientific assessment and theoretical development, repeating that one of the most critical concerns is that this paradigm assigns a “price”, but not a “value” to nature. 4. We also discuss different theoretical concerns, as for example the replacement of natural “resource” by “service” promoted by the ES paradigm thereby changing the implications of such assessments. Conserving resources is essential for survival of several organisms, while conservation of a “service” is mainly related to the human species. 5. Finally, we warn against the mechanism of ‘crowding out’ behind the ES approach, which replaces intrinsic motivations (nature) against extrinsic ones (benefits), highlighting that people do not need to attach different values to ecosystems (monetary, cultural, aesthetic, etc.) to understand the value of nature.

Drivers of the ecosystem services approach in Poland and perception by practitioners

The Ecosystems Services (ES) approach to ocean management forms part of global initiatives to achieve sustainability. In a time of climate change and ocean depletion, ES is critical to an inclusive global ocean accounting and marine spatial planning (MSP). The ES approach proposes that nature offers a range of services to human populations which can be measured for integrated ocean management. The services identified in ES are thought to be usefully integrated into systems’ models for both retrospective analysis and future modelling. Recently, culture is identified as an important ecosystem service in ocean management. The System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA) adopted and applied by the United Nations Statistical Commission Several scholars calls for the inclusion of culture in environmental economic accounting. However, and as argued in this article, for various reasons, culture is not easily circumscribed, and it offers its own epistemological foundation that may frame ocean ‘accounting’. The research presented in the article uses anthropological research methods to investigate, document and analyse the form and substance of coastal culture in South Africa. It is concluded that the transmaterial, temporal and processual nature of culture means that for South Africa and potentially Africa, a radical transformation of ecological discourse is necessary for a sufficiently dynamic ES approach that can apprehend the complexity of culture in Africa and the world.

The Natura 2000 network is the cornerstone of EU Biodiversity Strategy aiming at halting the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services (ES) provided by natural and semi-natural ecosystems to human populations. Member States are mainly responsible to implement conservation strategies through management plans or conservation measures, but in many cases the level of development and execution of these instruments is very low and management effectiveness is rarely achieved. The project LIFE+ “Making Good Natura” aims to provide a governance tool for an efficient management of Natura 2000 sites based on the qualitative and quantitative valuation of ES and innovative models of self-financing by Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) or other mechanisms. A qualitative assessment of ES was obtained through maps and stakeholder perceptions. These first insights are the basis for integrating the ES approach within conservation strategies of Natura 2000 sites.

Although corporate sustainability theory is well established, there is limited research on the use and understanding of the ecosystem service (ES) approaches based on an advanced conceptualization of the environment in organizational practice. This article analyzes the use of ES approaches in organizations using a system theory lens, conducting empirical research on the contribution of ES approaches to corporate environmental management. Drawing from 30 semistructured interviews with ES practitioners from private, policy, and third sector organizations, we find that ES approaches provide practitioners with an advanced understanding of the environment as a system, the interconnections between the organization and the environment, and a better awareness of temporal and physical attributes of the environment. Overemphasis on ecological systems, limited acknowledgment of the nesting of the social system within the ecological system, and limited detailed practitioner knowledge are barriers for advancing the use of the ES approaches in corporate sustainability practice.

Confronting unfamiliarity with ecosystem functions: The case for an ecosystem service approach to environmental valuation with stated preference methods

Humans have changed the climate, lands and seas, forests and coasts, in ways that may destabilize earth’s key systems. In response to these declines, ecosystem services are fast becoming the new paradigm and framework that policy-makers, environmental organisations, funding bodies, and researchers use to understand and govern ecosystems for people's wellbeing. However, ecosystem services frameworks face several limitations wrought by their founding disciplines, including a tendency to focus on aggregate wellbeing and thus obscuring issues of access and justice. This thesis aims to expand ecosystem services approaches by drawing on progress in the social sciences. I draw on theory in political ecology, anthropology, and environmental justice to extend how ecosystem services approaches capture diverse priorities for ecosystem services, illuminate issues of access and legitimacy, and understand local notions of justice. I use mixed-methods case studies in developing coastal communities in Papua New Guinea. Specifically, I combine quantitative and qualitative methods (including in-depth interviews, socio-economic surveys, participant observation) to investigate; i) how people ascribe importance to ecosystem services, ii) how customary institutions shape access to ecosystem services and retain or lose legitimacy and; iii) local notions of justice around the use and governance of ecosystem services. I find that people tend to ascribe the most importance to ecosystem services that directly support their livelihoods and material needs. People also express concern about extractive ecosystem services, like fuelwood, that they perceive as destructive. In addition, I found that a range of access mechanisms shape access across ecosystem services value chains. Furthermore, the ways that customary institutions shape access have remained strong for some (i.e. through restricting the reef areas open to women for fishing) and have faded in legitimacy for others (i.e. young men). I also found that social cohesion, with strong relationships between leaders and community members and high participation in community events and decision-making, supported the legitimacy of customary adaptive reef management. Finally, I found similarities in notions of distributive justice across communities; many were concerned about the costs of destructive or over-intensive fishing methods. However, in one place, local concerns about people's needs stopped leaders banning destructive practices. I also found that although people held similar ideals about decision-making, actual practices manifested very differently in each place. Finally, I found that notions of recognitional justice were often expressed as respect and good conduct in the community. Drawing on these findings, I argue that ecosystem services approaches would be enhanced by incorporating a relational definition of power, alongside its current emphasis on 'power over'. Secondly, 'need' is an important avenue of research because it shapes how people value ecosystem services, and also conceptualize justice. Thirdly, throughout my thesis, gender and normative positions around ecosystem services governance emerged as cross-cutting themes that shaped people's interactions with their ecosystems. I thus suggest that a more in-depth engagement with how moral principles manifest empirically is a crucial avenue for future research in ecosystem services.

Artisanal fishers' perceptions of the ecosystem services derived from a dolphin-human cooperative fishing interaction in southern Brazil