scholarly journals Identifying ecosystem service hotspots for environmental management in Durban, South Africa

Bothalia ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rashieda Davids ◽  
Mathieu Rouget ◽  
Richard Boon ◽  
Debra Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Open Space ◽  
Habitat Degradation ◽  
Nutrient Retention ◽  
Collaborative Management ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Conservation Areas ◽  
Sediment Retention ◽  
Privately Owned

Background: Despite considerable research into the importance of ecosystem services, little has been achieved in translating such research into management action. In an urban context where numerous pressures on ecosystem services exist, the identification and management of priority ecosystem services areas are vital to ensure the ongoing provision of these services.Method: To identify opportunities for securing a sustainable supply of ecosystem services for the city of Durban, this paper identifies ecosystem service priority areas, called hotspots, and assesses their spatial congruence with critical biodiversity areas (CBAs), conservation areas, the Durban Metropolitan Open Space System (D’MOSS) and land ownership categories, using spatial overlap and correlation analyses. Hotspots for 13 ecosystem services were identified and analysed, including carbon storage, nutrient retention, sediment retention, water supply and flood attenuation.Results: The study found generally weak correlations between ecosystem service hotspots and CBAs and conservation areas. On average, 30% of the 13 ecosystem services hotspots were located within terrestrial CBAs, 51% within the D’MOSS, with nominal overlaps of 0.3%, 3.9% and 5.07% within estuaries and freshwater CBAs and conservation areas, respectively. The majority of ecosystem service hotspots were located within communally (41%) or privately owned (27%) lands.Conclusion: The results indicated that substantial portions of hotspot areas lie outside of formally regulated and managed conservation areas and remain vulnerable to human impact and habitat degradation. The study identified management areas and options that could yield maximum benefits; including the need for the development of an ecosystem services management and protection strategy, the selection of areas for co-management of ecosystem service hotspots and CBAs and the need for collaborative management.

scholarly journals RUANG TERBUKA HIJAU DALAM PERSPEKTIF JASA EKOSISTEM (STUDI KASUS RUANG TERBUKA HIJAU KAWASAN PERKOTAAN YOGYAKARTA)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
GISKA PARWA MANIKASARI
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Urban Area ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Open Space ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Urban Forests ◽  
Pairwise Comparison ◽  
Open Spaces ◽  
City Parks ◽  
Highest Weight

Green Open Spaces have a variety of ecosystem services of which can be utilized by society. This study aims are to identify green open space criteria value for determining ecosystem services, to study the conditions and distributions of ecosystem service potentials of Green Open Spaces in Urban Area of Yogyakarta, and optimize Green Open Spaces in the Urban Area of Yogyakarta in the perspective of ecosystem services. The research locations included Green Open Spaces of Urban Area of Yogyakarta consisting of urban forests type, city parks, river borders, and road greenbelts, comprising of twelve research locations. The identification of the criteria for Green Open Spaces was done using the expert judgment and pairwise comparison methods resulting in weight values. In each observation location, a plot was made for monitoring the conditions of each Green Open Space criterion using a score. The data from the field and the assessment by experts were analyzed by means of scoring analysis to find out the level of ecosystem services in each research location and they were further descriptively and deductively analyzed by taking account of the area allotment and the available regulations to attain the conditions of Green Open Spaces with optimal ecosystem services. The results of the study show that of the sixteen criteria under study, each plays a role in ecosystem services. The values of ecosystem services of Green Open Spaces in KPY show different values for each type of Green Open Spaces. In general, the types of urban forests, including Urban Forest of Arboretum of Faculty of Forestry, Gadjah Mada University, and Arboretum of Gembira Loka Zoo, have ecosystem services in the high category for the eleven ecosystem services, while the types of Green Open Spaces of city parks, including Denggung Park, Gajah Wong Educational Park, and Lalu Lintas Park, and riverbanks, including Code’s riverbank, Gajah Wong’s riverbank, and Winongo’s riverbank, on the average have ecosystem service va lues in the moderate category, and the types of Green Open Spaces of street greenbelts, including greenbelt of Jalan Magelang, greenbelt of Jalan Cik Di Tiro, and greenbelt of Jalan Malioboro, all have ecosystem service values in the low category. Based on the results, optimalize Green Open Spaces in KPY in the perspective of ecosystem services can be done by optimizing each criteria with the highest weight value adjusted to the allotment of each type of Green Open Spaces and the regulations related to Green Open Spaces.

