Trade-offs and synergies between biodiversity conservation, land use change and ecosystem services

Abstract

It is of crucial importance to understand the numerous benefits of, and threats to, the world's biodiversity. In this issue, we present innovative research in the field of biodiversity and ecosystem services sciences as well as studies on local management of natural resources, protected areas and nature-based tourist destinations. Although all individual topics that are mentioned in this journal's title are already big themes themselves, it is worth noting that almost all studies in Issue 9(2) touch upon the linkages between biodiversity, management and/or ecosystem services. This once again shows that the topics should not just be studied and considered in decision-making in isolation. A recurring theme in this Issue is the question whether biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services (potentially) conflict or whether they complement each other. In earlier Issues, we presented interesting studies on the ecological and social factors that influence biodiversity management (Van Oudenhoven & De Groot 2011a) as well as recent developments in the analysis and monitoring of human impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services (Van Oudenhoven & De Groot 2011b). Although the potential synergy between the concepts of ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation has been doubted and criticised (e.g. Ridder 2008; Vira & Adams 2009), contributions in this issue clearly highlight the importance of considering the complementarity of both concepts in local management, spatial planning and decision-making.