| 1. |
- Daniel, Terry C., et al.
(author)
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Contributions of cultural services to the ecosystem services agenda
- 2012
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In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 109:23, s. 8812-8819
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Cultural ecosystem services (ES) are consistently recognized but not yet adequately defined or integrated within the ES framework. A substantial body of models, methods, and data relevant to cultural services has been developed within the social and behavioral sciences before and outside of the ES approach. A selective review of work in landscape aesthetics, cultural heritage, outdoor recreation, and spiritual significance demonstrates opportunities for operationally defining cultural services in terms of socioecological models, consistent with the larger set of ES. Such models explicitly link ecological structures and functions with cultural values and benefits, facilitating communication between scientists and stakeholders and enabling economic, multicriterion, deliberative evaluation and other methods that can clarify tradeoffs and synergies involving cultural ES. Based on this approach, a common representation is offered that frames cultural services, along with all ES, by the relative contribution of relevant ecological structures and functions and by applicable social evaluation approaches. This perspective provides a foundation for merging ecological and social science epistemologies to define and integrate cultural services better within the broader ES framework.
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| 2. |
- Hahn, Thomas, 1964-, et al.
(author)
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Insurance value of biodiversity in the Anthropocene is the full resilience value
- 2023
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In: Ecological Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0921-8009 .- 1873-6106. ; 208
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Recently two distinctly different conceptualisations of insurance value of biodiversity/ ecosystems have been developed. The ecosystem framing addresses the full resilience value without singling out subjective risk pref-erences. Conversely, the economic framing focuses exactly on this subjective value of risk aversion, implying that the insurance value is zero for risk neutral persons. Here we analyse the differences conceptually and empirically, and relate this to the broader socio-cultural dimensions of social-ecological resilience. The uncertainty of the Anthropocene blurs the distinction between subjective/objective. We show that the economic framing has been operationalised only in specific cases while the broader literature on resilience, disaster risk reduction, and nature-based solutions tend to address the full value of resilience. Yet, the empirical literature that relates to insurance value of biodiversity is hardly consistent with resilience theory because the slow underlying variables defining resilience are rarely addressed. We suggest how the empirical literature on insurance value can be better aligned with resilience theory. Since the ecosystem framing of insurance value captures the essence of the resilience, we propose using the concept resilience value as it may reduce the present ambiguity in terminology and conceptualisation of insurance value of biodiversity.
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| 3. |
- Hahn, Thomas, 1964-, et al.
(author)
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No net loss of biodiversity, green growth, and the need to address drivers
- 2022
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In: One Earth. - : Elsevier BV. - 2590-3330 .- 2590-3322. ; 5:6, s. 612-614
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Biodiversity offsets and no net loss (NNL) are important tools for the international policy focus on ecological restoration. In this issue of One Earth, Kajula et al. call for national, public offset registers to enable evaluations of biodiversity offset programs. Here, we argue that we also need to control the main drivers of biodiversity loss.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Anderson, Pippin, et al.
(author)
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Post-apartheid ecologies in the City of Cape Town : An examination of plant functional traits in relation to urban gradients
- 2020
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In: Landscape and Urban Planning. - : Elsevier. - 0169-2046 .- 1872-6062. ; 193, s. 1-10
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this study we explore species richness and traits across two urban gradients in the City of Cape Town. The first is the natural-urban boundary and the second is a socio-economic gradient informed by historical race-based apartheid planning. Plant species and cover were recorded in 156 plots sampled from conservation areas, private gardens, and public open green space. The socio-economic gradient transitioned from wealthier, predominantly white neighbourhoods to poorer, pre- dominantly black neighbourhoods. The socio-economic gradient was selected to fall within one original vegetation type to ensure a consistent biophysical template. There is a marked shift between the natural and urban plant communities in the City of Cape Town, with little structural affinity. Urban landscapes are dominated by grass, with low diversity compared to natural counterparts. A significant ecological gradient of reduced biodiversity, traits, and in turn functionality, was found across the socio-economic gradient. Wealthier communities benefit from more private green space, more public green space, and a greater plant diversity. Poorer communities have limited green space on all fronts, and lower plant and trait diversity. Plant communities with limited diversity are less resilient and if exposed to environmental perturbation would lose species, and associated ecosystem services faster than a species rich community. These species-poor plant communities mirror historical apartheid planning that is resistant to change. Based on how biodiversity, functionality, and associated ecosystem services and ecosystem stability are linked, the results of this study suggests how significant environmental injustice persists in the City of Cape Town.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Andersson, Erik, 1978-
(author)
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Managing the Urban Greens : Maintaining ecological functions in human dominated landscapes
- 2007
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- At the core of this thesis lie two realisations: First, like other ecosystems, those in urban landscapes provide humans with a number of ecosystem services, some recognized while others are not. Second, in cities just as in other intensively used social-ecological systems, management is of central importance. This thesis focuses on how we may manage green areas in cities in an ecologically sustainable way, and enjoy functioning ecosystems close to where most people live. The thesis has four specific objectives: 1) analyse methods for describing the urban landscape, 2) analyze methods for managing urban landscapes rather than single patches of urban green areas, 3) explore the effects of management on diversity patterns and its implications for ecological functions, and 4) investigate the motivations behind the use of different management practices.My results show that changes in urbanization were most distinct at a small scale and that the presence of different bird species depended mostly on access to habitat. They also show that groups of small habitat patches can maintain many of the values of larger patches as long as they are sufficiently close for the organism to move between them, and that matrix heterogeneity must be accounted for. To identify such connected patches and assess their ecological importance I have developed two modelling approaches, one to select suitable model organisms and one to analyse spatial configuration. Further, management is shown to create ecological differences even in areas that are superficially similar, and the roots to these differences are ascribed to the knowledge, institutions and sense of place among different groups of managers. Finally, I try to combine these objectives and sketch out how the organisation of management could be changed to overcome scale mismatches and rigidity. There is potential, both for protection and for management, at all scale levels and this potential should be tapped and nurtured to improve our ability to cope with changes.
