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Ecosystem Services and The Natural Capital Project
Emily McKenzie
2 April, InVEST Introductory Seminar, Bangkok
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Republic of the Marshall Islands
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Despite their importance, ecosystem services are often not considered in decisions.
This is because we lack practical, credible information about their value.
The Challenge
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Outline
1. Ecosystem services– What is the concept?– How is it being applied?
2. Natural Capital Project– Strategy – Content and philosophy of our work
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Ecosystem Services• Links nature & human welfare
• Integrate environmental values & trade-offs in decisions
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• Nature supports us in countless ways: – stores carbon to slow climate change, – purifies and regulates water supplies, and – provides foods and medicines – provides opportunities for spiritual and cultural
experiences
The Basics
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• Impact of nature on human well-being known since antiquity
• History of natural resource management for survival
History
Bust of Plato
• From 1960s on, “environmental services” coined, ecological economics developed
• First global studies and analyses
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• First global assessment of ecosystem services• 2001-2005, 1360 scientists• Over the last 50 years, out of 24 services: – 15 have seriously declined – 4 have shown some improvement– 5 are generally stable but under
threat in some parts of the world
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
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ES = The benefits that people obtain from ecosystems
• Provisioning services - goods like food, water, timber, and fiber;
• Regulating services - stabilize climate, moderate risk of flooding and disease, protect water quality;
• Cultural services - recreational, aesthetic, educational, spiritual benefits; and
• Supporting services - underpin the others, e.g. photosynthesis, nutrient cycling, preservation of future options
Definition and Categorization
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Natural Capital the goods and services from nature which are essential for human life
• Well-being - considering the impacts on people of having or losing these benefits
NatCap Approach
SupplyPotential available
ServiceDelivered to
people
ValueEconomic &
social impacts
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Why assess ecosystem services?
• Important for human wellbeing and prosperity
• More comprehensive accounting of impacts
• Engage a wider array of stakeholders
• Generate financing for conservation
• Innovative policy mechanisms
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New tools to help• General assessments of ES– Reports– E.g. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, TEEB
• Assessments of dependence and impact on ES– Work books – E.g. WRI’s Corporate Ecosystem Services Review, Impact
Assessment Review,
• Mapping of ES under alternative scenarios– Software tools– E.g. InVEST, ARIES
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– Tools: Make it easy to quantify ecosystem services– Evidence: Test tools, improve decisions, share stories– Influence: Inspire policy change globally
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Introducing the team
Terrestrial & freshwater science
Marine science
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Standing on the shoulders of many…
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…giants
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Unlike the accounting tools we apply to measure the value of traditional economic goods and services… we have no ready set of existing accounting tools to measure the value of ecosystem services. Absent these, ecosystem services are invariably undervalued or not valued at all – by governments, businesses, and the public.
Who and what will catalyze the next giant step forward? Part of the answer lies with improving science.
Gretchen Daily, 2011
NatCap’s Vision
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?
? ?
?
Effects of management decisions
$
$ $
$lbs of fish
# of tourists
# of people mangroves
protect
Health of corals
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20
Success = inform decisions– How would a proposed dam or logging project affect
ecosystem services and biodiversity?
– What would be the best marine spatial plan for balancing different stakeholders’ goals?
– How would upstream deforestation affect the quality & quantity of water downstream?
– Where might REDD and payments for watershed services projects be feasible?
ANSWERS:Accounting tools for quantifying ES
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Filling the Gap
Policy decisions:Region/landscape scale
Short timelineForward looking, comparative
Assess tradeoffs
GLOBAL, SYNTHETIC60% of global ES in decline (MA, 2005)$33 Trillion/y (Costanza et al. 1997 Nature)
LOCAL, SPECIFIC
2 forest patches: $60K/yr (Ricketts, 2004. PNAS)
22 others (just for pollination!)
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Ecosystem service framework
InVEST: Quantify, map & value
ecosystem services under alternative
scenarios Photo credit: Neil Burgess
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China
Tanzania
California
Hawai’i
AmazonBasin
Colombia
Ecuador
WCVI, B.C.
Belize
Chesapeake Bay
Puget Sound
Galveston Bay
Terrestrial & FreshwaterCoastal & Marine
Borneoand SumatraAlbertine
Rift
New England
Applications around the world
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Many decision contexts
Decision Context Geography
Spatial Planning Tanzania, Indonesia, British Columbia, Hawai’i, China, Belize
Ecosystem-based management (terrestrial-marine links)
USA (Puget Sound, Galveston & Chesapeake Bays)
Climate adaptation USA - Galveston & Monterey Bays
Payments for ecosystem services Colombia (water funds), Indonesia (REDD), Borneo, Tanzania
Impact assessment, permitting, licensing Colombia (mining)
Multilateral development bank investments World Bank in Malawi
Corporate strategy Lafarge in Michigan, USA
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Support policy and practice globally
• Researchers– TEEB– Academic collaborators around the world
• Governments– GEOBON– IPBES
• Multilaterals and donors– World Bank & WAVES – UNEP, UNDP– Millennium Challenge Corporation
• Business– World Business Council for Sustainable Development– Business for Social Responsibility– Multilateral companies e.g. Dow, Coke
And many more…