scholarly journals Lifestyle Properties, Ecosystem Services, and Biodiversity Protection in Peri-Urban Aotearoa–New Zealand: A Case Study from Peri-Urban Palmerston North

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1345
Author(s):  
Diane Pearson
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Urban Fringe ◽  
Collaborative Action ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand

Intensive agriculture and urbanization are putting pressure on natural capital in Aotearoa–New Zealand (NZ), with native ecosystems and water quality suffering degradation. As the population has increased, so development has pushed into the rural–urban fringe. Over the last 30 years, the number of lifestyle properties in NZ has increased dramatically. Many of these properties have been developed on some of NZ’s most productive soils, meaning a loss of provisioning services from this land. However, given their location, these developments present new opportunities for the enhancement and protection of other ecosystem services. This paper presents the findings of an exploratory study conducted on lifestyle block residents in peri-urban Palmerston North. The results showed that these residents have a good sense of environmental stewardship and a desire to plant native species, improve connectivity, and protect their land from the invasion of pests and weeds. These residents are also quite community-focused and protective of their special place. This creates an excellent basis from which to encourage greater collaborative action towards protecting and enhancing biodiversity and to put in place land management strategies that can enhance natural capital and assist in other ecosystem service protection serving to improve the landscape ecology of peri-urban environments.

scholarly journals Exploring the Use of Ecosystem Services Conceptual Models to Account for the Benefits of Public Lands: An Example from National Forest Planning in the United States

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 267
Author(s):  
Lydia Olander ◽  
Katie Warnell ◽  
Travis Warziniack ◽  
Zoe Ghali ◽  
Chris Miller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Public Lands ◽  
The United States ◽  
Forest Planning ◽  
National Forest ◽  
Planning Team ◽  
National Forest Planning

A shared understanding of the benefits and tradeoffs to people from alternative land management strategies is critical to successful decision-making for managing public lands and fostering shared stewardship. This study describes an approach for identifying and monitoring the types of resource benefits and tradeoffs considered in National Forest planning in the United States under the 2012 Planning Rule and demonstrates the use of tools for conceptualizing the production of ecosystem services and benefits from alternative land management strategies. Efforts to apply these tools through workshops and engagement exercises provide opportunities to explore and highlight measures, indicators, and data sources for characterizing benefits and tradeoffs in collaborative environments involving interdisciplinary planning teams. Conceptual modeling tools are applied to a case study examining the social and economic benefits of recreation on the Ashley National Forest. The case study illustrates how these types of tools facilitate dialog for planning teams to discuss alternatives and key ecosystem service outcomes, create easy to interpret visuals that map details in plans, and provide a basis for selecting ecosystem service (socio-economic) metrics. These metrics can be used to enhance environmental impact analysis, and help satisfy the goals of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the 2012 Planning Rule, and shared stewardship initiatives. The systematic consideration of ecosystem services outcomes and metrics supported by this approach enhanced dialog between members of the Forest planning team, allowed for a more transparent process in identification of key linkages and outcomes, and identified impacts and outcomes that may not have been apparent to the sociologist who is lacking the resource specific expertise of these participants. As a result, the use of the Ecosystem Service Conceptual Model (ESCM) process may result in reduced time for internal reviews and greater comprehension of anticipated outcomes and impacts of proposed management in the plan revision Environmental Impact Statement amongst the planning team.

scholarly journals Trends and Evolution in the Concept of Marine Ecosystem Services: An Overview

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 2060
Author(s):  
Elvira Buonocore ◽  
Umberto Grande ◽  
Pier Paolo Franzese ◽  
Giovanni F. Russo
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Alternative Assessment ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Marine Ecosystems ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Coastal Protection ◽  
Policy Dialogue ◽  
Marine Ecosystem Services