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| 10. |
- Andersson, Erik, et al.
(author)
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Patterns and scale relations among urbanization measures in Stockholm, Sweden
- 2009
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In: Landscape Ecology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0921-2973 .- 1572-9761. ; 24, s. 1331-1339
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this study we measure urbanization based on a diverse set of 21 variables ranging from landscape indices to demographic factors such as income and land ownership using data from Stockholm, Sweden. The primary aims were to test how the variables behaved in relation to each other and if these patterns were consistent across scales. The variables were mostly identified from the literature and limited to the kind of data that was readily accessible. We used GIS to sample the variables and then principal component analyses to search for patterns among them, repeating the sampling and analysis at four different scales (250 × 250, 750 × 750, 1,250 × 1,250 and 1,750 × 1,750, all in meters). At the smallest scale most variables seemed to be roughly structured along two axes, one with landscape indices and one mainly with demographic factors but also impervious surface and coniferous forest. The other land-cover types did not align very well with these two axes. When increasing the scale this pattern was not as obvious, instead the variables separated into several smaller bundles of highly correlated variables. Some pairs or bundles of variables were correlated on all scales and thus interchangeable while other associations changed with scale. This is important to keep in mind when one chooses measures of urbanization, especially if the measures are indices based on several variables. Comparing our results with the findings from other cities, we argue that universal gradients will be difficult to find since city shape and size, as well as available information, differ greatly. We also believe that a multivariate gradient is needed if you wish not only to compare cities but also ask questions about how urbanization influences the ecological character in different parts of a city.
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| 11. |
- Andersson, Erik, et al.
(author)
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Reconnecting Cities to the Biosphere : Stewardship of Green Infrastructure and Urban Ecosystem Services
- 2014
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In: Ambio. - : Springer. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209. ; 43:4, s. 445-453
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Within-city green infrastructure can offer opportunities and new contexts for people to become stewards of ecosystem services. We analyze cities as social-ecological systems, synthesize the literature, and provide examples from more than 15 years of research in the Stockholm urban region, Sweden. The social-ecological approach spans from investigating ecosystem properties to the social frameworks and personal values that drive and shape human interactions with nature. Key findings demonstrate that urban ecosystem services are generated by social-ecological systems and that local stewards are critically important. However, land-use planning and management seldom account for their role in the generation of urban ecosystem services. While the small scale patchwork of land uses in cities stimulates intense interactions across borders much focus is still on individual patches. The results highlight the importance and complexity of stewardship of urban biodiversity and ecosystem services and of the planning and governance of urban green infrastructure.
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| 12. |
- Andersson, Erik, et al.
(author)
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Urban climate resilience through hybrid infrastructure
- 2022
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In: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. - : Elsevier BV. - 1877-3435 .- 1877-3443. ; 55
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Urban infrastructure will require transformative changes to adapt to changing disturbance patterns. We ask what new opportunities hybrid infrastructure—built environments coupled with landscape-scale biophysical structures and processes—offer for building different layers of resilience critical for dealing with increased variation in the frequency, magnitude and different phases of climate-related disturbances. With its more diverse components and different internal logics, hybrid infrastructure opens up alternative and additive ways of building resilience for and through critical infrastructure, by providing a wider range of functions and responses. Second, hybrid infrastructure points toward greater opportunities for ongoing (re)design at the landscape level, where structure and function can be constantly renegotiated and recombined.
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| 13. |
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| 14. |
- Bai, Xuemei, et al.
(author)
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Defining and advancing a systems approach for sustainable cities
- 2016
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In: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. - : Elsevier BV. - 1877-3435 .- 1877-3443. ; 23, s. 69-78
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The sustainable development of cities is increasingly recognized as crucial to meeting collectively agreed sustainability goals at local, regional and global scales, and more broadly to securing human well-being worldwide. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include a goal on cities (Goal 11), with most other goals and targets have urban applications and multi scalar implications for their implementation. Further, the interdependencies - including synergies and trade-offs among the various SDGs are greater in cities, presenting both challenges and opportunities. A systems approach is urgently needed in urban research and policy analysis, but such an approach rarely features in current analysis or urban decision-making for various reasons. This paper explores four questions: why a systems approach is necessary, what defines such an approach, why has this rarely been adopted in practice, and what can be done to promote its use. We argue that a systems approach can reveal unrecognized opportunities to maximize co-benefits and synergies, guide management of inevitable trade-offs, and therefore inform prioritisation and successful solutions. We present four key issues for the effective implementation of the SDGs and the New Urban Agenda, which emerged from UN Habitat III Conference, namely: (a) a radical redesign of the multilateral institutional setup on urban issues; (b) promoting regenerative culture, behaviour, and design; (c) exploring ways to finance a systems approach; and (d) a new and enhanced role for science in sustainable development. The latter issue could be addressed through Future Earth's Urban Knowledge-Action Network, which aims at co-designing and co-producing cutting-edge and actionable knowledge for sustainable cities bringing together researchers and urban decision-makers and practitioners.
