Ecosystem Services

Key Issues

Mark Everard

• Editorial: Routledge
• Año: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000537352
• Edición: 2
• Categoría: Biological Sciences
• Categoría: Environmental Science

Revised and fully updated, this textbook provides a detailed yet accessible introduction to the key aspects of ecosystem services.

Ecosystem services is one of the most powerful guiding principles for ecology, biodiversity conservation and the management of natural resources. It provides the basis of assessing the multiple values and services that ecosystems can provide to humankind, including diverse issues such as carbon sequestration, flood control, crop pollination and aesthetic and cultural services. The second edition of Ecosystem Services: Key Issues has been fully revised and updated to address policy and scientific developments, as well as new and emerging issues, such as nature-based solutions, zoonotic diseases and environmental justice. It includes new and updated case studies from across the world and each chapter contains further reading, learning objectives and discussion questions to aid student learning. The book details the historical roots of ecosystem services in the second half of the twentieth century, through initiatives such as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, The Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It shows how ecosystem goods and services can be categorised and valued in economic as well as non-monetary terms, while also highlighting some of the difficulties and limitations of valuation techniques. The author describes how themes such as systems thinking, social-ecological resilience and natural capital relate to ecosystem services, and how these can contribute to more sustainable and equitable development.

This book will be essential reading for students and scholars of ecosystem services, ecology, environmental science, biodiversity conservation, environmental economics, natural resource management and sustainable development. It will also be of use to professionals and policymakers who are looking to integrate ecosystems and their services into their decision making processes.

1 Introduction to ecosystem services

DOI: 10.4324/9781003182313-1

Key points:

• Ecosystem services are defined as ‘… the benefits people obtain from ecosystems’.
• Ecosystem services arose as a systemic concept, taking account of whole integrated systems (ecological and including humans and our activities), as opposed to addressing their component parts in a disjointed manner.
• A systemic approach to ecosystem services is essential if they are to be correctly understood and applied.
• Ecological, ethical and economic dimensions have to be treated as an integrated whole.
• Practical application of ecosystem services, both at scheme level and through policy and other forms of governance, is essential to accelerate progress with sustainable development, including making progress with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
• Societal transformation to a more integrated approach does not rely, at least solely, on ‘top-down’ policy reform, but will be driven by all sectors of society.

‘Ecosystem services’, defined in 2005 by UN-led Millennium Ecosystem Assessment as ‘… the benefits people obtain from ecosystems’, span a diversity of ways in which the natural world supports human well-being. The use of the term ‘well-being’ relates to a diversity of aspects of human health, happiness, prosperity and security enjoyed by people individually, nationally or at other scales. In the framing of ecosystem services, this includes the integrity and functioning of supporting ecosystems. Ecosystem services thereby span and link ecology, economics and social well-being. They articulate how ecosystems and the functions that occur within them provide the fundamental, if historically often overlooked, resources upon which human welfare, security, wealth creation and quality of life depend.

This introductory chapter outlines the scope and subjects addressed by this book, Ecosystem Services: Key Issues (Second Edition), providing the reader with a ‘road map’ of issues to be addressed in subsequent chapters.

Ecosystem services arose as a systemic concept, taking account of whole systems as opposed to addressing their component parts in a disjointed way. The concept connects disciplines and inherently connected spheres of human interest. It serves as a pedagogic (educational), policy appraisal and practical development support tool. It would therefore be remiss to treat ecosystem services as a pure science. The science-based underpinnings of ecosystem services have a long and deep history, and are still expanding rapidly. The content of this book spans a broad range of connected issues, including science, ethics, valuation and how service production is affected by the use and modification of ecosystems. It looks at practical applications and also addresses emergent global challenges that can be informed by an ecosystem services approach. These diverse topics touched upon in this volume are interspersed with ‘real-world’ examples and applications from across the globe, emphasising the practical and operational purpose of the ecosystem services paradigm.

Chapter 2, Origins and Evolution of the Concept and Practice of Ecosystem Services, traces the inception, evolution and scientific underpinnings of contemporary understandings of ecosystem services. The ‘cascade’ of production of services by the functions performed by ecosystems is reviewed. So too is the anthropocentric nature of ecosystem services, defined as they are in terms of their contributions to human well-being. The chapter addresses the significant role of the UN-led Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in promoting wider awareness and acceptance of the concept of ecosystem services, particularly in international agreements and deliberations, and translation into management discourse. The development of a range of successor ecosystem services classification schemes is discussed, highlighting their key features, including some strengths and weaknesses particularly in connection with the valuation of services. IPBES, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, is introduced as an international initiative seeking to further develop ecosystem service concepts within a broader conceptualisation of values, and to contribute to their progressive mainstreaming of the values of nature into policy and practice. Chapter 2 concludes with the consideration of the substitutability of ecosystem services.

Chapter 3, Conservation of Ecosystems and their Services, addresses how human perceptions of ‘nature’ have changed throughout recent decades and, with it, perceptions of its conservation. A shift from former protectionist approaches to nature conservation, conceptually separating ‘nature’ from human activities, is slowly morphing into a systemically informed approach recognising that ecosystems and humanity are all part of a fully integrated socioecological system. Under this more connected world view, all dimensions of human interest are supported by and also influence natural systems, framing a far broader view of nature conservation.

