Linking planetary boundaries and ecosystem accounting, with an illustration for the Colombian Orinoco river basin

Leonardo Vargas,Lars Hein,Louise Willemen

doi:10.1007/s10113-018-1282-1

Leonardo Vargas, Lars Hein + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-018-1282-1

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Abstract

Economic development has increased pressures on natural resources during the last decades. The concept of planetary boundaries has been developed to propose limits on human activities based on earth processes and ecological thresholds. However, this concept was not developed to downscale planetary boundaries to sub-global level. The absence of boundaries at sub-global levels constrains the use of the concept in environmental governance and natural resource management, because decisions are typically taken at these levels. Decisions at the national level are currently supported, among others, by statistical frameworks in particular the System of National Accounts. However, statistical frameworks were not developed to compile environmental information, hindering environmental decision making. Our study examines if and how ecosystem accounting can be used in combination with the concept of planetary boundaries in guiding human activities at the level of a river basin. We assess the applicability of both frameworks for natural resource management in the Orinoco river basin, based on adaptive management components. Our analysis indicates that differences in the purpose of analysis, information provided, and methods constrain the potential integration of both frameworks. Nevertheless, the way both frameworks conceptualize the social system and the interactions between social and ecological systems can facilitate translating planetary boundaries into indicators considered in ecosystem accounting. The information recorded in national ecosystem accounts can support establishing ecological thresholds and, more fundamentally, to relate ecological thresholds to human impacts on ecosystem condition. Capitalizing on these synergies requires further exchange of experiences between the communities working on ecosystem accounting and planetary boundaries.

Highlights

Economic growth has progressively increased human pressures on the earth system (Foley et al 2005; Folke 2010; Editor: Wolfgang CramerSteffen et al 2011)
Discipline origins The origins of the planetary boundaries can be found in ecological economics, earth system science, and the literature on global change and on modeling complex ecological dynamics and ecological thresholds
A solid monitoring system is required in order to assess how far the socialecological system is removed from these thresholds and to guide policy actions in the environmental space

Summary

Introduction

Economic growth has progressively increased human pressures on the earth system (Foley et al 2005; Folke 2010; Editor: Wolfgang CramerSteffen et al 2011). Economic growth has progressively increased human pressures on the earth system Human pressures on the earth system have led to, among others, the modification of nitrogen, phosphorus, and water cycles, and changes in land cover and ecosystems (Carpenter 2005; Foley et al 2005; MA 2003). Sustainable development is challenged by the complexity of the environmental problems derived from human and nature interactions. Complex environmental problems such as climate change and ocean acidification cannot be fully understood by separate disciplinary approaches; they demand integrative, multidisciplinary approaches (Liu et al 2015; Ostrom 2009).

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