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| 15. |
- Barthel, Stephan, 1968-
(author)
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Recalling Urban Nature : Linking City People to Ecosystem Services
- 2008
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Societal development is dependent on the generation of ecosystem services (ES) to sustain it; however, many ES are degrading. This thesis investigates how social-ecological features behind practices of actor groups shape the generation of ES. The empirical basis is case studies in the urban landscape of Stockholm, Sweden, and the methodological approach is interdisciplinary. Paper I shows that the urban landscape owes it current flow of ES to co-evolutionary processes and that governance with the aim of sustaining ES must take into account historical property rights and the involvement of a diversity of actor groups, as well as ecological processes of the larger landscape. Paper II studies allotment gardens, cemeteries and city parks in relation to the generation of pollination, seed dispersal and pest regulation. Differences in social features behind practice are reflected primary as higher abundance of pollinators in the informally managed allotment gardens and as differences in the compositions of seed dispersers and insectivores’ birds. Thus, voluntary and often ignored actor groups, motivated by sense-of-place, support the generation of some ES here. Paper III shows how practice, linked to ES generation, is retained and stored among allotment gardeners, and modified and transmitted through time, by means of social-ecological memory (SE-memory). SE-memory is an emergent property of a dual process of participation and reification and it facilitates monitoring of local change and links practice, often in habits, to place specific processes that underlie provisioning ES. Paper IV explores how spatial scale mismatches between ecological process and processes of management can be bridged by a spatially explicit and flexible social network structure of governance. Urban ES are a product of human driven co-evolution, consequently sustaining ES in urban landscapes is not about conservation without people, but shaped by and dependent on management practice by people. Practice that links to generation of ES are facilitated by SE-memory of local actors that holds long term management rights. Consequently, local communities of ecosystem practice, which contribute to the production of ES should explicitly be taken into account in urban green governance.
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| 16. |
- Bjordal, Kristin, et al.
(author)
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A prospective study of quality of life in head and neck cancer patients. Part II: Longitudinal data
- 2001
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In: Laryngoscope. - 1531-4995. ; 111:8, s. 1440-1452
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of patients with head and neck cancer during and after treatment with radiotherapy, surgery, and chemotherapy. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective, descriptive study. METHODS: All new patients in four institutions in Norway and Sweden were asked to participate. Health-related quality of life was assessed at baseline and at 1, 2, 3, 6, and 12 months after start of treatment by means of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Core Quality of Life Questionnaire and the EORTC head and neck cancer-specific questionnaire. Baseline results are described elsewhere; longitudinal results are presented in the current article. Three hundred fifty-seven patients with cancer in the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, nose, sinuses, and salivary glands and neck node metastases from unknown primaries filled in the questionnaires at baseline. RESULTS: Seventy-eight percent of the patients who were alive after 12 months filled in all questionnaires (218/280). The general trend was that HRQL deteriorated significantly during treatment, followed by a slow recovery until the 12-month follow-up with few exceptions (senses, dry mouth, and sexuality). Patients who later died reported worse HRQL at each assessment point compared with patients who filled in all six questionnaires, whereas those who dropped out of the study for other reasons were quite similar to patients who filled in all questionnaires. The patients with pharyngeal cancer in general reported worse HRQL compared with the other groups and did not reach pretreatment values in several domains. Stage was also an important factor for HRQL in patients with head and neck cancer. CONCLUSION: Detailed knowledge about the differences between groups and changes over time may aid us in the communication with patients and in the design of intervention studies focusing on improvement of the support and rehabilitation of patients with head and neck cancer.
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| 17. |
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| 18. |
- Bodin, Örjan, et al.
(author)
-
The value of small size: loss of forest patches and ecological thresholds in southern Madagascar
- 2006
-
In: Ecological Applications. - : the Ecological Society of America. - 1051-0761 .- 1939-5582. ; 16:2, s. 440-451
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Many services generated by forest ecosystems provide essential support for human well-being. However, the vulnerability of these services to environmental change such as forest fragmentation are still poorly understood. We present spatial modeling of the generation of ecosystem services in a human-dominated landscape where forest habitat patches, protected by local taboos, are located in a matrix of cultivated land in southern Madagascar. Two ecosystem services dependent on the forest habitats were addressed: (1) crop pollination services by wild and semidomesticated bees (Apoidea), essential for local crop production of, for example, beans, and (2) seed dispersal services based on the presence of ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta). We studied the vulnerability of these ecosystem services to a plausible scenario of successive destruction of the smallest habitat patches. Our results indicate that, in spite of the fragmented nature of the landscape, the fraction of the landscape presently covered by both crop pollination and seed dispersal services is surprisingly high. It seems that the taboo system, though indirectly and unintentionally, contributes to upholding the generation of these services by protecting the forest patches. Both services are, however, predicted to be very vulnerable to the successive removal of small patches. For crop pollination, the rate of decrease in cover was significant even when only the smallest habitat patches were removed. The capacity for seed dispersal across the landscape displayed several thresholds with habitat patch removal. Our results suggest that, in order to maintain capacity for seed dispersal across the landscape and crop pollination cover in southern Androy, the geographical location of the remaining forest patches is more crucial than their size. We argue that in heavily fragmented production landscapes, small forest patches should increasingly be viewed as essential for maintaining ecosystem services, such as agricultural production, and also should be considered in the ongoing process of tripling the area of protected habitats in Madagascar.
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| 19. |
- Borgström, Sara, 1977-, et al.
(author)
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Nature conservation for what? : Analyses of urban and rural nature reserves in southern Sweden 1909-2006
- 2013
-
In: Landscape and Urban Planning. - : Elsevier. - 0169-2046 .- 1872-6062. ; 117, s. 66-80
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- To effectively integrate nature conservation in sustainable landscape management, it isessential to deepen the understanding of why, what, where and for whom nature isprotected. This is especially important for nature conservation in human dominatedlandscapes such as cities, where the distance between built up and protected areas is inconstant decline due to urbanisation worldwide. In this study we use historical andcurrent data from Sweden to examine how urban compared to rural nature conservationhave been using formal nature reserve objectives. The focal nature conservationobjectives in our study area were preservation of biodiversity, restoration ofenvironments and outdoor recreation, as well as subdivision of those. The use of theseobjectives were analysed for 1869 nature reserves in relation to degree of urbanisation.We found that nature reserves in more urbanised landscapes were based on a highernumber of objectives. The urban reserves also had a different composition of objectives,where the objectives outdoor recreation and biodiversity preservation were morecommon in urban than in rural reserves. During the last decades we detected a shift inuse of objectives in urban areas, going from biodiversity preservation to a strongerfocus on outdoor recreation. National and global trends in the nature conservationdebate could also be seen as reflected in the use of objectives. To ensure its adaptivecapacity, we stress that urban nature conservation needs a more proactive strategy,where potential future social as well as ecological values must be embraced and notonly existing ones.
