| 1. |
- Andersson, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Cultural ecosystem services as a gateway for improving urban sustainability
- 2015
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Ingår i: Ecosystem Services. - : Elsevier BV. - 2212-0416 .- 2212-0416. ; 12, s. 165-168
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Quality of life in cities depends, among other things, on ecosystem services (ES) generated locally within the cities by multifunctional blue and green infrastructure. Successfully protecting green infrastructure in locations also attractive for urban development requires deliberate processes of planning and policy formulation as well as broad public support. We propose that cultural ecosystem services (CES) may serve as a useful gateway for addressing and managing nature in cities. CES can help embed multifunctional ecosystems and the services they generate in urban landscapes and in the minds of urbanites and planners, and thus serve an important role in addressing urban sustainability. In the city, CES may be more directly experienced, their benefits more readily appreciated, and the environment-to-benefit linkages more easily and intuitively understood by the beneficiaries relative to many material ES. Thus, we suggest that a focus on CES supply can be a good starting point for increasing the awareness among urban residents also of the importance of ES. Furthermore, CES are often generated interdependently with other critical ES and engaging people in the stewardship of CES could provide increased awareness of the benefits of a larger group of urban non-cultural ES.
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| 2. |
- Andersson, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Scale and context dependence of ecosystem service providing units
- 2015
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Ingår i: Ecosystem Services. - : Elsevier BV. - 2212-0416 .- 2212-0416. ; 12, s. 157-164
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ecosystem services (ES) have been broadly adopted as a conceptual framing for addressing human nature interactions and to illustrate the ways in which humans depend on ecosystems for sustained life and well-being. Additionally, ES are being increasingly included in urban planning and management as a way to create multi-functional landscapes able to meet the needs of expanding urban populations. However, while ES are generated and utilized within landscapes we still have limited understanding of the relationship between ES and spatial structure and dynamics. Here, we offer an expanded conceptualization of these relationships through the concept of service providing units (SPUs) as a way to plan and manage the structures and preconditions that are needed for, and in different ways influence, provisioning of ES. The SPU approach has two parts: the first deals with internal dimensions of the SPUs themselves, i.e, spatial and temporal scale and organizational level, and the second outlines how context and presence of external structures (e.g, built infrastructure or larger ecosystems) affect the performance of SPUs. In doing so, SPUs enable a more nuanced and comprehensive approach to managing and designing multi-functional landscapes and achieving multiple ES goals.
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| 3. |
- Angelstam, Per, et al.
(författare)
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Collaborative learning to unlock investments for functional ecological infrastructure: Bridging barriers in social-ecological systems in South Africa
- 2017
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Ingår i: Ecosystem Services. - : Elsevier BV. - 2212-0416. ; 27, s. 291-304
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Maintenance of functional ecological (or green) infrastructure is threatened by habitat conversion, fragmentation and loss, water scarcity, invasive species, climate change, resource extraction, poor policy implementation and societal inequity. Using South Africa as a case study, our transdisciplinary team identified actions likely to be effective in scaling up research and development projects that support implementation of policy about ecological infrastructure by active adaptive management. Based on expert knowledge at three scales, we analysed South Africa's opportunity to active adaptive management and to unlock investments that enhance functional ecological infrastructure. Barriers included lack of trust among actors, limited collaborative governance and integrated planning, including local partnerships; as well as a poor inclusion of evidence-based knowledge based on monitoring of landscape restoration efforts and its social and ecological consequences. Bridges include practicing transdisciplinary knowledge production, enhancing social learning among actors and stakeholders, and advocacy based on improved understanding. We propose a portfolio of place-based actions that could help to facilitate unlocking investments for functional ecological infrastructure by prioritising conservation, management and restoration through integrated cross-scale, collaborative and multi-sector spatial planning. Understanding the structure and dynamics of social-ecological systems, identifying champions, framing key messages for different audiences, and sharing failures and success stories internationally, are crucial requirements to unlock investments.
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| 4. |
- Angelstam, Per, et al.
