From forage to multifunctionality: shifting perceptions of rangeland ecosystem services in the journals of the Grassland Society of Southern Africa

Wildlife conservancies in Kenya have emerged as the more integrative arrangements for biodiversity conservation and community development in the rangelands. They have been promoted as a better model for integrating biodiversity or environmental conservation goals, restoring ecosystems and enhancing wellbeing among local communities in the country's arid and semi-arid areas. For the conservancies to achieve these goals, they have been closely linked with market-based instruments where tourism fits well. For the most part, revenues generated through tourism provide the main economic incentives around which balanced, win-win conservation and development goals are achieved. In this sense, the conservancy has been seen as an emerging form of payment for ecosystems services (PES) scheme. The Maasai Mara ecosystem is one among the many pastoralist areas in Kenya where the wildlife conservancy model has successfully been started. This paper provides a synthesized understanding of the central role that ecotourism in the conservancies is playing to support biodiversity conservation, ecosystem restoration, provision of ecosystem services and contributing to community benefits. It is noted that some of the ecosystem services provided in the conservancies include grass pastures for wildlife and livestock, improved breeds of livestock, meat and milk products from the cattle, aesthetic values, research values and ecotourism itself as a cultural ecosystem service. It also emerges that members of the conservancies enjoy development benefits that range from land lease fees, school bursaries, support for health and education infrastructure, and capacity building of women through training in entrepreneurship, among other things. Lastly, it is also noted that tourism and especially the ecotourism type is closely linked with both provisioning and cultural ecosystem goods and services as well as other community benefits resulting from paying for wildlife conservation.

In the last decades, some European cities have undergone important changes in search of a more sustainable development. This is the case for the city of Bilbao (Bizkaia, Basque Country), where a Greenbelt has been maintained surrounding the urban areas allowing the periurban areas to deliver ecosystem services (ES) to society. However, the role of the different ecosystems in the provision of ES is not the same, which can lead to conflicts among them. The aim of this study is to analyze the synergies and trade-offs among the eight most important ES in the Bilbao Metropolitan Greenbelt (BMG) to orient their management strategies towards more multifunctional landscapes. We mapped the ES and overlapped them looking for the most relevant areas for the provision of multiple ES and areas that are mostly lacking ES provision. We identify also existing ES trade-offs and synergies between ES using correlations so that managers can prioritize preservation efforts of land use types in the rest of the area. The results show that provisioning ES had trade-offs with regulating and cultural ES and the latter showed synergies between them. The former are mainly delivered by semi-natural ecosystems, while regulating and cultural ES are delivered mainly by natural ecosystems. Moreover, the most relevant areas for the provision of multiple ES were proposed as potential components of a Green Infrastructure (GI). Their identification and ES bundles could help decision-makers to orient their management strategies towards sustainability in metropolitan areas.

Landscape’s capacity to supply ecosystem service: Mapping and assessment for Kulik forest (Raiganj bird sanctuary), India

Synergies and trade-offs between ecosystem service supply, biodiversity, and habitat conservation status in Europe

Among the soil-based ecosystem services (ES), nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration have direct influence on the biogeochemical cycles and greenhouse gas emissions affecting provision of other ES that support human existence. We reviewed methods to assess the two key ES by identifying their strengths and weaknesses and have made suggestions for using appropriate methods for better understanding of the ecosystem functions for the provision of ES. Relevant papers for the review were chosen on the basis of (i) diversity of studies on the two key ES in different ecosystems, (ii) methodologies applied and (iii) detailed descriptions of the trial locations in terms of vegetation, soil type, location and climatic information. We concluded that (i) elemental stoichiometrical ratios could be a potential approach to assess the health of ecosystems in terms of provision of the two ES discussed, (ii) stoichiometric imbalances need to be avoided between the supply and the demand of the nutrients to maintain the ES provision in terrestrial ecosystems and (iii) stoichiometric ratios can act as a management tool at a field, farm and at landscape level, to complement other compositional biodiversity and functional diversity approaches to ensure sustainable provision of ES.

