Consideration Of Ecosystem Services Research Articles

Integrating ecosystem service value in the disclosure of landscape ecological risk changes: a case study in Yangtze River Economic Belt, China

Urban expansion and inappropriate land uses have caused a decline in the regional ecosystem services capacity, which is contrary to United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15 aiming to protect and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems. Landscape ecological risk (LER) visually depicts the disturbances to ecosystem services and environmental shifts resulting from human activities. Consideration of ecosystem services in LER assessment has not been sufficiently researched. Here, we employed ecosystem service values (ESV) to define landscape vulnerability, and adopted an enhanced risk assessment framework, amalgamating landscape patterns and ecosystem processes, to evaluate the spatial-temporal shifts in ESV and LER in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) from 2000 to 2020. We attempted to analyze the relationship between LER and anthropogenic disturbances. The results showed that over the past 20 years, the general trend revealed a diminishing high-risk area, while medium and low-risk regions expanded. Notably, the urban agglomeration of the YREB experienced a marked surge in risk. Regarding migration direction, the low-risk category has expanded in the east–west direction, while the medium and high-risk categories have shown inward contraction mainly in the north–south direction. The findings highlight the complex changes between ecological processes and LER under anthropogenic disturbances, and can serve as a guide for sustainable risk management and the development of ecological security patterns.

Evolutionary patterns and influencing factors of relationships among ecosystem services in the hilly red soil region of Southern China.

As a crucial ecological protection area in China, the Southern hilly red soil region is characterized by uneven spatial and temporal distribution of ecological landscape elements, unpredictable and changeable interrelationships between them, diversified driving factors, and lack of comprehensive consideration of ecosystem services. In order to better understand the interaction between ecosystem services, restore regional ecology, and promote sustainable development, the evolution law and influencing mechanism of ecosystem services and their driving factors are quantitatively analyzed in the study. Based on simulations of different ecosystem services from 2000 to 2020, their spatial and temporal changes and the contributions of main drivers are quantified, their trade-offs and synergies are analyzed, and the changing rules under the influence of natural factors and socioeconomic factors are explored. The results show that (1) the crop production significantly increases in the southwest and north regions, the habitat quality decreases in urban and coastal areas, and the soil retention and water yield show an increasing trend from west to east. (2) Land use/cover is the main driver of carbon storage and habitat quality variation, and precipitation is an important driver of water yield spatial variation. (3) The crop production and the other four ecosystem services show a trade-offs relationship, and the relationship between supporting services and regulating services is the synergetic. (4) The altitude weakens the synergistic relationship between soil retention and habitat quality/carbon storage, while it enhances the synergistic relationship between soil retention and water yield. Driven by precipitation factors, ecosystem services related to water yield have significant differences in the change. The population density enhances the trade-offs of crop production and soil retention, as well as the synergistic relationship between soil retention and habitat quality/carbon storage. In different land use/cover (LULC), the influence of urban land on ecosystem services relationship change is more obvious. Overall, this study can provide scientific bases and policy suggestions for ecosystem protection/restoration in the red soil region of Southern China, which has an important theoretical and practical significance.

The final ecosystem goods and services Voltron: the power of tools together.

Environmental decision-making benefits from considering ecosystem services to ensure that aspects of the environment that people rely upon are fully evaluated. By focusing consideration of ecosystem services on final ecosystem goods and services (FEGS), the aspects of the environment directly enjoyed, used, or consumed by humans, these analyses can be more streamlined and effective. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has developed a set of tools to facilitate this consideration. The central feature of FEGS is that ecosystems are viewed through the diverse ways people directly benefit from them. The National Ecosystem Services Classification System (NESCS) Plus provides a framework for describing and identifying FEGS consistently. The standardization made available by NESCS Plus allows other tools and databases to interact using the NESCS Plus architecture and taxonomy, providing diverse insights for decision makers. Here, we examine the synergy of using the following four tools together: (1) the FEGS Scoping Tool; (2) the FEGS Metrics Report; (3) the EnviroAtlas; and (4) the EcoService Models Library. The FEGS Scoping Tool helps users determine what ecosystem services are relevant to a decision by harnessing FEGS understanding to enable communities to identify the relative importance of beneficiaries relevant to a decision and biophysical aspects of the environment of direct relevance to those beneficiaries. The FEGS Metrics Report can guide which metrics to monitor or model to represent those priority services. The EnviroAtlas, a powerful tool containing geospatial data and other resources related to ecosystem services, chemical and non-chemical stressors, and human health, and the EcoService Models Library, a database of ecosystem models, are two tools that support users in mapping and modeling endpoints relevant to priority services. While each of these tools is valuable on its own, together, they provide a powerful approach to easily incorporate and operationalize ecosystem services efforts into different parts of decision-making processes across different types of decisions. We illustrate how these integrated tools can be used together with a hypothetical example of a complex environmental management case study and the combined benefit of using the FEGS tools together.