(författare)
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Progress made in managing and valuing ecosystem services: a horizon scan of gaps in research, management and governance
- 2017
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Ingår i: Ecosystem Services. - : Elsevier BV. - 2212-0416. ; 27, s. 232-241
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sustaining functional ecosystems that provide services for human well-being is a global challenge. This makes valuing ecosystem services and managing them important to ensure benefits to the environment and livelihoods. Strides have been made in research and knowledge development, policy formulation and the implementation of natural resource management (NRM) programs and investment into ecological ( green) infrastructure globally. However, further funding is needed for such programs to be scaled up and adapted to local contexts. Horizon scanning is a useful approach to identify future trajectories, and to guide research, policy formulation and management implementation, as well as to identify gaps. Past achievements, gaps and future needs in relation to "optimising and unlocking investment in ecological infrastructure and valuing ecosystem services" were identified through a free listing questionnaire and a group workshopping exercise by 44 participants involved in an international workshop. The 10 key needs raised were all closely interlinked and fall under the overarching themes of research and assessment, policy formation and implementation, strategic planning as well as management and governance of the policy/adaptive management cycle. We discuss the need to overcome these gaps in the context of South Africa and in relation to other countries globally.
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| 5. |
- Angelstam, Per
(författare)
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The economics of landscape restoration: Benefits of controlling bush encroachment and invasive plant species in South Africa and Namibia
- 2017
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Ingår i: Ecosystem Services. - : Elsevier BV. - 2212-0416. ; 27, s. 193-202
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Bush encroachment and alien plant invasions alter the composition and/or balance of species in natural ecosystems and impact biodiversity, land productivity and water availability. Therefore, the appropriate control and management of bush encroachment and alien plant invasions can restore ecosystems services and enhance the provision of timber and non-timber products to society. To understand the economics of land impacted by bush encroachment and alien plant invasions, we valued a selected number of ecosystem services from landscape restoration in South Africa and Namibia. In Namibia, the estimated value of ecosystem services from the restoration of bush encroachment was US$5.8 billion. In South Africa, the estimated value of ecosystem services from the restoration of bush encroachment was US$2.1 billion, and US$6.6 billion from the restoration of alien plant invasions. The most valued ecosystem service benefit assessed was water, followed by timber products and wood-fuels such as biomass to electricity, and then grazing. The value of these ecosystem services are considerable compared to the direct costs involved to clear invasive alien plants and control bush encroachment. This clearly illustrates that the management of invasive alien plants and bush encroachment can deliver significant ecosystem services benefits whose value outweighs the costs of restoration.
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| 6. |
- Bajzelj, Bojana, et al.
(författare)
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The role of reducing food waste for resilient food systems
- 2020
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Ingår i: Ecosystem Services. - : Elsevier BV. - 2212-0416. ; 45
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Food waste undermines long-term resilience of the global food system by aggravating ecosystem damage. The global community must therefore work to reduce the amount of food that gets wasted. However, we should be mindful of some potential conflicts between food waste reduction and food system resilience. Over-production and over-supply are a contributing cause of waste, yet they also provide resilience in the form of redundancy. In this paper, we examine individual interventions designed to minimise food waste by scoring their impact on different aspects of resilience. We find that there are strong synergistic elements and interventions that support short- and long-term resilience, such as improved storage, which reduces the need to provide a constant flow of ‘surplus food’ and replaces it with a stock of ‘spare’ food. Some interventions carry a risk of trade-offs due to possible losses of redundancy, and investment lock-in that may reduce the ability of farmers to adapt by changing what and where they farm. Trade-offs do not mean that those interventions should not be pursuit, but they should be recognised so that can be adequately addressed with complimentary actions. This review underlines the necessity of food-systems thinking and joined-up policy.
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| 7. |
- Beery, Thomas, et al.
