An enhanced analytical framework of participatory GIS for ecosystem services assessment applied to a Ramsar wetland site in the Vietnam Mekong Delta

Abstract Modeling ecosystem services (ES) is an essential tool for the development of strategies that will ensure their future supply, provision and quantification. Given the rapid development in this area of research, a review of the different approaches used to model ES was performed, using an analytical framework based on five criteria for comparing the existing methodological approaches: the types of ES, availability of data sources, spatial scale, types of models used and the possible outcomes of the models. Regulating services were the most commonly modeled, followed by provisioning, cultural, and supporting services. The most frequently used data for modeling were secondary data (already available from scientific literature or data banks). Most studies were performed at the regional or at a global scale. Mechinicist models, based on state and flow equations, were the most commonly used method, but the survey showed a relatively homogeneous distribution of all the identified types of modeling. The synthesis reveals that the majority of studies are based on secondary data, applied at broad scales, without validation techniques, similar to the existing information regarding the mapping of ESs.

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“Critical Ecosystems” as a Concept in Political Ecology - Developing a Comprehensive Analytical Framework

Journal of Political Ecology ◽

10.2458/v27i1.22909 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 190-212

Author(s):

Michael Acheampong

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Political Ecology ◽

Power Relations ◽

Local Population ◽

Analytical Framework ◽

Population Based ◽

Resource Exploitation ◽

Ecological Processes ◽

Symbiotic Relationships ◽

Political Dimensions

Political ecology is supposed to be a field of two parts of equal importance – "politics" and "ecology." However, critics have pointed to the fact that it dwells on the politics, while rendering ecology secondary in its focus. Political ecologists have hardly used the structure that the concept of ecosystem services brought to the field of ecology, and this lends credence to this critique. In this article, I introduce the concept of "critical ecosystems" that reinforces understanding of the science of "ecology", as an important dimension of political ecology. I use components of the framework of ecosystem services in context of unequal power relations. Some local people who have symbiotic relationships with their environment owe their existence – both their livelihoods and culture – to specific natural resources whose decline has proximate and tangible consequences for them. However, they often lose these "critical ecosystems" in times of natural resource exploitation due to their relative powerlessness. I argue that it is important that political ecologists utilize the framework of ecosystem services in our inquiries, to prioritize those ecosystems that are intricately connected to the survival of the local population. Based on this, I introduce the "critical ecosystems" model, and how it can be modified to fit specific cases and can reconcile the sociological and political dimensions of political ecology, with biophysical understanding of ecological processes. This holistic inquiry, I argue, will make political ecology worthy of its name. Keywords: Political ecology; ecosystem services; unequal power relations; Millennium Ecosystems Assessment; Ghana

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Ecosystem Service Modelling to Support Nature-Based Flood Water Management in the Vietnamese Mekong River Delta

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su132413549 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (24) ◽

pp. 13549

Author(s):

Nguyet Anh Dang ◽

Rubianca Benavidez ◽

Stephanie Anne Tomscha ◽

Ho Nguyen ◽

Dung Duc Tran ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

High Resolution ◽

Current Knowledge ◽

Economic Value ◽

Mekong Delta ◽

Hydrological Regime ◽

Flood Mitigation ◽

Spatially Explicit ◽

Economic Values ◽

Trade Offs

Deltas are among the most productive and diverse global ecosystems. However, these regions are highly vulnerable to natural disasters and climate change. Nature-based solutions (Nbs) have been increasingly adopted in many deltas to improve their resilience. Among decision support tools, assessment of ecosystem services (ES) through spatially explicit modelling plays an important role in advocating for Nbs. This study explores the use of the Land Utilisation and Capability Indicator (LUCI) model, a high-resolution model originally developed in temperate hill country regions, to map changes in multiple ecosystem services (ES), along with their synergies and trade-offs, between 2010 and 2018 in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD). In so doing, this study contributes to the current knowledge in at least two aspects: high-resolution ES modelling in the VMD, and the combination of ES biophysical and economic values within the VMD to support Nbs implementation. To date, this is the highest resolution (5 by 5 m) ES modelling study ever conducted in the VMD, with ~1500 million elements generated per ES. In the process of trialling implementations of LUCI within the VMD’s unique environmental conditions and data contexts, we identify and suggest potential model enhancements to make the LUCI model more applicable to the VMD as well as other tropical deltaic regions. LUCI generated informative results in much of the VMD for the selected ES (flood mitigation, agriculture/aquaculture productivity, and climate regulation), but challenges arose around its application to a new agro-hydrological regime. To address these challenges, parameterising LUCI and reconceptualising some of the model’s mechanisms to specifically account for the productivity and flood mitigation capability of water-tolerant crops as well as flooding processes of deltaic regions will improve future ES modelling in tropical deltaic areas. The ES maps showed the spatial heterogeneity of ES across the VMD. Next, to at least somewhat account for the economic drivers which need to be considered alongside biophysical valuations for practical implementations of ES maps for nature-based solutions (Nbs) in the upstream VMD, economic values were assigned to different parcels using a benefit transfer approach. The spatially explicit ES economic value maps can inform the design of financing incentives for Nbs. The results and related work can be used to support the establishment of Nbs that ultimately contribute to the security of local farmers’ livelihoods and the sustainability of the VMD.

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