As global consumption increases, there is a growing emphasis on the production of food and the use of other resources necessary for life. Consequently, many ecosystems are stressed because their ability to produce market goods is favoured over other critical functions and services that ecosystems provide such as energy transfer, water regulation, nutrient filtering, and carbon sequestration. Capturing these benefits using ecosystem services thinking offers decision makers a methodology for considering the multiple benefits that ecosystems provide. However, gaps in our understanding of how we can make the ecosystem services concept operational remain. Recognising the relationship between natural capital stocks and the provision of ecosystem processes and services is a crucial step in operationalising ecosystem services thinking. I advance this concept by identifying that attributes of natural capital are not uniform in their amenability to change. Hence, the central tenet of this thesis is that management actions targeted at manageable attributes of natural capital stocks is effective for influencing provision of ecosystem services and benefits. I test how management practices influence natural capital stocks that contribute to the provision of required ecosystem services, using a ‘provider group’ approach. Provider groups are sets of species which exhibit attributes which contribute to ecosystem services and benefits. The traditionally farmed grassland system in the Southeastern Carpathians, Romania, is a good example of a multifunctional landscape providing provisioning, regulating, and cultural ecosystem services and thus a useful case study to test this approach. I assigned grassland plant species to provider groups (quality fodder, medical and aromatic compounds, honey, pollen, nitrogen fixation, and conservation concern) based on their characteristics and tested the impact of management practices (abandonment of hay meadows, grazing, and mowing) on species diversity and abundance within each group. Over three quarters (77%) of the 210 unique species sampled during this study contributed to at least one provider group and over a third (36%) contributed to more than one group. I found that different management practices favour certain provider groups over others, and thus supply of certain ecosystem services over others. A more nuanced understanding of the influence of management practices on natural capital stocks can better inform agricultural and conservation policies targeted at sustaining multifunctional landscapes. Incorporation of social data, particularly that describing human behaviour and decision making, is critical to embed the ecosystem services concept into natural resource management policy and practice. Riparian management is a common policy option for mitigating the externalities of land use. A riparian management programme has been running in Taranaki Region, New Zealand for over 20 years providing a useful case study to elicit farmers perceptions and experiences of the pros and cons of planting riparian margins. I found the views of dairy farmers farming the Taranaki ring plain to be varied. Farmers with planted margins reported experiencing many on and off-farm benefits from multi-tier riparian plantings including production, environmental, and social values. This group of farmers identified 32 aspects of riparian vegetation across nine categories, 65% of which were positive aspects and 35% of which were negative aspects. Farmers who had fenced but not planted their riparian margins also believe benefits for water quality, animal safety, and farm management can be achieved from fenced grass strip riparian margins but were less convinced about additional benefits from planting. This group of farmers identified 15 aspects of riparian vegetation across four categories, all of which (100%) were negative aspects. Recognising that farmer’s perceptions and/or experiences vary can help inform how best to structure and deliver policies for sustaining provision of multiple ecosystem services and benefits. Biodiversity offsetting represents a critical application of the ecosystem services concept as trading biodiversity also inherently trades the associated ecosystem service values. Further, trading biodiversity in an offset exchange embodies the manipulation of natural capital stocks, in both the removal of species and habitats and in their replacement or enhancement elsewhere. Currencies used to evaluate offset proposals can either aggregate (combine measures of biodiversity attributes into a composite unit) or disaggregate (individually account for each measured biodiversity attribute of interest). I developed a disaggregated accounting model that balances like-for-like biodiversity trades using a suite of area by condition currencies to individually calculate the net present biodiversity value (NPBV) by which to evaluate no net loss for each biodiversity attribute inputted into the model. The model improves on more aggregated models by enabling increased transparency of biodiversity offsetting proposals, and thus improved decision making processes. This thesis provides an increased understanding of the relationship between management actions and ecosystem services and associated benefits at local scales, and a collection of tools and methods to support decision making targeted at sustaining multifunctional landscapes. Overall, this research illustrates that a natural capital focussed ecosystem services approach provides an opportunity to shift land management towards practices that sustain rather than deplete the natural capacity of ecosystems.

Ecosystem services (ES) are growing fields of research. It helps to provide an inherent way to understand the synergy and trade-offs between human beings and their natural environment. Regulatory ecosystem services (RES) are significantly important to maintaining the world in which people can live, and control the negative effects of flood, disasters, and diseases. It can also provide regulatory services like ecosystem protection, human safety, and the provision of other ES. However, emerging ES decision-making agendas focus on ES that is tangible and has a direct link with human well-being. Thus, the attention given to RES is low due to its less tangible benefits and complexity to measure the benefits. Disregarding and lack of attention from policymakers and scientific community may lead to unintended risks to human well-being and significant influences on the provision of other ES. This study describes the research trends on RES, knowledge generated, and the major limitation. We concluded that though there is an exponential growth of scientific publications on ES, no adequate studies were found on RES. Also, the existed studies varied in their size and types of RES indicators covered, habitats/ecosystems, and geographic extent addressed. There was also a lack of connecting knowledge generated on the benefits of RES with the national policy of natural resource management, inconsistency of ES classification, and methodological diversity. Therefore, scientific communities are promoted to link RES studies with human health. Besides, the researcher should give priority for the least studied ecosystems and its services, developing robust methodology, and proposing management options to enhance the regulatory services of ecosystems.

Urban forest usage and perception of ecosystem services – A comparison between teenagers and adults

Social learning and land lease to stimulate the delivery of ecosystem services in intensive arable farming

Cultural ecosystem services provided by the biodiversity of forest soils: A European review

Cultural ecosystem services caught in a ‘coastal squeeze’ between sea level rise and urban expansion

Short-term effects of burn severity on ecosystem multifunctionality in the northwest Iberian Peninsula

Provisioning ecosystem services supply and demand: The role of landscape management to reinforce supply and promote synergies with other ecosystem services

Ant biodiversity and ecosystem services in bioenergy landscapes

Ecosystem services across contrasting forested landscapes in Queensland's Wet Tropics Bioregion: contemporary patterns, processes and likely future trends under a changing climate