CANCELLED: From policy to pollination: using mechanistic models to assess policy alternatives and management interventions on insect-mediated ecosystem services

Forest and climate change in the inner-Alpine dry region of Visp Over the past decades, observed increases in temperature have been particularly pronounced in mountain regions. If this trend should continue in the 21st Century, frequency and intensity of droughts will increase, and will pose major challenges for forest management. Under current conditions drought-related tree mortality is already an important factor of forest ecosystems in dry inner-Alpine valleys. Here we assess the sensitivity of forest ecosystems to climate change and evaluate alternative forest management strategies in the Visp region. We integrate data from forest monitoring plots, field experiments and dynamic forests models to evaluate how the forest ecosystem services timber production, protection against natural hazards, carbon storage and biodiver-sity will be impacted. Our results suggest that at dry low elevation sites the drought tolerance of native tree species will be exceeded so that in the longer term a transition to more drought-adapted species should be considered. At medium elevations, drought and insect disturbances as by bark beetles are projected to be important for forest development, while at high elevations forests are projected to expand and grow better. All of the ecosystem services that we considered are projected to be impacted by changing forest conditions, with the specific impacts often being elevation-dependent. In the medium term, forest management that aims to increase the resilience of forests to drought can help maintain forest ecosystem services temporarily. However, our results suggest that relatively rigid management interventions are required to achieve significant effects. By using a combination of environmental monitoring, field experiments and modeling, we are able to gain insight into how forest ecosystem, and the services they provide, will respond to future changes.

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Impact of water management interventions on hydrology and ecosystem services in Garhkundar-Dabar watershed of Bundelkhand region, Central India

Journal of Hydrology ◽

10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.11.030 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 509 ◽

pp. 132-149 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Ramesh Singh ◽

Kaushal K. Garg ◽

Suhas P. Wani ◽

R.K. Tewari ◽

S.K. Dhyani

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Central India ◽

Management Interventions

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Policy Alternatives to Improve Demand for Water-Related Ecosystem Services in the Panama Canal Watershed

10.1201/9780367813413-16 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 195-216

Author(s):

Mike Fotos ◽

Quint Newcomer ◽

Radha Kuppalli

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Panama Canal ◽

Policy Alternatives

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Facilitating informed land-use decisions through the modelling of ecosystem service trade-offs

10.26686/wgtn.17060189.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Nicola Scott

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Diffusion Theory ◽

New Technology ◽

Land Utilization ◽

Management Interventions ◽

Land Use Decisions ◽

Trade Offs ◽

The Impact

<p>Increasing global populations are placing increasing pressure on our natural systems, reducing their capacity to produce the ecosystem services that we rely upon for human wellbeing (World Bank, 2004). Clarifying the implications of land-use decisions across the range of ecosystem services is fundamental to understanding the trade-offs inherent in land-use options. LUCI (the Land Utilization and Capability Indicator) is an emergent Geographic Information Systems (GIS) based framework developed to enable the mapping of several ecosystem services in a spatially explicit manner. This process enables a clearer understanding of the inter-dependencies between ecosystems and potential implications and trade-offs of management interventions across a range of services. There is however, limited understanding of the impact, utility and credibility of such tools for land-use decision-makers, or of how they perceive the information conveyed. This Thesis considered the impact that presenting information on land-use trade-offs through LUCI had on land-owners at the farm scale. This research supports previous findings that information alone does not drive behaviour (or decision-making) (Kollmuss, 2002, Fisk, 2011; Kennedy, 2010; Mackenzie-Mohr, 2000; Stern, 2000). Similarly, perceived credibility was not the main driver of decision-making nor is it necessarily rationally based. However without it, voluntary adoption of a new technology or tool is unlikely. Therefore, in seeking to diffuse tools, such as LUCI within a community, process design should take into account the social structures and the characteristics of targeted individuals within that community. The influence of temporal and context specific factors on decision-making provides both barriers and opportunities for technology diffusion. The research findings propose that when integrating new tools and technologies within communities, consideration is given to using a suite of tools, mechanisms and theories in concert such as Community-Based Social Marketing (Mackenzie-Mohr, 2011) and Diffusion Theory (Rogers, 2003) to facilitate improved diffusion and uptake by communities.</p>

