scholarly journals Regional planning of river protection and restoration to promote ecosystem services and nature conservation

2021 ◽  
Vol 211 ◽  
pp. 104101
Author(s):  
Ana Paula Portela ◽  
Cristiana Vieira ◽  
Cláudia Carvalho-Santos ◽  
João Gonçalves ◽  
Isabelle Durance ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nature Conservation ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Regional Planning

scholarly journals Market-Based Conservation for Better Livelihoods? The Promises and Fallacies of REDD+ in Tanzania

Land ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Scheba
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Nature Conservation ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
National Level ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Alternative Livelihood ◽  
Governance Institutions

Governments, multilateral organisations, and international conservation NGOs increasingly frame nature conservation in terms that emphasise the importance of technically managing and economically valuing nature, and introducing markets for ecosystem services. New mechanisms, such as REDD+, have been incorporated in national-level policy reforms, and have been piloted and implemented in rural project settings across the Global South. By reflecting on my research on REDD+ implementation in two case study villages in Tanzania, the paper argues that the emergence and nature of market-based conservation are multi-faceted, complex, and more profoundly shaped by structural challenges than is commonly acknowledged. The paper identifies three particularly important challenges: the politics surrounding the establishment of community-based forest management; the mismatch between formal governance institutions and actual practices on the ground; and the fickleness of income from carbon sales and alternative livelihood opportunities. I argue that these challenges are not merely teething troubles, but they question fundamental assumptions of market-based conservation, more generally. I end with reference to better ideas for achieving sustainable development.

Ecosystem Services

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leon C. Braat
Keyword(s):  
Nature Conservation ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Nature Management ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Policy And Planning

The concept of ecosystem services considers the usefulness of nature for human society. The economic importance of nature was described and analyzed in the 18th century, but the term ecosystem services was introduced only in 1981. Since then it has spurred an increasing number of academic publications, international research projects, and policy studies. Now a subject of intense debate in the global scientific community, from the natural to social science domains, it is also used, developed, and customized in policy arenas and considered, if in a still somewhat skeptical and apprehensive way, in the “practice” domain—by nature management agencies, farmers, foresters, and corporate business. This process of bridging evident gaps between ecology and economics, and between nature conservation and economic development, has also been felt in the political arena, including in the United Nations and the European Union (which have placed it at the center of their nature conservation and sustainable use strategies). The concept involves the utilitarian framing of those functions of nature that are used by humans and considered beneficial to society as economic and social services. In this light, for example, the disappearance of biodiversity directly affects ecosystem functions that underpin critical services for human well-being. More generally, the concept can be defined in this manner: Ecosystem services are the direct and indirect contributions of ecosystems, in interaction with contributions from human society, to human well-being. The concept underpins four major discussions: (1) Academic: the ecological versus the economic dimensions of the goods and services that flow from ecosystems to the human economy; the challenge of integrating concepts and models across this paradigmatic divide; (2) Social: the risks versus benefits of bringing the utilitarian argument into political debates about nature conservation (Are ecosystem services good or bad for biodiversity and vice versa?); (3) Policy and planning: how to value the benefits from natural capital and ecosystem services (Will this improve decision-making on topics ranging from poverty alleviation via subsidies to farmers to planning of grey with green infrastructure to combining economic growth with nature conservation?); and (4) Practice: Can revenue come from smart management and sustainable use of ecosystems? Are there markets to be discovered and can businesses be created? How do taxes figure in an ecosystem-based economy? The outcomes of these discussions will both help to shape policy and planning of economies at global, national, and regional scales and contribute to the long-term survival and well-being of humanity.

scholarly journals HERITAGE, ECOSYSTEM SERVICES AND OTHER ARGUMENTS TO NATURE RESERVES ADVOCACY

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.V. Chernykh ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Nature Conservation ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Nature Reserves ◽  
Natural Heritage ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Absolute

Russian zapovedniks are one of the most effective forms of nature conservation. The arguments in defense of the absolute inviolability of the zapovedniks are: their invaluable role in preserving the natural heritage; the ability to monitor the climate changes in various landscapes; a wide range of regulating and supporting ecosystem services.

History and Assessment of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Céline Granjou ◽  
Isabelle Arpin
Keyword(s):  
Nature Conservation ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
United Nations Environment Programme ◽  
Academic Science ◽  
Ecological Knowledge ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Equal Footing ◽  
International Environmental Governance