The biotic and abiotic assets of the marine environment form the “marine natural capital” embedded in the global ocean. Marine natural capital provides the flow of “marine ecosystem services” that are directly used or enjoyed by people providing benefits to human well-being. They include provisioning services (e.g., food), regulation and maintenance services (e.g., carbon sequestration and storage, and coastal protection), and cultural services (e.g., tourism and recreational benefits). In recent decades, human activities have increased the pressures on marine ecosystems, often leading to ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss and, in turn, affecting their ability to provide benefits to humans. Therefore, effective management strategies are crucial to the conservation of healthy and diverse marine ecosystems and to ensuring their long-term generation of goods and services. Biophysical, economic, and sociocultural assessments of marine ecosystem services are much needed to convey the importance of natural resources to managers and policy makers supporting the development and implementation of policies oriented for the sustainable management of marine resources. In addition, the accounting of marine ecosystem service values can be usefully complemented by their mapping to enable the identification of priority areas and management strategies and to facilitate science–policy dialogue. Given this premise, this study aims to review trends and evolution in the concept of marine ecosystem services. In particular, the global scientific literature on marine ecosystem services is explored by focusing on the following main aspects: the definition and classification of marine ecosystem services; their loss due to anthropogenic pressures, alternative assessment, and mapping approaches; and the inclusion of marine ecosystem services into policy and decision-making processes.

scholarly journals The Effect of Blue-Green Infrastructure on Habitat Connectivity and Biodiversity: A Case Study in the Ōtākaro/Avon River Catchment in Christchurch, New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6732
Author(s):  
Thuy Thi Nguyen ◽  
Colin Meurk ◽  
Rubianca Benavidez ◽  
Bethanna Jackson ◽  
Markus Pahlow
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Habitat Connectivity ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Environmental Evaluation ◽  
Representative Species ◽  
The Matrix

The natural capital components in cities (“blue-green infrastructure” BGI) are designed to address long-term sustainability and create multi-benefits for society, culture, business, and ecology. We investigated the added value of BGI through the research question “Can the implementation of blue-green infrastructure lead to an improvement of habitat connectivity and biodiversity in urban environments?” To answer this, the Biological and Environmental Evaluation Tools for Landscape Ecology (BEETLE) within the Land Utilisation and Capability Indicator (LUCI) framework was adopted and applied in Christchurch, New Zealand, for the first time. Three ecologically representative species were selected. The parameterisation was based on ecological theory and expert judgment. By implementation of BGI, the percentages of habitats of interest for kereru and paradise shelduck increased by 3.3% and 2.5%, respectively. This leads to improved habitat connectivity. We suggest several opportunities for regenerating more native patches around the catchment to achieve the recommended minimum 10% target of indigenous cover. However, BGI alone cannot return a full suite of threatened wildlife to the city without predator-fenced breeding sanctuaries and wider pest control across the matrix. The socio-eco-spatial connectivity analysed in this study was formalised in terms of four interacting dimensions.

scholarly journals Another elderly lady to be knocked down: Heritage discourse and the protest to save the Missions to Seamen building, 1986

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Alexander Gordon
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
City Council ◽  
Historical Case Study ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
Considerable Difficulty ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
History Of ◽  
Heritage Discourse

<p>Through a specific historical case study, Another Elderly Lady to be Knocked Down applies discourse theory and the Authorised Heritage Discourse (AHD) to the context of urban built heritage in Aotearoa New Zealand. Previously, only limited work had been done in this area. By examining an underexplored event this dissertation fills two gaps in present literature: the history of the event itself and identification of the heritage discourses in the country at the time. Examination of these discourses in context also allows conclusions about the use of the AHD in similar studies to be critically examined.  In 1986 the Missions to Seamen building in Wellington, New Zealand, was threatened with demolition by its government owners. In a remarkable display of popular sentiment, individuals, organisations, the Wellington City Council (WCC) and the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT) worked together to oppose this unpopular decision. This protest was a seminal event in the history of heritage in New Zealand.  This study relies upon documentary sources, especially the archival records of the Historic Places Trust and the State Services Commission, who owned the building, to provide the history of this watershed moment in New Zealand’s preservation movement. The prevalent attitudes of different groups in Wellington are examined through the letters of protest they wrote at the time. When analysed in context, these discourses reveal the ways in which heritage was articulated and constructed.  The course of this dissertation has revealed the difficulty of identifying an AHD in this context. The level of collaboration between ‘official’ and ‘unofficial’ heritage perspectives, and the extent to which they shaped each other’s language, creates considerable difficulty in distinguishing between discreet discourses. To better explore the ways that heritage meaning is constructed and articulated, heritage must be recognised as a complex dynamic process.</p>

scholarly journals LANDSCAPE DESIGN FOR SUSTAINABILITY AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN AN URBAN ENVIRONMENT: CASE STUDY OF TEHRAN AND HIS KAN RIVER

