R. Seppelt, C.F. Dormann, B. Gruber, F. Eppink, S. Lautenbach, M. Volk

ACES Conference, Naples Florida, 9th Dec. 2008

Martin-Luther UniversityHalle-Wittenberg

On the value of the ecosystem services concept:

An idiosyncratic synthesis of regional studies their methods, results and promises

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Why are we interested in Ecosystem Services?

1. ESS raise awareness of Nature’s silent work.

2. Acts as a framework for inter- and transdisciplinary work.

3. It gives us specific ecosystem properties to focus on.

4. Through monetarisation of ESS we can employ the full economic weaponry to tackle environmental problems.

5. It’s a new buzzword, a selling point.cynical

political

practical

technical

economical

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Background of this study

German Ministry of Research and Technology (BMBF)

State of the art review of international research on regional land use management and impacts to ecosystem services and green house gas emissions

Resulted in a call for research projects (published October 2008, Review 2009, Funding 2010-15)

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Approach

Scientific Review, Web of Science Doubling time of 2 year ~250 paper analyzed in detail

Results Meta-analysis Synthesis Research recommendations

0

50

100

150

200

250

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

"Ecosystem Services" in Title only "Ecosystem Services" in Topic

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General conclusion from 250 papers

• models and field experiments often fail to consider interactions between ecological processes

• majority of studies consider one or two ecosystem services

• disregard the link between policy measures and ecological dynamics.

• the relation between ecological processes and human welfare is often limited to monetarisation

• many studies involve stakeholders only to evaluate parameters and outcomes of models.

• McCauley, 2006• Balmford et al., 2007;

Ghazoul, 2007• Armsworth et al., 2007;

Boyd and Banzhaf, 2007; Turner and Daily, 2008; Costanza, 2008

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4 facets of Ecosystem Service Assessments

biophysical realism service trade-offs

off-site effects

?

stakeholder involvement

ensure biophysical realism of ecosystem indicators and models;

provide information on trade-offs

consider off-site effects

ensure implementation of management options by comprehensive stakeholder involvement

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Biophysical realism

measurement, modelling and monitoring of ecosystem services is the foundation

studies make use of simple (proxy) indicators for variables

degree of aggregation is beneficial without losing too much of the complexity of ecological systems

consistent insights into the ecosystem impacts of human actions

•Sandhu et al. (2008)•Kremen et al. (2002)•Schröter et al. (2005) •Boumans et al. (2002)•Jakeman et al. (2006)

biophysical realism

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Trade-offs

Ecosystem services are not independent of one another

many ecosystem studies focus on a small number of selected services

Ecosystem service could play an important role in helping policy makers understand local welfare impacts that they may not have considered otherwise

•Foley et al. (2005) •Carpenter et al. (2006)•Chan et al. (2006)•Naidoo et al. (2008)•Steffen-Deventer (2006)

service trade-offs

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Off site effects

Ecosystem processes are coupled at small as well as large scales, both temporally and spatially

consequences of local decisions on far-away ecosystem (‘off-site effects’) are not considered

So far the consideration of off-site effects has been virtually absent in the ecosystem services literature.• Ecological Footprint (EF)• Water Footprint (WF)

• CBD §3• Scharlemann &

Laurance (2008) • Wackernagel & Rees

(1996) • Hoekstra & Chapagain

(2006)

off-site effects

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Stakeholder Involvements

?

stakeholder involvement

ecosystem functions become ecosystem services when they benefit humans

The contribution of stakeholders can be broadly allocated to three stages of ecosystem services research: • identification of relevant ecosystem

services and indicators, • prioritizing of services according• ownership of suggested policy

options Research into the role of stakeholders

and the success

• Cowling et al. (2008)• Goosen et al. (2007)

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Summary

Consolidate the progress made Develop consistent frameworks for

designing and assessing policy options for the sustainable use of natural resources.

Including all four characteristics in one research study implies a major effort, with respect to finance, time and interdisciplinary cooperation.

Nevertheless, lets try it….

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Project Proposal: BESSER

Objective: Develop Blueprint with Concept for Ecosystem Services studiesProtocol for Ecosystem Services AssessmentToolbox for Ecosystem Services models

Series of international in situ workshops at ESS project sites Review / discuss Study according to Concept, Protocol and Models Funding of Workshops, PH.d. Students, Sabbaticals, International Networking

BESSER: Blueprint for EcoSystem SErvices Research

Homework:

- Case

Studies?

- Participatio

n?-E-mail:

Ralf

Homework:

- Case

Studies?

- Participatio

n?-E-mail:

Ralf

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Many thanks

for patiently listening

and of course to

Co-authors and others for discussion,

BMBF for funding

Remarks, Questions to

<ralf.seppelt@ufz.de>