Characteristics and gaps in the assessment of progress in mine restoration: insights from five decades of published literature relating to native ecosystem restoration after mining

Desires that mine sites are restored to self‐sustaining native ecosystems providing benefits for people have been longstanding. However, achieving and demonstrating progress toward mine restoration goals is complex and requires sustained assessment of numerous disparate components. The recently released Society for Ecological Restoration Mine Site Restoration Standards (SER MSRS) recommend utilizing restoration science assessments to determine whether sites are developing toward similarity with targeted ecosystems and exhibiting self‐sustainability. We conducted a global review of publications that assessed restoration to native ecosystems after mining. Our objectives were to (1) document case studies of long‐term assessments of mine restoration and (2) evaluate the extent to which restoration assessment has reported the achievement of varied mine restoration goals on a global scale, including (3) whether any ecosystem components and restoration attributes are underrepresented in published assessments. Among the 712 publications we collated, we documented case studies with sustained reporting on similar restoration and significant increase over time in the quantity and breadth of attributes and ecosystems assessed. Nevertheless, notable gaps remain, or underreporting persists. For example, there have been relatively few assessments targeting understanding of key ecosystem processes, resilience, and threats to ecosystem persistence that are necessary for demonstrating “self‐sustainability.” Our review also revealed limited consideration of ecosystem services that rarely involved impacted communities. We recommend efforts to collate and expand assessments of similar restoration trajectories, placing more focus on indicators that enable the evaluation of characteristics and progress toward a self‐sustaining socioecological ecosystem, to help achieve the goals of mine site restoration.

Climate-altered Precipitation is more Important than Land Use when Modeling Ecosystem Services Associated with Surficial Processes.

Ecosystem services (ESs) associated with surficial processes may change according to shifts in land use, land cover, and climate parameters. Estimating these shifts can be important for land development planning, as urbanization alters soil processes that can manifest legacy effects. We employed the InVEST suite of models for sediment retention, nutrient delivery, and carbon storage to postulate how these ESs will change in the Upstate of South Carolina under future precipitation and land use and land cover (LULC) scenarios. We used the average precipitation from 1981-2010 and WorldClim precipitation projections for 2021-2040 and 2041-2060 to embody climatic precipitation shifts. For our LULC scenarios, we used 2011 and 2016 NLCD landscapes, then projected future LULC to hypothesize four future scenarios. We found that for the ES models that included both precipitation and LULC as inputs, precipitation dictated ES delivery far more heavily than land use or land cover. LULC scenarios produced consistent changes in ES delivery for all models except sediment export. Phosphorus and sediment exports increased between 2011 and 2016 due to LULC change, while nitrogen export stayed the same and carbon storage decreased. Land development that prioritizes forest cover will cause the least change in ESs, but allowing for continued forest loss to low-density development will have the most intense implications for ESs. Prioritization of land uses that preserve ESs associated with surficial processes will be critical to the longevity of agriculture and ecosystem integrity in this rapidly developing region. Land development planners should integrate consideration of ESs associated with surficial processes into future regional planning.

Ecosystem Services for the City as a Complex System: A Methodological Proposal

Originating from the main theories on the interpretation of the city as a system, this paper calls attention to the need to build a new theoretical framework. This framework would be able to support actions related to the consideration of ecosystem services in the activities governing urban and territorial transformations. By adopting the systemic interpretation of the city, it may be possible to more readily identify the ecosystem services related to each of the urban subsystems, and promote a new and different consideration of them when defining urban policies on the sustainable management of urban and territorial systems. This reflection describes a new approach to the problem, by indicating mainly the theoretical references and methodological connections to be considered in the development of a new dimension of territorial government. This dimension would be, by necessity, built upon issues that characterize the current historical phase, such as ecological transition, and the new potential of technological innovation that, if properly reconsidered, could contribute to substantially redefining the field of traditional urban planning.