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| 20. |
- Borgström, Sara, 1977-, et al.
(author)
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Scale mismatches in management of urban landscapes
- 2006
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In: Ecology and Society. - : RESILIENCE ALLIANCE. - 1708-3087. ; 11:2
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Urban landscapes constitute the future environment for most of the world’s human population.An increased understanding of the urbanization process and of the effects of urbanization at multiple scalesis, therefore, key to ensuring human well-being. In many conventional natural resource managementregimes, incomplete knowledge of ecosystem dynamics and institutional constraints often leads toinstitutional management frameworks that do not match the scale of ecological patterns and processes. Inthis paper, we argue that scale mismatches are particularly pronounced in urban landscapes. Urban greenspaces provide numerous important ecosystem services to urban citizens, and the management of theseurban green spaces, including recognition of scales, is crucial to the well-being of the citizens. From aqualitative study of the current management practices in five urban green spaces within the GreaterStockholm Metropolitan Area, Sweden, we found that 1) several spatial, temporal, and functional scalesare recognized, but the cross-scale interactions are often neglected, and 2) spatial and temporal meso-scalesare seldom given priority. One potential effect of the neglect of ecological cross-scale interactions in thesehighly fragmented landscapes is a gradual reduction in the capacity of the ecosystems to provide ecosystemservices. Two important strategies for overcoming urban scale mismatches are suggested: 1) developmentof an integrative view of the whole urban social–ecological landscape, and 2) creation of adaptivegovernance systems to support practical management.
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| 21. |
- Borgström, Sara, 1977-
(author)
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Urban shades of green : Current patterns and future prospects of nature conservation in urban landscapes
- 2011
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Urban nature provides local ecosystem services such as absorption of air pollutants, reduction of noise, and provision of places for recreation, and is therefore crucial to urban sustainable development. Nature conservation in cities is also part of the global effort to halt biodiversity decline. Urban landscapes, however, display distinguishing social and ecological characteristics and therefore the implementation of nature conservation frameworks into cities, requires reconsideration of what nature to preserve, for whom and where. The aim of this thesis was to examine the current urban nature conservation with special focus on formally protected areas, and discuss their future role in the urban landscape. A social-ecological systems approach was used as framework and both quantitative and qualitative methods were applied. The studies were performed at local to regional scales in the southern part of Sweden. Four key questions were addressed: i) What are the characteristics of nature conservation in urban landscapes? ii) How does establishment of nature conservation areas affect the surrounding urban landscape? iii) In what ways are spatial and temporal scales recognized in practical management of nature conservation areas? and iv) How can the dichotomy of built up and nature conservation areas be overcome in urban planning? Nature reserves in urban, compared to rural landscapes were in general fewer, but larger and included a higher diversity of land covers. They were also based on a higher number and different kinds of objectives than rural nature reserves. Urbanisation adjacent to nature reserves followed the general urbanisation patterns in the cities and no additional increase in urban settlements could be detected. In general, there was a lack of social and ecological linkages between the nature conservation areas and the urban landscape and practical management showed a limited recognition of cross-scale interactions and meso-scales. Such conceptual and physical isolation risks decreasing the public support for nature conservation, cause biodiversity decline, and hence impact the generation of ecosystem services. A major future challenge is therefore to transform current conservation strategies to become a tool where urban nature is perceived, planned and managed as valuable and integrated parts of the city. To enable social-ecological synergies, future urban planning should address proactive approaches together with key components like active enhancement of multifunctional landscapes, cross-scale strategies and border zone management.
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| 22. |
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| 23. |
- Comes, Tina
(contributor, creator_code:cre_t)
-
Strategic crisis management in the European Union
- 2022
-
Reports (pop. science, debate, etc.)abstract
- The European Union is confronted with an increasing number of crises with growing complexity, causing suffering and other devastating consequences. Improving crisis management has become an essential issue for protecting and enhancing present and future wellbeing in the EU and globally.In response to this challenge, the Scientific Advice Mechanism to the European Commission – consisting of the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors and SAPEA – and the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies are presenting policy recommendations to improve crisis management frameworks.
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| 24. |
- Cumming, Graeme S., et al.
(author)
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Network analysis in conservation biogeography : Challenges and opportunities
- 2010
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In: Diversity & distributions. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 1366-9516 .- 1472-4642. ; 16:3, s. 414-425
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- ABSTRACTAims To highlight the potential value of network analysis for conservation biogeography and to focus attention on some of the challenges that lie ahead in applying it to conservation problems.Location Global.Methods We briefly review existing literature and then focus on five important challenges for the further development of network-based approaches in the field.Results Our five challenges include (i) understanding cross-scale and cross-level linkages in ecological systems (top–down and bottom–up effects, such as trophic cascades, have been demonstrated in food webs but are poorly understood in nested hierarchies such as reserve networks and stream catchments), (ii) capturing dynamic aspects of ecological systems and networks (with a few exceptions we have little grasp of how important whole-network attributes change as the composition of nodes and links changes), (iii) integrating ecological aspects of network theory with metacommunity frameworks and multiple node functions and roles (can we link the spatial patterns of habitat patches in fragmented landscapes, the parallel networks of interacting species using those patches and community-level interactions as defined by metacommunity theory in a single framework?), (iv) integrating the analysis of social and ecological networks (particularly, can they be analysed as a single interacting system?) and (v) laying an empirical foundation for network analysis in conservation biogeography (this will require a larger data bank of well-studied networks from diverse habitats and systems).Main conclusions Recent research has identified a variety of approaches that we expect to contribute to progress in each of our five challenge areas. We anticipate that some of the most exciting outcomes of attempts to meet these challenges will be frameworks that unite areas of research, such as food web analysis and metacommunity theory, that have developed independently.
