scholarly journals Adopting an Ecosystem Services-Based Approach for Flood Resilient Strategies: The Case of Rocinha Favela (Brazil)

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Ronchi ◽  
Andrea Arcidiacono
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
National Park ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Urban Setting ◽  
Impervious Surfaces ◽  
Mountain Slope ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Local Resilience

Rocinha (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is the largest favela in South America. It is located on a steep mountain slope in the Tijuca National Park with a population of over 160,000 living in poor environmental, health and hygiene conditions. The geomorphological and urban setting of Rocinha makes it vulnerable to natural hazards, with the greatest risk posed by flooding or landslides, compromising the precarious balance between ecosystem services (ES) provision and human well-being. The paper aims to assess and map ES provision in a context where available data to identify areas vulnerable to natural risks is limited. The ES analyses were adapted to the specific socio-economic and environmental context of favelas, which are characterised by dense, continuously built-up environment and a high proportion of impervious surfaces, leading to deteriorating environmental, health and hygiene conditions over time. The ES-based approach was pivotal for setting out strategies—including nature-based solutions (NBS)—to mitigate disaster risk and increase local resilience. These strategies were selected taking into account the context of Rocinha and feasibility. The research shows that ES assessment can be the starting point for projects based on NBS with a view to increasing resilience even in environmentally critical contexts.

scholarly journals The Value of Recreational Ecosystem Services in India

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 80
Author(s):  
Muniyandi Balasubramanian
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
National Park ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Consumer Surplus ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Forest Ecosystem Services ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Mental Well Being

Forest ecosystem services have played a vital role in human well-being. Particularly, recreational ecosystem services are creating physical and mental well-being for human beings. Therefore, the main objective of the paper is to estimate the economic value of recreational ecosystem services provides by recreational sites such as Nandi Hills and Nagarhole National Park based on the individual travel cost method in Karnataka, India. This study has used a random sampling method for 300 tourist visitors to recreational sites. The present study has also estimated the consumer surplus of the visitors. The results of the study have found that (i) economic value of two creational sites has been estimated at US $323.05 million, (ii) the consumer surplus has been estimated for Nandi Hills at US $7.45 and Nagarhole National Park at US $3.16. The main implication of the study is to design the entry fees for the recreational site and sustainable utilization of recreational ecosystem services for the present and future generations.

scholarly journals Disaggregating Ecosystem Benefits: An Integrated Environmental-Deprivation Index

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily C. Hazell
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Composite Index ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
Urban Setting ◽  
Measurement Scale ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Environmental Deprivation

The valuation of ecosystem services has become an integral part of smart urban planning practices. Traditionally designed to bridge ecology and economy through economic language and logic (e.g., goods and services), this conceptual framework has developed into an effective tool for interdisciplinary work. The concept of ecosystem services is used to improve the management of ecosystems for human well-being. However, gaps in how to govern ecological benefits remain. Specifically, identifying which stakeholders benefit the most from the provision of ecosystem services remains largely unaddressed. This study examines the spatial discordance between ecosystem services and the residential stakeholders who may benefit. Using a landscape approach to quantify urban ecosystem services, an area-based composite index was developed for the City of Toronto, Canada, based on the three pillars of sustainability in order to identify potentially vulnerable populations. This method combines the use of principal component analysis (PCA) and spatial multicriteria decision analysis (GIS-MCDA) to combine and weight a select grouping of socioeconomic and ecological indicators. In addition, two sets of enumeration units (i.e., dissemination areas and census tracts) were evaluated to assess the potential impact of measurement scale on subsequent decision or policy outcomes. Results indicate the spatial interdependencies between ecological and socioeconomic processes in an urban setting, offering a unique framework for novel planning and policy intervention strategies. The influence of measurement scale was demonstrated, creating an opportunity to assess an appropriate policy scale by which to measure and evaluate trends over time and space. This approach seeks to provide a flexible and intuitive planning tool that can help to achieve goals relating to urban sustainability, resiliency and equity.