The Digital Agricultural Knowledge and Information System (DAKIS): Employing digitalisation to encourage diversified and multifunctional agricultural systems

Multifunctional and diversified agriculture can address diverging pressures and demands by simultaneously enhancing productivity, biodiversity, and the provision of ecosystem services. The use of digital technologies can support this by designing and managing resource-efficient and context-specific agricultural systems. We present the Digital Agricultural Knowledge and Information System (DAKIS) to demonstrate an approach that employs digital technologies to enable decision-making towards diversified and sustainable agriculture. To develop the DAKIS, we specified, together with stakeholders, requirements for a knowledge-based decision-support tool and reviewed the literature to identify limitations in the current generation of tools. The results of the review point towards recurring challenges regarding the consideration of ecosystem services and biodiversity, the capacity to foster communication and cooperation between farmers and other actors, and the ability to link multiple spatiotemporal scales and sustainability levels. To overcome these challenges, the DAKIS provides a digital platform to support farmers' decision-making on land use and management via an integrative spatiotemporally explicit approach that analyses a wide range of data from various sources. The approach integrates remote and in situ sensors, artificial intelligence, modelling, stakeholder-stated demand for biodiversity and ecosystem services, and participatory sustainability impact assessment to address the diverse drivers affecting agricultural land use and management design, including natural and agronomic factors, economic and policy considerations, and socio-cultural preferences and settings. Ultimately, the DAKIS embeds the consideration of ecosystem services, biodiversity, and sustainability into farmers' decision-making and enables learning and progress towards site-adapted small-scale multifunctional and diversified agriculture while simultaneously supporting farmers' objectives and societal demands.

A method for soil quality assessment in the metropolitan greenery: A comprehensive view of ecosystem services and soil functions

The soils in urban greenery considerably contribute to providing ecosystem services. However, appropriate tools to assess and manage urban soil quality under consideration of ecosystem services and soil functions are unavailable. In this study, we aimed to 1) provide detailed instructions for assessing a novel urban soil quality index (uSQI) and 2) propose the application of uSQI in urban soil quality management. The uSQI is the average of the scores for six soil functions. Each soil function was estimated by several measurable indicators that have high correlation with soil functions. The measurable soil indicators are bulk density, saturated hydraulic conductivity, litter-layer depth, mineral-associated organic matter, clay + silt content, inorganic nitrogen concentration, fluorescein diacetate hydrolytic activity, cation exchange capacity, concentrations of potentially toxic elements, and pH. The uSQI effectively identified the soils with low quality due to disturbances. The radar chart of six soil functions comprising uSQI could suggest the direction of management for urban stakeholders.•The uSQI represents soil functions necessary for urban greenery to provide ecosystem services.•The uSQI successfully identified the soils with low quality due to disturbances.

Identifying priority conservation areas based on comprehensive consideration of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Three-River Headwaters Region, China

The Three-River Headwaters Region (TRHR) is an ecological security shelter for southeastern China and East Asia. It is necessary to develop scientific land-use management strategies in the Three-River Headwaters Region to achieve the goal of sustainable land development. This study selected six vital ecosystem services (ESs) for the study area namely, water supply, carbon sequestration, soil retention, sand fixation, hydrological regulation, and flood mitigation to quantify and map the spatiotemporal distributions of these ecosystem services during 2000–2018. We also mapped the spatial distribution of biodiversity protection importance in the Three-River Headwaters Region using the MaxEnt model. We further identified the priority conservation areas through the combination of biodiversity and six ecosystem services with different area thresholds and compared the conservation efficiencies in the Sanjiangyuan National Park and the current protected areas in the Three-River Headwaters Region. In addition, we evaluated the relationships between ecosystem services and biodiversity protection importance and the impacts of eleven environmental factors (i.e., normalized difference vegetation index, elevation, slope, temperature, precipitation; wind speed, solar radiation, the proportion of forest land, the proportion of grassland, the proportion of cropland, and the proportion of wetland) on them. Finally, we identified the functional zones based on the ecosystem services-biodiversity bundles and proposed the corresponding management schemes. The results showed that the spatial distributions of six ecosystem services and biodiversity protection importance in the Three-River Headwaters Region were not spatially congruent. With the changes in the area thresholds in extracting priority conservation areas, the protection focus in the Sanjiangyuan National Park and the current protected areas should be updated accordingly. We identified eight ecosystem services-biodiversity bundles in the Three-River Headwaters Region and divided them into five ecological functional zones, based on which then the corresponding zoning optimization management schemes in each bundle and function zone were proposed. Comprehensive consideration of ecosystem services and biodiversity protection importance is insightful for other regions to conserve biodiversity and exploit natural resources simultaneously.