Chapter 4, Understanding Systems, addresses the need to understand whole, integrated ‘systems’, rather than considering their component parts in isolation. The systemic framing of ecosystem services is often still not grasped in the communication, policy and implementation of an ‘ecosystem services approach’. In particular, services are frequently addressed individually, rather than as an intimately interdependent set of benefits or disbenefits, all of which are affected interdependently by decisions and actions. Applying the new language of ecosystem services to old, narrowly defined outcomes – for example, continuing to manage for the services of freshwater provision yet overlooking the wider consequences of management solutions for other services – falls well short of the wholly integrated framing and intent of ecosystem services. A narrow, discipline-bound approach perpetuating established reductive perspectives and practices often generates unforeseen and unintended negative consequences. Conversely, a system-wide perspective better informs solutions that can optimise benefits across multiple services and their associated beneficiaries.

Chapter 5, Ethical Considerations, recognises the social focus of ecosystem services under the definition ‘… the benefits people obtain from ecosystems’. This definition automatically (at least in theory) socialises the concept, opening up questions of how the same ecosystem can be viewed quite differently from varying social constructs and world views. This adds complexity to the practical integration of ecosystem services into day-to-day option generation, appraisal and ensuing choices, in turn, highlighting issues of equity and justice as well as the need for inclusivity inherent in all decision-making.

Chapter 6, Valuing Ecosystem Services, examines the economic context. The term ‘economics’ is substantially broader than mere financial value alone, recognising that values are by their nature plural, reflecting a diversity of value systems in addition to those assigned by contemporary markets. The categorisation of ecosystem services into qualitatively different groupings by the UN-led Millennium Ecosystem Assessment emphasises the need to embrace this plural approach to valuation. Some of the pros and cons of monetisation are considered, along with other means to elicit non-monetary values.

Chapter 7, International Initiatives to Embed Ecosystem Services, addresses international initiatives seeking to achieve greater recognition of the values provided by natural systems. The Ecosystem Approach is highlighted as a comprehensive framework setting the implementation of ecosystem services into systemic geographical and socio-economic contexts. Other initiatives such as the Ramsar Convention, TEEB and IPBES are considered as progressive international initiatives seeking to promote ecosystem services and the value of nature into policy and practice as a means to progress sustainable management. The key roles that ecosystem services can play in progress towards addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the UN 2021–2030 Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and international commitments regarding climate change are also discussed.

Chapter 8, Putting Ecosystem Services into Practice, moves into practical examples of the implementation of ecosystem services. It explores principles arising from the translation of theory into practice, and the driving of a transformation across society in which all services and their associated benefits and disbenefits are addressed as an integrated whole. The concepts of ‘anchor services’ and ‘systemic solutions’ are addressed, and supporting management and economic tools are considered. All divisions within the policy environment are considered, with practical suggestions about reform to accelerate the integration of ecosystem services into mainstream policy and practice.

Chapter 9, The Economics of Ecosystem Services, recognises that finance, though a narrow framing of value, is the predominant language of business and policy-making, hence the importance of representing the values of ecosystems and their services in generally surrogate economic values if they are not to continue to be overlooked. Valuation methods are addressed both in theory and with practical examples. Emerging market-based approaches such as payments for ecosystem services (PES) are discussed, observing the evolution of the PES approach beyond its original narrower conception as a purely market-based instrument. Natural capital accounting is also discussed as a further approach gaining international interest. Potential risks of oversimplification, market capture and non-systemic outcomes that can arise from non-systemic integration of ecosystems services into economics are recognised.

Chapter 10, Rebuilding the Earth, recognises a need to regenerate substantially degraded global ecosystems if their services are to provide continuing, ideally expanding support for human security, prosperity and life fulfilment. Creation of degrading socioecological cycles through humanity’s history of ‘mining’ all forms of natural resources at rates in excess of their renewability is considered. So too are examples from across the world – in the developed and developing worlds, rural and urban, and both localised and large landscape scale settings – where sustainable and multi-beneficial progress has been made by placing the protection or regeneration of ecosystems and their linked services at the heart of development. Humanity urgently needs to learn and apply lessons to practices and policies increasingly contributing to regenerative socioecological systems, restoring ecosystem capacity to support the burgeoning needs and demands of a growing human population.

Chapter 11, Ecosystem Services and the Pursuit of a Sustainable Future, discusses the role of ecosystem services as a useful and powerful approach to make tractable the implementation of sustainable development. Emergent global challenges – Covid-19 and other zoonotic diseases, the ‘climate emergency’, the ‘biodiversity crisis’ and concerns about ‘water wars’ – are explored through the lens of ecosystem services to understand systemic causes and potential solutions. Society’s fragmented progress with recognition and response to its dependence on ecosystems needs to be made conscious and substantially accelerated to drive a better-directed transition, spanning and connecting all spheres of human interest and activity. It is vital that we elevate vision, discourse and action around sustainable development towards one of rebuilding degraded natural wealth as a vital foundation for potentially expanding human security, prosperity and opportunity.

Ecosystem Services: Key Issues (Second Edition) is packed with practical and positive examples to encourage us that, for all the attendant negative trends, it is possible to broker a transition from today’s largely exploitative approach towards one that reflects our interdependence with the environment. Far from a constraint and an additional layer of complexity, a transition to systemic practice, represented by the implementation of ecosystem services, is a journey of progressive empowerment and engagement.

This transformation will not be led ‘top-down’, but rather by the engagement of all in society through recognition that pursuit of socio-economic well-being and the nurturing of ecosystem capacities can and must become mutually supportive. This impels us to find ways to safeguard or regenerate the ecosystems we depend upon through innovations in the ways we learn, govern and direct resources, farm the land, steward the forests and manage the seas, plan our settlements and infrastructure, educate and research, and build and act for the long-term security and benefit of all.

2 Origins and evolution of the con...