scholarly journals Assumptions in ecosystem service assessments: Increasing transparency for conservation

AMBIO ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-300
Author(s):  
Matthias Schröter ◽  
Emilie Crouzat ◽  
Lisanne Hölting ◽  
Julian Massenberg ◽  
Julian Rode ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Science Policy ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Economic Valuation ◽  
Service Science ◽  
Conservation Science ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Service Concept ◽  
Assessment Results

AbstractConservation efforts are increasingly supported by ecosystem service assessments. These assessments depend on complex multi-disciplinary methods, and rely on a number of assumptions which reduce complexity. If assumptions are ambiguous or inadequate, misconceptions and misinterpretations may arise when interpreting results of assessments. An interdisciplinary understanding of assumptions in ecosystem service science is needed to provide consistent conservation recommendations. Here, we synthesise and elaborate on 12 prevalent types of assumptions in ecosystem service assessments. These comprise conceptual and ethical foundations of the ecosystem service concept, assumptions on data collection, indication, mapping, and modelling, on socio-economic valuation and value aggregation, as well as about using assessment results for decision-making. We recommend future assessments to increase transparency about assumptions, and to test and validate them and their potential consequences on assessment reliability. This will support the taking up of assessment results in conservation science, policy and practice.

scholarly journals Ecosystem services are inclusive and deliver multiple values. A comment on the concept of nature's contributions to people

One Ecosystem ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. e24720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Maes ◽  
Benjamin Burkhard ◽  
Davide Geneletti
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Science Policy ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Innovative Approach ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Policy Forum ◽  
Recent Policy

A recent policy forum article in Science by Díaz et al. (2018) introduces nature's contributions to people (NCP) as an innovative approach to inform policy and decision-making. According to the authors, the NCP concept extends beyond the notion of ecosystem services by incorporating a more inclusive and interdisciplinary approach. Here this claim is challenged. Based on our experiences in Europe, we argue that the science, policy and practice of ecosystem services have progressed much beyond a mere economic and ecological rationale.

scholarly journals Tackling Root Causes Upstream of Unhealthy Urban Development (TRUUD): Protocol of a five-year prevention research consortium

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Daniel Black ◽  
Sarah Ayres ◽  
Krista Bondy ◽  
Rachel Brierley ◽  
Rona Campbell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
Economic Valuation ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Policy And Practice

Poor quality urban environments substantially increase non-communicable disease. Responsibility for associated decision-making is dispersed across multiple agents and systems: fast growing urban authorities are the primary gatekeepers of new development and change in the UK, yet the driving forces are remote private sector interests supported by a political economy focused on short-termism and consumption-based growth. Economic valuation of externalities is widely thought to be fundamental, yet evidence on how to value and integrate it into urban development decision-making is limited, and it forms only a part of the decision-making landscape. Researchers must find new ways of integrating socio-environmental costs at numerous key leverage points across multiple complex systems. This mixed-methods study comprises of six highly integrated work packages. It aimsto develop and test a multi-action intervention in two urban areas: one on large-scale mixed-use development, the other on major transport. The core intervention is the co-production with key stakeholders through interviews, workshops, and participatory action research, of three areas of evidence: economic valuations of changed health outcomes; community-led media on health inequalities; and routes to potential impact mapped through co-production with key decision-makers, advisors and the lay public. This will be achieved by: mapping system of actors and processes involved in each case study; developing, testing and refining the combined intervention; evaluating the extent to which policy and practice changes amongst our target users, and the likelihood of impact on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) downstream. The integration of such diverse disciplines and sectors presents multiple practical/operational issues. The programme is testing new approaches to research, notably with regards practitioner-researcher integration and transdisciplinary research co-leadership. Other critical risks relate to urban development timescales, uncertainties in upstream-downstream causality, and the demonstration of impact.

scholarly journals Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Climate Change Adaptation: Linking Science, Policy, and Practice Communities for Evidence-Based Decision-Making

BioScience ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 69 (6) ◽  
pp. 455-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niki Frantzeskaki ◽  
Timon McPhearson ◽  
Marcus J Collier ◽  
Dave Kendal ◽  
Harriet Bulkeley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Science Policy ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Evidence Based Decision Making

The implications of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 for advance care planning and decision making

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Chapman ◽  
Ben Lobo
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Advance Care Planning ◽  
Care Planning ◽  
Best Interest ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Advance Care ◽  
Current Context ◽  
Mental Capacity Act ◽  
End Of Life Decision

This chapter provides an overview of the MCA’s impact on end-of-life care. It situates the MCA in the current context of policy and practice. It describes how the MCA can be used to improve care, enable people to express and protect choices, and empower and enable the professional and/or the proxy decision maker. It also presents an introduction and explanation of the role of the IMCA and how it might apply to advance care planning (ACP) and end of life decision making, and an explanation of the legal and ethical process involved in reaching best interest decisions, especially for potentially vulnerable people in care homes and other settings.

scholarly journals Researcher perspectives on challenges and opportunities in conservation physiology revealed from an online survey

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine L Madliger ◽  
Oliver P Love ◽  
Vivian M Nguyen ◽  
Neal R Haddaway ◽  
Steven J Cooke
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Stakeholder Involvement ◽  
Reference Ranges ◽  
Conservation Science ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Conservation Action ◽  
Conservation Physiology ◽  
Biodiversity Crisis ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Multi Stakeholder