Тренды институционализации общественного участия в Казахстане для устойчивого развития

Experience shows that the most acute and intractable conflicts related to the environment arise between private and public interests. The right to use resources becomes the cause of environmental conflicts. The decisive role of conflict resolution belongs to local authorities, which mediate between participants with different social and economic interests. Consideration of ecosystem services in the process of decision-making by the authorities and understanding of the distribution of costs and benefits associated with the conservation of nature helps to avoid and prevent conflict. The purpose of this article is to examine the prerequisites for the formation and development of the environmental protest movement, caused by the lack of proper communication between the authorities and the public around issues related to urban landscaping. This article examines the chronology of development of factors and mechanisms of public participation on the basis of protest event-analysis, which allows reconstructing the dynamics of civic mobilization and its key characteristics on the basis of various textual sources. It can be confidently claimed that the lack of understanding and the failure of the authorities to take preventive measures will lead to a further escalation of the conflict and its transition into a non-constructive course. The results obtained stress the need and responsibility of government agencies to develop and strengthen the ability of local communities to play an active role in decision-making. Public participation, social partnership increases the number of participants, guaranteeing a new quality of management process in gathering information, identifying priorities, making decisions, monitoring their implementation, evaluating the results.

Addressing ecosystem services from plan to project to further tiering in impact assessment: Lessons from highway planning in São Paulo, Brazil

Tiering in impact assessment has been advocated for mainstreaming environmental goals into different levels of planning. Likewise, the ecosystem services concept has been receiving increased attention for its potential contribution to the difficult mission of integrating the fragmented views of society's dependence on nature when taking decisions about development proposals and public policies. Using the tiered planning of transportation infrastructure in São Paulo, Brazil, this paper examines the use of the ecosystem services concept as a thread to tiering in impact assessment from the strategic to the project level. By exploring a particular case in the transportation infrastructure sector, we aim at advancing knowledge and drawing lessons about the contribution of ecosystem services as an integrative tool to knit the analysis of impacts at successive levels of planning. The highway affects forest lands and watersheds that provide invaluable services for a large population. By analyzing strategic and project environmental assessments, we found that although ecosystem services underpin three out of five key strategic issues, they were addressed mostly implicitly, both at the strategic and at the project levels, missing an opportunity to integrate societal concerns into the assessment. The explicit and upfront consideration of ecosystem services is necessary to support an integrated assessment and the structured consideration of socio-ecological systems in decision-making and to reveal trade-offs that are usually hidden in piecemeal assessments.

Ecosystem services provided by Prosopis cineraria (L.) Druce in the drylands of Southern and Western Asia

ABSTRACT Trees of the Mimosoideae are dominant species in hot subdesert areas worldwide, providing many services for ecosystems and humans. This group includes Prosopis cineraria (L.) Druce, a dominant species from the dryland forests of Southern and Western Asia. Human population density and activities in these arid areas have led to calls for an urgent consideration of ecosystem services and conservation biodiversity. We performed a literature review on P. cineraria, to determine how this species could contribute to ecosystem conservation, ecosystem restoration, and improving ecosystem services in its native distribution range. Prosopis cineraria is at the heart of a network of intricate interactions with biotic and abiotic factors in its environment. Water mobilization, nitrogen fixation, soil stabilization, and the shade and resources provided by P. cineraria are key elements in the consideration of this species for conservation programs. Moreover, P. cineraria is deeply entrenched in local culture and history. It is part of the local cultural identity and provides remedies, agro-ecological, recreational, and regulating services, such as protecting dunes against erosion. Prosopis cineraria is of huge ethnobotanical value in subdesert areas in its native range. Dryland forest conservation strategies could benefit greatly from targeting this species, and should be accompanied by research in the potential of P. cineraria for coping with climate change.