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilda Vagge ◽  
◽  
Gioia Maddalena Gibelli ◽  
Alessio Gosetti Poli ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Landscape Design ◽  
Green Spaces ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Design For Sustainability ◽  
Holistic Method

The authors, with the awareness that climate change affects and changes the landscape, wanted to investigate how these changes are occurring within the metropolitan area of Tehran. Trying to keep a holistic method that embraces different disciplines, reasoning from large scale to small scale, the authors tried to study the main problems related to water scarcity and loss of green spaces. Subsequently they dedicated themselves to the identification of the present and missing ecosystem services, so that they could be used in the best possible way as tools for subsequent design choices. From the analysis obtained, the authors have created a masterplan with the desire to ensure a specific natural capital, the welfare of ecosystem services, and at the same time suggest good water management practices. It becomes essential to add an ecological accounting to the economic accounting, giving dignity to the natural system and the ecosystem services that derive from it.

scholarly journals Exploring Farmers’ Management Practices and Values of Ecosystem Services in an Agroecosystem Context—A Case Study from the Eastern Cape, South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (23) ◽  
pp. 6567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Junior Choruma ◽  
Oghenekaro Nelson Odume
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Agricultural Management ◽  
Eastern Cape ◽  
Provisioning Ecosystem Services

Globally, farmers remain the key ecosystem managers responsible for increasing food production while simultaneously reducing the associated negative environmental impacts. However, research investigating how farmers’ agricultural management practices are influenced by the values they assign to ecosystem services is scarce in South Africa. To address this gap, a survey of farmers’ agricultural management practices and the values they assigned towards ecosystem services was conducted in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Results from the survey show that farmers assign a high value on food provisioning ecosystem services compared to other ecosystem services. Irrigation and fertiliser decisions were mostly based on achieving maximum crop yields or good crop quality. The majority of farmers (86%) indicated a willingness to receive payments for ecosystem services (PES) to manage their farms in a more ecosystems-oriented manner. To encourage farmers to shift from managing ecosystems for single ecosystem services such as food provision to managing ecosystems for multiple ecosystem services, market-oriented plans such as PES may be employed. Effective measures for sustainable intensification of food production will depend on the inclusion of farmers in the development of land management strategies and practices as well as increasing farmers’ awareness and knowledge of the ecosystem services concept.

Valuing the soil natural capital: a New Zealand case study

Soil Research ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oshadhi Samarasinghe ◽  
Suzie Greenhalgh
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Economic Valuation ◽  
Rooting Depth ◽  
Land Values ◽  
Valuation Method ◽  
Land Valuation ◽  
Farmland Values ◽  
Complex Relationships

Inherent characteristics of soil and land valuation data are used to examine the relationship between soil characteristics and rural farmland values to value soil natural capital in the 6000 km2 Manawatu catchment in New Zealand. The study applies a widely used economic valuation method to determine whether the value of inherent characteristics of soils is reflected in land values. We find empirical evidence that the characteristics used to describe soil natural capital stock, e.g. gravel class, drainage class, potential rooting depth, and profile available water, are reflected in rural land values. Moreover, we find that these characteristics of soil stocks do not behave simply as independent variables but that there are complex relationships between them influencing their value.

scholarly journals Excluding indigenous bioethical concerns when regulating frozen embryo storage: An Aotearoa New Zealand case study

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 10-22
Author(s):  
Ruth P. Fitzgerald ◽  
Michael Legge ◽  
Poia Rewi ◽  
Ella J. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand
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