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| 25. |
- De Groot, Rudolf S., et al.
(author)
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Benefits of Investing in Ecosystem Restoration
- 2013
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In: Conservation Biology. - : Wiley. - 0888-8892 .- 1523-1739. ; 27:6, s. 1286-1293
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Measures aimed at conservation or restoration of ecosystems are often seen as net-cost projects by governments and businesses because they are based on incomplete and often faulty cost-benefit analyses. After screening over 200 studies, we examined the costs (94 studies) and benefits (225 studies) of ecosystem restoration projects that had sufficient reliable data in 9 different biomes ranging from coral reefs to tropical forests. Costs included capital investment and maintenance of the restoration project, and benefits were based on the monetary value of the total bundle of ecosystem services provided by the restored ecosystem. Assuming restoration is always imperfect and benefits attain only 75% of the maximum value of the reference systems over 20 years, we calculated the net present value at the social discount rates of 2% and 8%. We also conducted 2 threshold cum sensitivity analyses. Benefit-cost ratios ranged from about 0.05:1 (coral reefs and coastal systems, worst-case scenario) to as much as 35:1 (grasslands, best-case scenario). Our results provide only partial estimates of benefits at one point in time and reflect the lower limit of the welfare benefits of ecosystem restoration because both scarcity of and demand for ecosystem services is increasing and new benefits of natural ecosystems and biological diversity are being discovered. Nonetheless, when accounting for even the incomplete range of known benefits through the use of static estimates that fail to capture rising values, the majority of the restoration projects we analyzed provided net benefits and should be considered not only as profitable but also as high-yielding investments.
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| 26. |
- Elmqvist, Thomas, et al.
(author)
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Benefits of restoring ecosystem services in urban areas
- 2015
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In: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. - : Elsevier BV. - 1877-3435 .- 1877-3443. ; 14, s. 101-108
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Cities are a key nexus of the relationship between people and nature and are huge centers of demand for ecosystem services and also generate extremely large environmental impacts. Current projections of rapid expansion of urban areas present fundamental challenges and also opportunities to design more livable, healthy and resilient cities (e.g. adaptation to climate change effects). We present the results of an analysis of benefits of ecosystem services in urban areas. Empirical analyses included estimates of monetary benefits from urban ecosystem services based on data from 25 urban areas in the USA, Canada, and China. Our results show that investing in ecological infrastructure in cities, and the ecological restoration and rehabilitation of ecosystems such as rivers, lakes, and woodlands occurring in urban areas, may not only be ecologically and socially desirable, but also quite often, economically advantageous, even based on the most traditional economic approaches.
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| 27. |
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| 28. |
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| 29. |
- Elmqvist, Thomas, 1963-, et al.
(author)
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History of Urbanization and the Missing Ecology
- 2013
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In: Urbanization, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. - New York : Springer Berlin/Heidelberg. - 9789400770874 - 9789400770881 - 9789402400915 ; , s. 13-30
-
Book chapter (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In this chapter, we explore the historical dimension of urbanization and why the ecology of urbanization has, until recently, been missing. We discuss the consequences of this for our perceptions of urbanization throughout history and also discuss the emerging reintroduction of ecology and the concept of natural capital into the global discourse on urbanization and sustainability. Humans and the institutions they devise for their governance are often successful at self-organizing to promote their survival in the face of virtually any environment challenge. However, from history we learn that there may often be unanticipated costs to many of these solutions with long-term implications on future societies. For example, increased specialization has led to increased surplus of food and made continuing urban growth possible. But an increased urban - rural disconnection has also led to an alienation of food production from the carrying capacity of the land. While connections and feedbacks with the hinterland that supported growing urban centres were often apparent in the past, this has increasingly been lost in a globalized world. The neglect of a social-ecological perspective and the current disconnect between the urban and the rural risks mean that important feedback mechanisms remain invisible, misinforming policy and action with large consequences for global sustainability. We argue that through reintroducing the social-ecological perspective and the concept of natural capital it is possible to contribute to a redefinition of urban sustainability through making invisible feedbacks and connections visible.
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| 30. |
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| 31. |
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| 32. |
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| 33. |
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| 34. |
- Elmqvist, Thomas
(author)
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Sustainability and resilience differ
- 2017
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In: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 546:7658, s. 352-352
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)
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| 35. |
- Elmqvist, Thomas, et al.
(author)
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Sustainability and resilience for transformation in the urban century
- 2019
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In: Nature Sustainability. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2398-9629. ; 2:4, s. 267-273
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We have entered the urban century and addressing a broad suite of sustainability challenges in urban areas is increasingly key for our chances to transform the entire planet towards sustainability. For example, cities are responsible for 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions and, at the same time, 90% of urban areas are situated on coastlines, making the majority of the world's population increasingly vulnerable to climate change. While urbanization accelerates, meeting the challenges will require unprecedented transformative solutions for sustainability with a careful consideration of resilience in their implementation. However, global and local policy processes often use vague or narrow definitions of the concepts of 'urban sustainability' and 'urban resilience', leading to deep confusion, particularly in instances when the two are used interchangeably. Confusion and vagueness slow down needed transformation processes, since resilience can be undesirable and many sustainability goals contrast, or even challenge efforts to improve resilience. Here, we propose a new framework that resolves current contradictions and tensions; a framework that we believe will significantly help urban policy and implementation processes in addressing new challenges and contributing to global sustainability in the urban century.
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| 36. |
- Elmqvist, Thomas, et al.