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Improving predictions of the effects of extreme events, land use, and climate change on the hydrology of watersheds in the Philippines

Proceedings of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences ◽

10.5194/piahs-373-147-2016 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 373 ◽

pp. 147-151 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Rubianca Benavidez ◽

Bethanna Jackson ◽

Deborah Maxwell ◽

Enrico Paringit

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Real Time ◽

Flood Forecasting ◽

The Philippines ◽

Flood Mitigation ◽

Extreme Rainfall Event ◽

Management Interventions ◽

Structural Measures

Abstract. Due to its location within the typhoon belt, the Philippines is vulnerable to tropical cyclones that can cause destructive floods. Climate change is likely to exacerbate these risks through increases in tropical cyclone frequency and intensity. To protect populations and infrastructure, disaster risk management in the Philippines focuses on real-time flood forecasting and structural measures such as dikes and retaining walls. Real-time flood forecasting in the Philippines mostly utilises two models from the Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC): the Hydrologic Modeling System (HMS) for watershed modelling, and the River Analysis System (RAS) for inundation modelling. This research focuses on using non-structural measures for flood mitigation, such as changing land use management or watershed rehabilitation. This is being done by parameterising and applying the Land Utilisation and Capability Indicator (LUCI) model to the Cagayan de Oro watershed (1400 km2) in southern Philippines. The LUCI model is capable of identifying areas providing ecosystem services such as flood mitigation and agricultural productivity, and analysing trade-offs between services. It can also assess whether management interventions could enhance or degrade ecosystem services at fine spatial scales. The LUCI model was used to identify areas within the watershed that are providing flood mitigating services and areas that would benefit from management interventions. For the preliminary comparison, LUCI and HEC-HMS were run under the same scenario: baseline land use and the extreme rainfall event of Typhoon Bopha. The hydrographs from both models were then input to HEC-RAS to produce inundation maps. The novelty of this research is two-fold: (1) this type of ecosystem service modelling has not been carried out in the Cagayan de Oro watershed; and (2) this is the first application of the LUCI model in the Philippines. Since this research is still ongoing, the results presented in this paper are preliminary. As the land use and soil parameterisation for this watershed are refined and more scenarios are run through the model, more robust comparisons can be made between the hydrographs produced by LUCI and HEC-HMS and how those differences affect the inundation map produced by HEC-RAS.

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The effectiveness of Payments for Ecosystem Services at delivering improvements in water quality: lessons for experiments at the landscape scale

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.5753 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

pp. e5753 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Edwin L. Pynegar ◽

Julia P.G. Jones ◽

James M. Gibbons ◽

Nigel M. Asquith

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Environmental Management ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Randomised Trial ◽

Landscape Scale ◽

Environmental Benefits ◽

Payments For Ecosystem Services ◽

Difference In Differences ◽

Management Interventions

BackgroundRandomised Control Trials (RCTs) are used in impact evaluation in a range of fields. However, despite calls for their greater use in environmental management, their use to evaluate landscape scale interventions remains rare. Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) incentivise land users to manage land to provide environmental benefits. We present the first RCT evaluation of a PES program aiming to improve water quality.Watersharedis a program which incentivises landowners to avoid deforestation and exclude cattle from riparian forests. Using this unusual landscape-scale experiment we explore the efficacy ofWatersharedat improving water quality, and draw lessons for future RCT evaluations of landscape-scale environmental management interventions.MethodsOne hundred and twenty-nine communities in the Bolivian Andes were randomly allocated to treatment (offeredWatersharedagreements) or control (not offered agreements) following baseline data collection (includingEscherichia colicontamination in most communities) in 2010. We collected end-line data in 2015. Using our end-line data, we explored the extent to which variables associated with the intervention (e.g. cattle exclusion, absence of faeces) predict water quality locally. We then investigated the efficacy of the intervention at improving water quality at the landscape scale using the RCT. This analysis was done in two ways; for the subset of communities for which we have both baseline and end-line data from identical locations we used difference-in-differences (matching on baseline water quality), for all sites we compared control and treatment at end-line controlling for selected predictors of water quality.ResultsThe presence of cattle faeces in water adversely affected water quality suggesting excluding cattle has a positive impact on water quality locally. However, both the matched difference-in-differences analysis and the comparison between treatment and control communities at end-line suggestedWatersharedwas not effective at reducingE. colicontamination at the landscape scale. Uptake ofWatersharedagreements was very low and the most important land from a water quality perspective (land around water intakes) was seldom enrolled.DiscussionAlthough excluding cattle may have a positive local impact on water quality, higher uptake and better targeting would be required to achieve a significant impact on the quality of water consumed in the communities. Although RCTs potentially have an important role to play in building the evidence base for approaches such as PES, they are far from straightforward to implement. In this case, the randomised trial was not central to concluding thatWatersharedhad not produced a landscape scale impact. We suggest that this RCT provides valuable lessons for future use of randomised experiments to evaluate landscape-scale environmental management interventions.