The recent implementation of the IPBES is a major cornerstone in the transformation of the international environmental governance in the early 21st century. Often presented as “the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) for biodiversity,” the IPBES aims to produce regular expert assessments of the state and evolution of biodiversity and ecosystems at the local, regional, and global levels. Its creation was promoted in the 1990s by biodiversity scientists and NGOs who increasingly came to view the failure of achieving effective conservation of nature as the consequence of the gap between science and policy, rather than of a lack of knowledge. The new institution embodies an approach to nature and nature conservation that results from the progressive evolution of international environmental governance, marked by the notion of ecosystem services (i.e., the idea that nature provides benefits to people and that nature conservation and human development should be thought of as mutually constitutive). The IPBES creation was entrusted to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Social environmental studies accounted for the genesis and organization of the IPBES and paid special attention to the strong emphasis put by IPBES participants on principles of openness and inclusivity and on the need to consider scientific knowledge and other forms of knowledge (e.g. traditional ecological knowledge) on an equal footing. Overall the IPBES can be considered an innovative platform characterized by organizations and practices that foster inclusiveness and openness both to academic science and indigenous knowledge as well as to diverse values and visions of nature and its relationship to society. However, the extent to which it succeeded in putting different biodiversity values and knowledge on an equal footing in practice has varied and remains diversely appreciated by the literature.

scholarly journals Science–Policy Interfaces Related to Biodiversity and Nature Conservation: The Case of Natural Capital Germany—TEEB-DE

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 3701 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Leibenath ◽  
Markus Kurth ◽  
Gerd Lintz
Keyword(s):  
Nature Conservation ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Science Policy ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Conceptual Foundation ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Science Policy Interface ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Normative Criteria

Responding to the UN programme “The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity” (TEEB), TEEB-DE (2012–2018) was a science–policy interface (SPI) set up in Germany with the objective of mobilising scientific expertise for a better consideration of biodiversity and ecosystem services in political and corporate decision-making. The aim of this paper is to contribute to an assessment of TEEB-DE by analysing its objectives, structure, processes and outputs. The analysis is guided by a theoretical framework that takes credibility, relevance and legitimacy (CRELE) as normative criteria for examining SPIs. Methodologically, the paper relies on a fine-grained analysis of published documents and interviews with key figures of TEEB-DE. The results allow for a preliminary assessment of TEEB-DE in regard to CRELE and illuminate how its conceptual foundation—namely the ecosystem services concept—was discussed in the public realm. We also consider a number of trade-offs which the coordinators of TEEB-DE had to negotiate. In conclusion, we identify some proposals for designing future SPIs in the domain of biodiversity and nature conservation in Germany such as paying greater attention to policy windows, broadening the thematic scope beyond economics and providing better opportunities for debate and contestation.

Ecosystem services in coastal wetlands: Investigating bio- and hydro-mechanical traits of salt marsh vegetation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kara Keimer ◽  
Charlotte Steinigeweg ◽  
Viktoria Kosmalla ◽  
Oliver Lojek ◽  
David Schürenkamp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nature Conservation ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Salt Marshes ◽  
Flexural Rigidity ◽  
Root Length Density ◽  
Design Guidelines ◽  
Temperate Climate ◽  
Coastal Protection ◽  
Systematic Observation ◽  
Data Set

<p>Biodiversity and nature conservation play an increasingly important role with growing societal awareness, which is reflected in current European legislative frameworks such as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive or the Water Framework Directive, calling for integrative solutions and restoration of good environmental status. Salt marshes provide ecosystem services which can help mitigate climate change and sea level rise threats and simultaneously address coastal squeeze problems. The periodical submergence due to tidal changes creates a special ecosystem with different zones delineated by a landward increasing marsh elevation, which are inhabited by different plant and animal communities. In addition to their ecological value, salt marshes provide coastal protection, as they dissipate wave energy and stabilize otherwise exposed coastal soil lining sea dikes.  </p><p>The "Gute Küste Niedersachsen" research project investigates which environmental properties account for livable and safe coastal conditions along temperate climate coastlines, focusing on the symbiosis of human settlements, nature conservation and sustainable coastal protection. Specifically, the identification of vegetation-mediated ecosystem services within salt marshes at the North Sea coast of Lower Saxony, Germany is addressed here. The overarching goal of the transdisciplinary project is to gain knowledge of natural or nature-based systems and their processes within real-world laboratories at the coast to incorporate proven ecosystem services into standardized coastal protection design guidelines and promote integrated coastal zone management.</p><p>Methods include field observations and experiments, hydraulic laboratory experiments and numerical simulations over the course of 5 years. During the first years, a systematic observation of vegetation regarding distribution patterns, growth, density, and bio-mechanical (e.g. flexural rigidity, area moment of inertia) as well as root properties (e.g. root length density, tensile strength) and their respective seasonality is conducted. Through comprehensive monitoring covering large areas of halophytic meadows, a physical model of heterogeneous salt marshes will be developed. Simultaneous measurements of environmental parameters covering waves, currents and soil properties yield a comprehensive data set for analysis, numerical and analytical modeling purposes. </p><p>Hydraulic experiments modeling the wave-vegetation-soil interaction will be devised based on field data, developing dynamically and geometrically scaled vegetation surrogates. Besides vegetation properties aboveground, a focus will be on previously sparsely considered root system effects that is hypothesized to govern erosional processes in salt marshes.</p>

scholarly journals Integrating Ecosystem Services in Nature Conservation for Colombia

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aracely Burgos-Ayala ◽  
Amanda Jiménez-Aceituno ◽  
Daniel Rozas-Vásquez
Keyword(s):  
Nature Conservation ◽  
Ecosystem Services
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