(author)
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The Dynamics of Social-Ecological Systems in Urban Landscapes
- 2004
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In: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. - : Wiley. - 0077-8923 .- 1749-6632. ; 1023, s. 308-322
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study addresses social-ecological dynamics in the greater metropolitan area of Stockholm County, Sweden, with special focus on the National Urban Park (NUP). It is part of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) and has the following specific objectives: (1) to provide scientific information on biodiversity patterns, ecosystem dynamics, and ecosystem services generated; (2) to map interplay between actors and institutions involved in management of ecosystem services; and (3) to identify strategies for strengthening social-ecological resilience. The green areas in Stockholm County deliver numerous ecosystem services, for example, air filtration, regulation of microclimate, noise reduction, surface water drainage, recreational and cultural values, nutrient retention, and pollination and seed dispersal. Recreation is among the most important services and NUP, for example, has more than 15 million visitors per year. More than 65 organizations representing 175,000 members are involved in management of ecosystem services. However, because of population increase and urban growth during the last three decades, the region displays a quite dramatic loss of green areas and biodiversity. An important future focus is how management may reduce increasing isolation of urban green areas and enhance connectivity. Comanagement should be considered where locally managed green space may function as buffer zones and for management of weak links that connect larger green areas; for example, there are three such areas around NUP identified. Preliminary results indicate that areas of informal management represent centers on which to base adaptive comanagement, with the potential to strengthen biodiversity management and resilience in the landscape.
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| 37. |
- Elmqvist, Thomas, et al.
(author)
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Urban Systems
- 2008
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In: Encyclopedia of ecology. - : Elsevier, Oxford. ; , s. 3665-3672
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)
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| 38. |
- Elmqvist, Thomas, et al.
(author)
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Urban tinkering
- 2018
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In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4065 .- 1862-4057. ; 13:6, s. 1549-1564
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Cities are currently experiencing serious, multifaceted impacts from global environmental change, especially climate change, and the degree to which they will need to cope with and adapt to such challenges will continue to increase. A complex systems approach inspired by evolutionary theory can inform strategies for policies and interventions to deal with growing urban vulnerabilities. Such an approach would guide the design of new (and redesign of existing) urban structures, while promoting innovative integration of grey, green and blue infrastructure in service of environmental and health objectives. Moreover, it would contribute to more flexible, effective policies for urban management and the use of urban space. Four decades ago, in a seminal paper in Science, the French evolutionary biologist and philosopher Francois Jacob noted that evolution differs significantly in its characteristic modes of action from processes that are designed and engineered de novo (Jacob in Science 196(4295):1161-1166, 1977). He labeled the evolutionary process tinkering, recognizing its foundation in the modification and molding of existing traits and forms, with occasional dramatic shifts in function in the context of changing conditions. This contrasts greatly with conventional engineering and design approaches that apply tailor-made materials and tools to achieve well-defined functions that are specified a priori. We here propose that urban tinkering is the application of evolutionary thinking to urban design, engineering, ecological restoration, management and governance. We define urban tinkering as:A mode of operation, encompassing policy, planning and management processes, that seeks to transform the use of existing and design of new urban systems in ways that diversify their functions, anticipate new uses and enhance adaptability, to better meet the social, economic and ecological needs of cities under conditions of deep uncertainty about the future.This approach has the potential to substantially complement and augment conventional urban development, replacing predictability, linearity and monofunctional design with anticipation of uncertainty and non-linearity and design for multiple, potentially shifting functions. Urban tinkering can function by promoting a diversity of small-scale urban experiments that, in aggregate, lead to large-scale often playful innovative solutions to the problems of sustainable development. Moreover, the tinkering approach is naturally suited to exploring multi-functional uses and approaches (e.g., bricolage) for new and existing urban structures and policies through collaborative engagement and analysis. It is thus well worth exploring as a means of delivering co-benefits for environment and human health and wellbeing. Indeed, urban tinkering has close ties to systems approaches, which often are recognized as critical to sustainable development. We believe this concept can help forge much-closer, much-needed ties among engineers, architects, evolutionary ecologists, health specialists, and numerous other urban stakeholders in developing innovative, widely beneficial solutions for society and contribute to successful implementation of SDG11 and the New Urban Agenda.
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| 39. |
- Elmqvist, Thomas, 1963-, et al.
(author)
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Urbanization in and for the Anthropocene
- 2021
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In: npj Urban Sustainability. - : Springer. - 2661-8001. ; 1:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Key insights on needs in urban regional governance - Global urbanization (the increasing concentration in urban settlements of the increasing world population), is a driver and accelerator of shifts in diversity, new cross-scale interactions, decoupling from ecological processes, increasing risk and exposure to shocks. Responding to the challenges of urbanization demands fresh commitments to a city–regional perspective in ways that are explictly embedded in the Anthopocene bio- techno- and noospheres, to extend existing understanding of the city–nature nexus and regional scale. Three key dimensions of cities that constrain or enable constructive, cross scale responses to disturbances and extreme events include 1) shifting diversity, 2) shifting connectivity and modularity, and 3) shifting complexity. These three dimensions are characteristic of current urban processes and offer potential intervention points for local to global action.