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Socio-Cultural Values of Ecosystem Services from Oak Forests in the Eastern Himalaya

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11082250 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (8) ◽

pp. 2250 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Tshewang Dorji ◽

Justin Brookes ◽

José Facelli ◽

Robin Sears ◽

Tshewang Norbu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

High Altitude ◽

Cultural Values ◽

Local Communities ◽

Eastern Himalaya ◽

Oak Forests ◽

Management Interventions ◽

Local Setting ◽

User Groups ◽

Forest Users

Identification and assessment of socio-cultural values of ecosystem services are increasingly important for the planning and management of forest resources. Key information necessary is how different forest user groups perceive and prioritize different ecosystem services based on their local setting. We assessed the socio-cultural values of ecosystem services of high-altitude oak forests in Western Bhutan using participatory approaches with two important forest users: local communities and forest experts. We found that these forests serve as a pool of 22 ecosystem services under four MEA categories of provisioning (9), regulating (8), supporting (2), and cultural (3) services. Fresh water was unanimously identified as the most valuable service, as well as the most vulnerable, by both the groups. The priorities of local communities inclined towards provisioning and cultural services due to their dependence on these services for their livelihood and wellbeing. Forest experts’ priorities were more evenly spread over three categories of services: provisioning, regulating, and supporting services, reflecting their broader interest in resource management, biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation. Several regulating and supporting services were not easily identified by many villagers, suggesting that bridging the priorities of local interests with broader national forestry goals may require public partnerships and integrated decision-making about the entire suite of ecosystem services. Several management interventions proposed by the groups were presented for consideration by local users, scientists, and policy makers. For all ongoing and future ecosystem service assessments, we recommend the integration of socio-cultural values with biophysical and monetary assessments to fully value the benefits from the high-altitude oak forests.

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Policy Alternatives to Improve Demand for Water-Related Ecosystem Services in the Panama Canal Watershed

Journal of Sustainable Forestry ◽

10.1300/j091v25n01_09 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 25 (1-2) ◽

pp. 195-216 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Mike Fotos ◽

Quint Newcomer ◽

Radha Kuppalli

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Panama Canal ◽

Policy Alternatives

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Vegetation composition and soil characteristics of a community managed forest situated in the foothills of Dhauladhar range, Western Himalaya

Indian Journal of Forestry ◽

10.54207/bsmps1000-2019-x01955 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 42 (1) ◽

pp. 15-22

Author(s):

Anjali Uniyal ◽

◽

Rohit Sharma ◽

Gopal S. Rawat ◽

◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Rural Communities ◽

Western Himalaya ◽

Vegetation Composition ◽

Managed Forest ◽

Management Interventions ◽

Management Measures ◽

The Status ◽

Ageratina Adenophora ◽

Provisioning Services

Community managed forest in the foothills of Dhauladhar range supports the livelihood of rural communities by supplying a range of provisioning services. However, baseline data on the vegetation composition of this forest is still lacking which is otherwise very important to assess the status of forest in sustaining the flow of ecosystem services (ES). Present study therefore aimed to quantify its vegetation structure and composition. Encroachment of Ageratina adenophora in the forest fringes has not only deteriorated the vegetation composition but has also affected the quality of soil leading to loss of native herbs and grasses causing decline in fodder availability for the livestock. Due to improper management measures, the invasive species is spreading fast to other interior areas. This has serious implications for the sustenance of the provisioning services for the rural people including water retaining capacity of the forest ecosystem. Hence, proper management interventions are needed for the conservation of this forest so that the flow of ecosystem services continues for a long term.

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