(författare)
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Perceptions of the ecosystem services concept: Opportunities and challenges in the Swedish municipal context
- 2016
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Ingår i: Ecosystem Services. - : Elsevier BV. - 2212-0416. ; 17, s. 123-130
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A current focus of ecosystem services (ES) implementation is on the municipal level of government where international and national legislation and policies have to be translated into practice. Given this focus, an understanding of perceptions within municipalities of the ES concept is crucial to support the implementation process. Against this background, this paper examines the perceptions of Swedish municipal stakeholders for the ES concept. A 2013 Swedish federal mandate that states that the values of ecosystem services should be considered in relevant decision-making processes, provides a timely context. Current perceptions, preconditions and awareness are explored via interviews and analyses. The results show that the views on the ecosystem services concept and its usefulness are generally very positive. Conceptual knowledge use is perceived as important as is the recognition of monetary valuation of ES. However, clarification of the distinction between implicit and explicit use of the concept by stakeholders is needed. Finally, results indicate that a deeper understanding of monetary valuation of ecosystem services by municipal staff members is connected with a more critical view on monetary valuation. It is concluded that detailed and clear definitions and guidelines are needed in order to support the process of implementing ES in municipalities.
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| 8. |
- Berbés-Blázquez, Marta, et al.
(författare)
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Understanding how access shapes the transformation of ecosystem services to human well-being with an example from Costa Rica
- 2017
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Ingår i: Ecosystem Services. - : Elsevier BV. - 2212-0416 .- 2212-0416. ; 28, s. 320-327
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Increasingly, ecosystem services have been applied to guide poverty alleviation and sustainable development in resource-dependent communities. Yet, questions of access, which are paramount in determining benefits from the production of ecosystem services, remain theoretically underdeveloped. That is, ecosystem assessments typically have paid little attention to identifying real or hypothetical beneficiaries and the mechanisms by which benefits may be realized. This limits their ability to guide policy and interventions at the local scale. Through a qualitative mixed methods approach, this article analyzes how access to different aspects of the production of provisioning services is negotiated in Bribri communities (Costa Rica) of small-scale plantain farmers with alternative modes of agricultural production. The analysis considers access to land, labour, knowledge, tools, markets, and credit. Our analysis reveals how institutions of access are organized differently in traditional vs. conventional systems of agriculture and how these shape power dynamics and pathways to well-being. We conclude that understanding institutions regulating access to ecosystem services provides more useful insights for poverty alleviation than approaches that assume homogeneous access to benefits.
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| 9. |
- Blanco, Victor, et al.
(författare)
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The effect of forest owner decision-making, climatic change and societal demands on land-use change and ecosystem service provision in Sweden
- 2017
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Ingår i: Ecosystem Services. - : Elsevier BV. - 2212-0416. ; 23, s. 174-208
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The uncertain effects of climatic change and changing demands for ecosystem services on the distribution of forests and their levels of service provision require assessments of future land-use change, ecosystem service provision, and how ecosystem service demands may be met. We present CRAFTY-Sweden, an agent-based, land-use model that incorporates land owner behaviour and decision-making in modelling future ecosystem service provision in the Swedish forestry sector. Future changes were simulated under scenarios of socio-economic and climatic change between 2010 and 2100. The simulations indicate that the influence of climatic change (on land productivities) may be less important than that of socio-economic change or behavioural differences. Simulations further demonstrate that the variability in land owner and societal behaviour has a substantial role in determining the direction and impact of land-use change. The results indicate a sizeable increase in timber harvesting in coming decades, which together with a substantial decoupling between supply and demand for forest ecosystem services highlights the challenge of continuously meeting demands for ecosystem services over long periods of time. There is a clear need for model applications of this kind to better understand the variation in ecosystem service provision in the forestry sector, and other associated land-use changes.
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| 10. |
- Blicharska, Malgorzata, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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“A Thousand flowers are flowering just now” – towards integration of ecosystem services concept into decision making
- 2018
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Ingår i: Ecosystem Services. - : Elsevier BV. - 2212-0416 .- 2212-0416. ; 30, s. 181-191
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We investigate the integration of the ecosystem services (ES) concept in decision making.We use the three dimensions of learning to investigate the use of the ES concept.ES concept seems to meet several positive expectations put forward in science and policy.A main contribution from the concept may potentially be its function as a “boundary object”.Implementing ES into practice is a complex process and a multifaceted task.
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