The Promise and Challenge of Ecosystem Services from an Industry Perspective

Abstract

Abstract Ecosystem services are societal benefits afforded by the environment. This paper demonstrates that an ecosystem services approach to environmental risk assessment and management offers a variety of business advantages over traditional approaches, including improved alignment with well-established business processes. It summarizes an oil and gas industry perspective on ecosystem services concepts, and describes how such concepts are being integrated into existing environmental risk assessment and management processes. Ecosystem services concepts can be integrated into each component of the environmental risk assessment – planning – mitigation – monitoring - adapting cycle, strengthening the basis for environmental decision-making. For example, it is customary for new projects to identify potential environmental risks and impacts, and implement avoidance or mitigation measures as the phases progress. However, if specific services at threat are identified early on with a view to the entire life span of the asset, this can inform the environmental management cycle in the context of all users and stressors of the system. It can help guide collection of baseline information in the assessment stages, assist in judging siting and routing alternatives in the planning stages, assist in the development of aligned and prioritized socio-economic and environmental actions regarding threatened services in the mitigation stage, and provide input to the early choice of key metrics and indicators from early planning through the monitoring and adaptation stages and beyond decommissioning. Although the integration of ecosystem services into environmental risk-based assessment is feasible and beneficial, the application of ecosystem services concepts into mitigation and monitoring aspects of environmental decision-making are still evolving. The emerging nature of ecosystem services science, practice and policy requires flexible ecosystem services integration and application methodologies that are easy to use and adapt. The promise of the ecosystem services approach is in strengthening decision-making; the challenge is making application of ecosystem services concepts as clear and straightforward as possible, especially as science, practice, and policy continue to evolve.