scholarly journals Examining Linkages among Livelihood Strategies, Ecosystem Services, and Social Well-Being to Improve National Park Management

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 823
Author(s):  
Siyuan He ◽  
Louise Gallagher ◽  
Qingwen Min
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
National Park ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Livelihood Strategies ◽  
Ecological System ◽  
Sustainable Livelihood ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
The Impact

This research examines perceptions of ecosystem services (ES) and social well-being in the Wuyishan National Park, China. This study analyses the importance of and linkages between them based on the impact of new designation of protected areas on this social-ecological system. Realisation of rural well-being is critical to park-people relations in populated protected areas, and effective resolution is needed to achieve positive conservation outcomes. We conducted 372 structured interviews with community members with different livelihood strategies. Key findings from the research include: (1) the importance of provisioning (e.g., tea, rice, timber) and cultural ES (e.g., local culture, eco-tourism) is related to both current livelihood necessity and future development pursuit. (2) The perceived material well-being is higher than spiritual well-being, and high social well-being is closely related to high-income groups and those that think highly of cultural services, i.e., those engaged in non-agricultural activities (e.g., tourism) and tea cultivation. (3) Cultural values are better preserved in tea and rice cultivation and tourism, but in general, they are not incorporated to improve social well-being. The results suggest that Protected area (PA) management of local communities must seek cultural valorisation for differentiated livelihood strategies for rural people’s sustainable livelihood and stability of the social-ecological system.

scholarly journals Local Community Perceptions on Landscape Change, Ecosystem Services, Climate Change, and Livelihoods in Gonarezhou National Park, Zimbabwe

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 4610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Musakwa ◽  
Ephraim Mpofu ◽  
Nesisa Analisa Nyathi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Landscape Change ◽  
National Park ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Global Environmental Change ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Large Herbivores

Understanding humanity’s relationship with nature is crucial for the well-being and sustainable development of mankind in the face of global environmental change. Communities depend on landscapes for survival and landscapes determine if sustainable development is to be achieved. The links between landscapes, ecosystem services, livelihoods, and climate change are often complex, misunderstood, and barely studied in rural areas of Africa, where communities live side-by-side with conservation areas. Our study surveyed the perception of the nexus of landscape change, climate change, ecosystem services, and livelihoods in Gonarezhou, a national park in southeastern Zimbabwe. We also used Landsat satellite imagery to map the landscape change over 20 years to validate and to correlate with the survey data. The survey results indicated that people relied on rainfed agriculture as a means of livelihood, but droughts as a result of climate change force communities to engage in other means of livelihoods such as small-scale poaching of small game such as impala and harvesting of natural resources such as edible shrubs. Crops and livestock as provisional ecosystem services have been negatively affected by climate change and landscape change. Landsat data confirmed that there was a negative transformation of the landscape as a result of agriculture, growth in settlements, and large herbivores. However, there was also a positive landscape transformation resulting from the conservation efforts by the Gonarezhou Conservation Trust (GCT). Cultural services about education and awareness of the environment and provisional services such as wild fruits are booming. Challenges such as soil erosion, human–wildlife conflict, and minimal community benefits from conservation efforts hindered sustainable development in the study area. While changes in landscape, climate, livelihoods, and ecosystem services happened at a local scale, the underlying drivers such as politics and the economy were also identified as drivers of landscape change.

scholarly journals ZIGZAG-KM for a comprehension and integrated action as answer to the Emergency Climate Declaration

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
E Martinez-Herrera ◽  
M Gutierrez ◽  
J C Molina
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
Community Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Local Resilience ◽  
Scientific Results ◽  
Collective Construction