Ecosystem services consideration in the remediation process for contaminated sites

In 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Science Advisory Board recommended activities to advance consideration of ecosystem services (ES) to enhance existing remediation and redevelopment processes in the U.S. This article examines advancements in the decade since, focusing on providing those involved in cleanup of contaminated sites a basic understanding of ES concepts and guidelines for considering ES at cleanup sites using a new, four-step transferable framework. Descriptions, including activities for site teams and case study applications of ES tools, are presented for each step: (1) identify site-specific ES; (2) quantify relevant ES; (3) examine how cleanup activities affect ES; and (4) identify, select, and implement solutions (e.g., Best Management Practices). The goal of this article is to provide site cleanup stakeholders, including project managers, contractors, and site responsible parties, with a stronger foundation and shared understanding to consider ES during the cleanup process for their given site. Anticipated outcomes include identifying ES benefits to inform management and tradeoff analyses, a reduction in unintended impacts on ES during site operations, and attention to developing a robust suite of ES relevant for site reuse.

Sustainability assessment of urban ecological-economic systems based on emergy analysis: A case study in Simao, China

The sustainable development of urban systems requires an understanding of interactions between the economic, social, and ecological systems within and beyond the urban systems. In this paper, emergy-based indicators in consideration of ecosystem services were built for evaluating urban systems’ sustainability performance through a case study of Simao, China. The emergy analysis results of Simao implied an unsustainable economic development pattern in the long term. Although the emergy of ecosystem services and the environmental performance indicators both showed a well-protected ecological environment, the low economic efficiency was a drag on Simao, resulting in a low emergy sustainability index (ESI). It is urgent for Simao that effective measures should be taken to achieve a more sustainable development pattern. Thus, policy recommendations including promoting green economy, optimizing local energy structure, developing ecological origin products and strengthen cultural ecosystem service were provided in order to improve the regional sustainability of Simao. This work provides valuable insight into urban systems' social, environmental, and economic performances, helping decision makers with urban development, especially when the decisions need to be made regarding sustainability.

Determining economically viable forest management option with consideration of ecosystem services in Korea: A strategy after successful national forestation

Economic assessment of forest management, including tending, thinning, and clear-cut, is essential to maximize social benefits. This study investigated the economic viability of forest management in the Republic of Korea at national scale (2017–2100) by quantitative approaches. The changes in benefits of four ecosystem services (timber production, CO2 sequestration, water yield enhancement, and disaster risk reduction) and management cost were quantified by a combination of ecosystem models and national data. The forest management scenarios, varying interval of clear-cut (40–80 years) and area of management (0.9–3.0 million ha), were applied. Net present value (NPV) was estimated as an indicator of economic viability of forest management. The NPV increased with decreasing clear-cut interval and increasing management area (7.7–50.8 billion $). Even the benefit-cost ratio (BCR), the ratio of total benefit to total cost in terms of present value, was 1.9 under the most intensive forest management scenario. This result implied that intensive forest management is economically viable in the long-term. The sensitive analysis showed that economic viability would be maintained in spite of change in macroeconomic factor. These methodological approach and result would contribute to implementing effective forest management, which can maximize social benefits.

Land‐sharing/‐sparing connectivity landscapes for ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation

Abstract The land‐sharing versus land‐sparing debate recently stagnated, lacking an integrating perspective in agricultural landscapes as well as consideration of ecosystem services. Here, we argue that land‐sharing (i.e. wildlife‐friendly farming systems) and land‐sparing (i.e. separation of high‐yielding agriculture and natural habitats) are not mutually exclusive, as both are needed to balance management needs for the multifunctionality of agricultural landscapes. Land‐sharing promotes ecosystem services in agricultural settings, thereby allowing for environmentally friendly production. Land set aside in protected areas by land‐sparing is crucial for conservation of those species that are incompatible with agriculture. Importantly, as species move throughout the landscape and exploit different habitats, increased connectivity between environmentally friendly managed and protected areas is needed to (a) promote spillover of ecosystem service providers from land‐sharing/‐sparing measures to agricultural production and rescue service‐providing species from extinction in hostile areas, (b) to facilitate immigration and counteract possible extinctions in spared habitats and (c) to conserve response diversity of species communities for ensuring resilience of ecosystem services in changing environments. In conclusion, the successful management of multifunctional landscapes requires the combination of context‐specific land‐sharing and land‐sparing measures within spatially well‐connected landscape mosaics, resulting in land‐sharing/‐sparing connectivity landscapes. A plain language summary is available for this article.