Abstract Conservation physiology represents a recently emerging arm of conservation science that applies physiological tools and techniques to understand and solve conservation issues. While a multi-disciplinary toolbox can only help to address the global biodiversity crisis, any field can face challenges while becoming established, particularly highly applied disciplines that require multi-stakeholder involvement. Gaining first-hand knowledge of the challenges that conservation physiologists are facing can help characterize the current state of the field and build a better foundation for determining how it can grow. Through an online survey of 468 scientists working at the intersection of physiology and conservation, we aimed to identify characteristics of those engaging in conservation physiology research (e.g. demographics, primary taxa of study), gauge conservation physiology’s role in contributing to on-the-ground conservation action, identify the perceived barriers to achieving success and determine how difficult any identified barriers are to overcome. Despite all participants having experience combining physiology and conservation, only one-third considered themselves to be ‘conservation physiologists’. Moreover, there was a general perception that conservation physiology does not yet regularly lead to tangible conservation success. Respondents identified the recent conceptualization of the field and the broader issue of adequately translating science into management action as the primary reasons for these deficits. Other significant barriers that respondents have faced when integrating physiology and conservation science included a lack of funding, logistical constraints (e.g. sample sizes, obtaining permits) and a lack of physiological baseline data (i.e. reference ranges of a physiological metric’s ‘normal’ or pre-environmental change levels). We identified 12 actions based on suggestions of survey participants that we anticipate will help deconstruct the barriers and continue to develop a narrative of physiology that is relevant to conservation science, policy and practice.

scholarly journals Pharmacy premises licensing policy formulation: experience from Ghana

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Augustina Koduah ◽  
Reginald Sekyi-Brown ◽  
Joseph Kodjo Nsiah Nyoagbe ◽  
Daniel Amaning Danquah ◽  
Irene Kretchy
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Select Committee ◽  
Limited Participation ◽  
Pharmacy Council ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Regulatory Bodies ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Licences to operate pharmacy premises are issued by statutory regulatory bodies. The Health Institutions and Facilities Act (Act 829) and Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act (Act 857) regulate pharmacy premises and the business of supplying restricted medicines by retail, respectively, and this could create a potential regulatory overlap for pharmacy practice in Ghana. We theorise that the potential overlap of regulation duties stems from how law-makers framed issues and narratives during the formulation of these Acts. Objective To describe the policy actors involved, framing of narratives and decision-making processes relating to pharmacy premises licensing policy formulation. Methods A qualitative study was conducted and data gathered through interviewing eight key informants and reviewing Hansards, reports, bills, memoranda and Acts 829 and 857. Data were analysed to map decision-making venues, processes, actors and narratives. Results The Ministry of Health drafted the bills in July 2010 with the consensus of internal stakeholders. These were interrogated by the Parliament Select Committee on Health (with legislative power) during separate periods, and decisions made in Parliament to alter propositions of pharmacy premises regulations. Parliamentarians framed pharmacies as health facilities and reassigned their regulation from the Pharmacy Council to a new agency. The Pharmacy Council and the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana could not participate in the decision-making processes in Parliament to oppose these alterations. The laws’ contents rested with parliamentarians as they made decisions in venues restricted to others. Legislative procedure limited participation, although non-legislative actors had some level of influence on the initial content. Conclusion Implementation of these laws would have implications for policy and practice and therefore understanding how the laws were framed and formulated is important for further reforms. We recommend additional research to investigate the impact of the implementation of these Acts on pharmacy practice and business in Ghana and the findings can serve as bargaining information for reforms.

scholarly journals Monetary Valuation of Flood Protection Ecosystem Service Based on Hydrological Modelling and Avoided Damage Costs. An Example from the Čierny Hron River Basin, Slovakia

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 198
Author(s):  
Igor Gallay ◽  
Branislav Olah ◽  
Zuzana Gallayová ◽  
Tomáš Lepeška
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Hydrological Modelling ◽  
Flood Protection ◽  
Medium Size ◽  
Land Uses ◽  
Monetary Valuation ◽  
Monetary Value ◽  
Damage Costs

Flood protection is considered one of the crucial regulating ecosystem services due to climate change and extreme weather events. As an ecosystem service, it combines the results of hydrological and ecosystem research and their implementation into land management and/or planning processes including several formally separated economic sectors. As managerial and economic interests often diverge, successful decision-making requires a common denominator in form of monetary valuation of competing trade-offs. In this paper, a methodical approach based on the monetary value of the ecosystem service provided by the ecosystem corresponding to its actual share in flood regulating processes and the value of the property protected by this service was developed and demonstrated based on an example of a medium size mountain basin (290 ha). Hydrological modelling methods (SWAT, HEC-RAS) were applied for assessing the extent of floods with different rainfalls and land uses. The rainfall threshold value that would cause flooding with the current land use but that would be safely drained if the basin was covered completely by forest was estimated. The cost of the flood protection ecosystem service was assessed by the method of non-market monetary value for estimating avoided damage costs of endangered infrastructure and calculated both for the current and hypothetical land use. The results identify areas that are crucial for water retention and that deserve greater attention in management. In addition, the monetary valuation of flood protection provided by the current but also by hypothetical land uses enables competent and well-formulated decision-making processes.

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