Abstract Background The headline goal for SDG13 focus specially on strengthening resilience, adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters as well as integrating climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning. In Colombia, the increase in rainfall and temperature jeopardize the well-being of the population. The Transdisciplinary Seminar on Environmental Health and Climate Change drives the strengthening of multisectoral research on impacts and vulnerability in the territory, promotes the construction of collective adaptation strategies that mitigate the health effects of recent emergency climate declaration. Objective ZIGZAG Knowledge Management (ZIGZAG-KM) generate common points from a collective construction on the Climate Change Adaptation Plan from the Environmental Health Component guided by participants. The steps of this methodology lead the stakeholders to develop practical constructions with freedom of adaptation and change, capacity for a new learning culture and an opportunity for collaboration in a team that identifies and balances their interests from a community approach, local resilience and citizen science. After 18 months we concrete a consensus Report on the determination of the contextual vulnerability analysis as a technical outcomes, nowadays, the scientific results are running on and will be included in a Report of collaborative learning about citizen scientists oriented for implement strategies of the adaptation plan with a community approach for Antioquia and the strengthening citizen participation actions to impulse collectively resilience to climate change. This Seminar was structured about multidisciplinary theoretical rules and transdisciplinary practical considerations, which will contribute in the social understanding of adaptation strategies. Conclusions In spite of the efforts, the culture of knowledge transformation continues to be limited due to interests that may arise among the participants. Key messages ZIGZAG-KM learning guided by experts, decision makers and defenders of health and the environment. Transdisciplinary orientation in thematic dialogues and actions is useful health adaptation on Climate Change and Emergency Climate Declaration.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the Ecosystem Services of the Central Marsh in Southern Iraq

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 369-380
Author(s):  
Baghdad Science Journal
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
National Park ◽  
Water Buffalo ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Buffalo Milk ◽  
Natural Ecosystem ◽  
Local Policy ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
Economic Assets

Ecosystems provide humans with services that include benefits from food, fresh water, climate regulation, and socio-economic assets. The Mesopotamian marshlands are among the largest wetlands in the Middle East and they provide various benefits. However, ecosystem services of the Marshlands are consistently undervalued in national economic analysis and decision making. This study focusses on the Central Marshes, the first National Park in Iraq, and is the first attempt at valuing a series of ecosystem services from a valuable natural ecosystem in Iraq. We adopted the Toolkit for Ecosystem Services Site-Based Assessment (TESSA) for the determination of biophysical and economic values of services at the site level. Data on key ecosystem services (as determined by 30 interviews with residents of the Marshes) included the trading of fish, harvested plants, water buffalo milk, and fodder were collected across six months in 2014. We valued the ecosystem services within the CM (40,000 ha) over a 6-month period to have a total value of 860,078.23 USD. This estimated total value was the sum of 86,637.25 USD from harvested plants, 551,334.80 USD from trading fish, 167, 303.70 USD from trading water buffalo milk, and 54,804.00 USD from trading fodder. The average income per individual in Iraq in 2014 was 6720 USD (World Bank data - https://data.worldbank.org/country/iraq): thus, the CM provided an average salary for 256 people. Our results provided greater understanding of the ecosystem services contributed by the Central Marshes and has highlighted the crucial role of nature in supporting sustainable well-being for humans living in the area. In addition, the results can be used to enhance local policy, to aid management plans of the National park, and to estimate lost and damage that could result from impact of climate change on the area.

Monetäre Bewertung von Ökosystemleistungen: eine kritische Sicht auf einige Kritiken (Essay)

2017 ◽  
Vol 168 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Elsasser
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Monetary Valuation ◽  
Intrinsic Values ◽  
Ethical Norms ◽  
Valuation Of Ecosystem Services ◽  
Environmental Valuations

Monetary valuation of ecosystem services: a critical view of some critiques (essay) Diverse objections against the monetary valuation of ecosystem services are being raised in transdisciplinary discussions as well as in the scientific literature. The monetary valuation is said to overlook nature's intrinsic values, to infringe ethical norms, to narrow down perspectives to economic welfare alone, or even to nothing but material well-being, to stimulate the commercialisation of nature – conversely, others criticize that it fails exactly in this respect –, to favour social inequality, and to rely upon undependable methods. This essay questions the cogency of these criticisms and highlights some prejudices and misconceptions, often rooted in an erroneous understanding of the function of environmental valuations in the political decision process.

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