Modeling sustainability visions: A case study of multi-scale food systems in Southwestern Ontario

The process of systematically developing a sustainability vision is an important element of effective environmental management. Sustainability visions can, however, include contradictions and counterintuitive effects due to complex system behavior (e.g., feedback loops, multi-causality) and ambiguous system boundaries (e.g., choice of a scale, such as a regional or national scale). This paper proposes an innovative methodological framework for vision design and assessment (VDA) to analyze the sustainability of future visions on multiple scales with consideration of ecosystem services, and to test their plausibility based upon expert and local knowledge. First, requirements and functions of visionary system designs are identified. Second, a functional organizational analysis defines structures and processes that generate functions. Third, a literature review and participatory modeling process are conducted to analyze the system structures of visionary system designs using causal loop diagrams. Fourth, fuzzy cognitive mapping is used to assess visions based upon sustainability indicators. A case study on sustainable food systems in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, is provided to demonstrate the application of the methodology. Three designs of a sustainable food system were analyzed and tested: urban organic gardening, a local diversified organic food system and a globalized commodity-based organic food system. The results show the advantages and disadvantages of each system design and underline the sustainability benefits of a multi-scale food system based upon a combination of system designs.

Ecosystem services in urban land use planning policies: A case study of Ontario municipalities

Land use plans are widely used to guide urban development, which in turn can impact the magnitude, diversity and spatial distribution of ecosystem services that occur within urban areas. However, few studies have assessed whether ecosystem services have been included in land use plans. The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of the ten most populous municipalities in Ontario, Canada, to determine whether and how ecosystem services have been incorporated in each of their land use plans. Through a review of official plans, we found that municipalities have adopted varying approaches in their consideration of ecosystem services, with several municipalities explicitly adopting an ecosystem-based approach to planning. While the term, ecosystem services, is rarely used, we found that all official plans made reference to a variety of specific ecosystem services, with several cultural and supporting services most frequently identified. There is opportunity to enhance the inclusion of other types of ecosystem services, including provisioning and regulating services, in all of the official plans examined. Our case study also highlights the importance of incorporating a working definition of ecosystem services in policy documents that help guide municipalities and urban planners, adopting a broader focus on a greater variety of ecosystem services, and delineating clearer linkages between specific service providing units and associated ecosystem services.

Combining Ecosystem Services with Cost-Benefit Analysis for Selection of Green and Grey Infrastructure for Flood Protection in a Cultural Setting

The present paper describes a methodological framework that combines ecosystem services (flood protection, education, art/culture, recreation and tourism) with economic analysis for selection of multifunctional measures for flood resilience. The framework includes active stakeholder participation and it consists of the four main components: (1) identification and valuation of ecosystem services pertinent to the project site under various mitigation scenarios, including baseline (pre-mitigation conditions); (2) evaluation of most effective flood mitigation measures through hydrodynamic simulations, and evaluation of economic viability using cost-benefit analysis; (3) selection of measures through consideration of ecosystem services, and solicitation of stakeholders’ inputs; (4) development of the conceptual landscape design. Application of the framework was demonstrated in a case study of Ayutthaya Island, Thailand. Results of our research suggest that taking a holistic perspective of ecosystem services and economic assessments, marshalled through active stakeholder participation, has the potential to achieve more ecologically sustainable and socially acceptable solutions for flood protection in areas with cultural heritage. However, there is still a considerable challenge in taking this framework to a full-scale practical implementation, and this mainly relates to the selection of indicators that can enable proper application of ecosystem services.

Investigating the inclusion of ecosystem services in biodiversity offsetting

In response to growing international interest regarding the consideration of ecosystem services (ES) in the framework of biodiversity offsetting (BO) and the current lack of guidelines on the subject, we investigated the potential inclusion of ES in BO, highlighting the risks and opportunities. Our argument is premised on the assumption that a practical link already exists between the two and that most of the tools required to make this approach operational are available. But so far, ES are not explicitly taken into account when calculating and designing offsets (whether regulatory or voluntary). One way to integrate ES in BO is to use the Environmental Impact Assessments' framework, here we propose a logical way to integrate ES at each step of the implementation of the mitigation hierarchy and provide details on the links with existing practice. In our proposal, the inclusion of ES is presented as a way to complement current approaches based on the assessment of habitats/species/ecological functions rather than to replace them. We argue that measures proposed to offset biodiversity losses, in addition to respecting ecological performance standards, should equally be chosen to minimize residual losses of ES. The latter require offsetting by different types of complementary measures. Implementing these recommendations as good practice should strengthen the weight of biodiversity, demonstrate consideration of social equity, and result in better acceptance of development projects and the measures proposed to offset them.