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| 40. |
- Ernstson, Henrik, 1972-
(author)
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In Rhizomia : Actors, Networks and Resilience in Urban Landscapes
- 2008
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- With accelerating urbanization it is crucial to understand how urban ecosystems play a part in generating ecosystem services for urban dwellers, such as clean water, spaces for recreation, stress relief and improved air quality. An equally important question relate to who gets to enjoy these benefits, i.e. the distribution of ecosystem services, and how issues of power and equity influence the management of ecosystems. Through case studies from the urban landscape of Stockholm, this doctoral thesis engages with these perspectives through combining ecological theory with social theory, including social network analysis, actor-network theory and social movement theory. Strategies for how to improve urban ecosystem management are presented along with frameworks for how to analyze issues of power and equity in relation to natural resource management.Paper I shows that ecosystem management can be studied through analyzing the structure of social networks, i.e. the patterns of relations between agencies, stake-holders and user groups. Paper II and Paper III analyze, based on a network survey of 62 civil society organizations and in-depth interviews, a transformational process of how an urban local movement managed to protect a large urban green area from exploitation (The Stockholm National Urban Park). Paper IV discusses, based on several case studies from Stockholm, a conducive network structure for linking managers and user groups (e.g. allotment gardens, cemetery managers, and urban planners) across spatial ecological scales so as to improve urban green area management. Paper V presents a framework to analyze the social-ecological dynamics behind the generation and distribution of ecosystem services in urban landscapes.The thesis points towards the notion of "a social production of ecosystem services" and argues for deeper engagement with urban political ecology and critical geography to inform governance and collective action in relation to urban ecosystems.
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| 41. |
- Ernstson, Henrik, et al.
(author)
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Social Movements and Ecosystem Services-the Role of Social Network Structure in Protecting and Managing Urban Green Areas in Stockholm
- 2008
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In: Ecology and Society. - : Resilience Alliance, Inc.. - 1708-3087. ; 13:2
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Exploitation and degradation of urban green areas reduce their capacity to sustain ecosystem services. In protecting and managing these areas, research has increasingly focused on actors in civil society. Here, we analyzed an urban movement of 62 civil-society organizations-from user groups, such as boating clubs and allotment gardens, to culture and nature conservation groups-that have protected the Stockholm National Urban Park. We particularly focused on the social network structure of the movement, i.e., the patterns of interaction between movement organizations. The results reveal a core-periphery structure where core and semi-core organizations have deliberately built political connections to authorities, whereas the periphery gathers all user groups involved in day-to-day activities in the park. We show how the core-periphery structure has facilitated collective action to protect the park, but we also suggest that the same social network structure might simultaneously have constrained collaborative ecosystem management. In particular, user groups with valuable local ecological knowledge have not been included in collaborative arenas. Our case points out the inherent double-nature of all social networks as they facilitate some collective actions, yet constrain others. The paper argues for incorporating social network structure in theories and applications of adaptive governance and co-management.
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| 42. |
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| 43. |
- Ernstson, Henrik, 1972-, et al.
(author)
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Urban Transitions : On Urban Resilience and Human-Dominated Ecosystems
- 2010
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In: Ambio. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209. ; 39:8, s. 531-545
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Urbanization is a global multidimensional process paired with increasing uncertainty due to climate change, migration of people, and changes in the capacity to sustain ecosystem services. This article lays a foundation for discussing transitions in urban governance, which enable cities to navigate change, build capacity to withstand shocks, and use experimentation and innovation in face of uncertainty. Using the three concrete case cities-New Orleans, Cape Town, and Phoenix-the article analyzes thresholds and cross-scale interactions, and expands the scale at which urban resilience has been discussed by integrating the idea from geography that cities form part of "system of cities" (i.e., they cannot be seen as single entities). Based on this, the article argues that urban governance need to harness social networks of urban innovation to sustain ecosystem services, while nurturing discourses that situate the city as part of regional ecosystems. The article broadens the discussion on urban resilience while challenging resilience theory when addressing human-dominated ecosystems. Practical examples of harnessing urban innovation are presented, paired with an agenda for research and policy.
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| 44. |
- Fischer, Joern, et al.
(author)
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Integrating resilience thinking and optimisation for conservation.
- 2009
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In: Trends in Ecology & Evolution. - : Elsevier BV. - 0169-5347 .- 1872-8383. ; 24:10, s. 549-54
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Conservation strategies need to be both effective and efficient to be successful. To this end, two bodies of research should be integrated, namely 'resilience thinking' and 'optimisation for conservation,' both of which are highly policy relevant but to date have evolved largely separately. Resilience thinking provides an integrated perspective for analysis, emphasising the potential of nonlinear changes and the interdependency of social and ecological systems. By contrast, optimisation for conservation is an outcome-oriented tool that recognises resource scarcity and the need to make rational and transparent decisions. Here we propose that actively embedding optimisation analyses within a resilience-thinking framework could draw on the complementary strengths of the two bodies of work, thereby promoting cost-effective and enduring conservation outcomes.
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| 45. |
- Folke, Carl, et al.
(author)
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Reconnecting to the biosphere
- 2011
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In: Ambio. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209. ; 40:7, s. 719-738
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Humanity has emerged as a major force in the operation of the biosphere, with a significant imprint on the Earth System, challenging social-ecological resilience. This new situation calls for a fundamental shift in perspectives, world views, and institutions. Human development and progress must be reconnected to the capacity of the biosphere and essential ecosystem services to be sustained. Governance challenges include a highly interconnected and faster world, cascading social-ecological interactions and planetary boundaries that create vulnerabilities but also opportunities for social-ecological change and transformation. Tipping points and thresholds highlight the importance of understanding and managing resilience. New modes of flexible governance are emerging. A central challenge is to reconnect these efforts to the changing preconditions for societal development as active stewards of the Earth System. We suggest that the Millennium Development Goals need to be reframed in such a planetary stewardship context combined with a call for a new social contract on global sustainability. The ongoing mind shift in human relations with Earth and its boundaries provides exciting opportunities for societal development in collaboration with the biosphere-a global sustainability agenda for humanity.
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| 46. |
- Frantzeskaki, Niki, et al.
(author)
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Socio-ecological transitions of cities: Exploring spatial, ecological and governance dynamics in European cities
- 2013
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In: 4rth International Conference on Sustainability Transitions, 19-21 June 2013, Zurich, Switzerland.
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Europe is in general in a good position for examining dynamics and potential for realizing a positive transition to resilient and sustainable urban areas. Compared to most other continents, the living standards are good, the decision making processes are fairly open and transparent, and the level of knowledge including environmental knowledge is relatively high. We examine five compact cities to unravel what drives their social-ecological transition to resilient urban futures. A meta-analysis of spatial, ecological and governance dynamics reveals that in the face of slow urbanization the European compact cities under study undergo a transition towards eco-city that is the result of five co-evolving drivers: (a) the presence and implantation of strong environmental policy at local and regional level that promotes the preservation of existing green spaces; (b) the capitalizing of governance capacity for urban sustainability in the form of setting urban green plans and deals; (c) the restoration and re-establishment of green urban spaces of different sizes in the cities or simply, creating more green spaces (d) the put forth of green strategies and actions from multiple policy centers and (e) the emerging social niches of community gardens and urban agriculture that restore green in the cities and take over empty or unused spaces. These drivers do not play alone but are stressed with challenges of fair distribution of green in the city and of slow responding policy and governance.
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| 47. |
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| 48. |
- Goodness, Julie, et al.
(author)
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Exploring the links between functional traits and cultural ecosystem services to enhance urban ecosystem management
- 2016
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In: Ecological Indicators. - : Elsevier BV. - 1470-160X .- 1872-7034. ; 70, s. 597-605
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Functional traits have been proposed as a more mechanistic way than species data alone to connect biodiversity to ecosystem processes and function in ecological research. Recently, this framework has also been broadened to include connections of traits to ecosystem services. While many links between traits and ecosystem processes/functions are easily and logically extended to regulating, supporting, and provisioning services, connections to cultural services have not yet been dealt with in depth. We argue that addressing this gap may involve a renegotiation of what have traditionally been considered traits, and a targeted effort to include and expand upon efforts to address traits-cultural ecosystem services links in traits research. Traits may also offer a better way to explore the recognition and appreciation of biodiversity. Drawing upon examples from outside the explicit traits literature, we present a number of potential connections between functional traits and cultural ecosystem services for attention in future research. Finally, we explore considerations and implications of employing a traits approach in urban areas, and examine how connections between traits and ecosystem services could be developed as indicators in a research and management context to generate a robust and resilient supply of ecosystem services.
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| 49. |
- Goodness, Julie
(author)
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Linking functional traits and cultural ecosystem services in urban areas through human preferences
- 2016
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Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Urban areas are now the daily lived experience for the majority of the world’s people, and it is therefore important to explore what kind of ecological communities and corresponding ecosystem functions and services are being generated in these environments. Urban areas are shaped by a variety of factors, but arguably one of the most influential is that of people, in terms of how their preferences and active selective choices for biota play out in the landscape. A better understanding of these processes and dynamics can contribute toward better scientific knowledge as well as inform management decisions for creating more robust and resilient landscapes of ecosystem function and services. A functional traits approach, which links particular aspects of organisms related to fitness to ecosystem processes, functions, and services, may provide one way of interpreting the significance of biodiversity in the urban landscape. While this approach has traditionally linked traits to processes and functions, recently it has been conceptually extended to include services. Links between traits and provisioning, regulating, and supporting services have been well-characterized, but connections to cultural services have been less explored. This thesis addresses this critical information gap and how human preferences could be connected to the traits framework through an examination of the connections between functional traits and cultural ecosystem services. Paper I, a literature review, investigates scholarship outside the explicit field of functional traits to identify potential trait-cultural service linkages. It finds the strongest base of support for connections between traits and aesthetic benefits (particularly visual); though connections to spiritual, heritage, and wellbeing benefits are also identified. It suggests that what is considered a “functional trait” may need to be revisited in light of the expansion of to include not only ecosystem processes and functions, but services as well. The paper also explores how functional traits could be operationalized in a management context, with the development of trait-service indicators. Paper II builds upon the work of Paper I, and provides an empirical, case study interrogation of connections between traits and cultural ecosystem services in Cape Town, South Africa. It examines people’s expressed preferences for plant traits, and finds that traits related to visual and aesthetic appeal are described as the most common reason for selection, though traits related to use (e.g. as food) and low resource input are also cited. It also points to other factors beyond preference that may influence human selection for plants in the landscape. Together, these two papers provide a more detailed understanding of human preferences for traits in urban areas, and which traits may be connected to which services. This builds knowledge within the functional traits field and provides a basis for further study in research. It also points to trait-cultural ecosystem service connections that can be harnessed in management actions to select for trait combinations that will provide both ecosystem services and ecosystem resilience.
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| 50. |
- Goodness, Julie, et al.
(author)
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Patterns of socially-valued plant traits across urban land uses in Stockholm, Sweden
-
Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In order to contribute to urban sustainability and the generation of enjoyable, multifunctional spaces for city residents, it is crucial to gain a better understanding of the environments that are being shaped in urban areas. This study examines patterns of vegetation structure and cover, as well as tree species and socially-valued tree traits across the urban landscape of Stockholm, Sweden. It uses the lenses of two different land classes for this investigation: (1) seven categories of urban morphology, and (2) three categories of land management: private, public, and remnant reference vegetation sites. Results indicate significant differences across urban morphology, with the greatest extents of tree and ground cover layer in forests, the least in industrial and contiguous closed urban sites, and a near absence of shrub layer across all classes. Ground cover indicates a shift from an herbaceous mix to a combination of grass and impervious cover from more exurban to urban sites. A diversity of socially-valued tree traits is exhibited most strongly across those spaces most intensely managed for use by humans. Similar functions may be provided by different species in the landscape. While tree species differed when comparing public and private land use, their functional profiles were similar, indicating potential for response diversity and resilience across the urban area of Stockholm in the face of environmental change. Overall, this study serves as a pilot for using traits as an indicator tool for discerning and mapping social-ecological value in urban areas. We suggest that future investigations further explore the potential of using traits as both social and ecological value indicators and as cues for management actions.
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