scholarly journals Assessment of Residents' Understanding of Potential Ecosystem Services of Phewa Watershed

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-78
Author(s):  
Shivaraj Thapa ◽  
Subina Shrestha ◽  
Suman Bhattarai ◽  
Mahamad Sayab Miya ◽  
Deepak Gautam
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
National Level ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Payment For Ecosystem Services ◽  
Sediment Retention ◽  
Community Forests

Phewa watershed, the second largest natural lake system in Nepal, is considered vital for the well being and economy at local, provincial and national level. Phewa watershed offers multiple benefits to the downstream dwellers involved in tourism, hotel, boating, fishing, irrigation, hydropower, etc. The constant degradation of watershed has become a serious challenge to sustain the watershed. Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) can be an effective environmental management tool for sustaining ecological and economic benefits, especially in an urban watershed like Phewa. This study has assessed the opportunities for the potentialityof PES in Phewa watershed. It first identified and ranked the tradable ecosystem services along with service providers and beneficiaries using Likert scale. Then, 137 households were surveyed to evaluate their perceptions of payment for ecosystem services and sustainable management of Phewa Lake. The results identified tourism as the major ecosystem service in the watershed followed by biodiversity and sediment retention to control flooding and erosion. Protected and community forests users groups within the watershed area, landowners, and farmers were identified as upstream users or service providers whereas the business owners like boat agencies, hotels and restaurants, drinking water users, and Nepal electricity authority were identifiedas the service beneficiaries of the identified ecosystem service. The challenges associated with implementing PES scheme were the lack of financial resource, lack of institutional organization and marketing for ecosystem services, population growth, lack of coordination between stakeholders, and lack of public participation. Thus, this study showed that education-based activities should be organized to enhance participation of beneficiaries and upstream dwellers. Also, PES policy mechanism with clear guidelines should be formulated for assuring the participation of the community people forthe implementation of PES.

scholarly journals An ecosystem services perspective of Lake Wairarapa: Insights from the past, present, and toward the future

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sky Halford
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Collaborative Management ◽  
Coastal Lake ◽  
E Coli ◽  
The Past ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Impact

<p>Ecosystem services encompass the wide range of intrinsic and extrinsic benefits that humans derive from ecosystems and how such services contribute to community wellbeing. The delivery of effective and efficient provisioning, regulating, and cultural ecosystem services at Lake Wairarapa (a shallow, super-trophic, coastal lake in the lower North Island) has been heavily impacted through current land use. Using a pragmatic epistemology and mixed methods approach, this research sought to understand the past, present, and future delivery of ecosystem services at Lake Wairarapa through three distinct, yet complementary, studies.  Firstly, a palaeo-environmental reconstruction using five proxies was completed to build an understanding of past environmental conditions at Lake Wairarapa. Prior to human arrival, the lake was stable and resilient in response to environmental perturbations. However, alteration of the landscape following human arrival has reduced ecosystem service effectiveness, prompting a transition into an entirely new environmental state at Lake Wairarapa. This chapter highlighted the abrupt removal of mānuka and centennial shift from a forest catchment into one dominated by agriculture so a field trial was conducted to assess the ability of mānuka to reduce nitrogen leaching and E. coli contamination. Mānuka can significantly reduce the conversion of ammonium to nitrate compared to pasture, thus regulating nitrate leaching; however, the impact on E. coli counts was less conclusive. Finally, cultural services present at Lake Wairarapa and future community aspirations were assessed through seven semi-structured interviews of Wairarapa community members. Place attachment was recognised as the underlying factor that facilitated strong cultural service delivery. Social and environmental restoration was identified as the key vision for the future, underpinned by collaboration within resource management.  From this research, four recommendations were made to enhance ecosystem service delivery at Lake Wairarapa: establishment of ecologically appropriate restoration plans, facilitated collaborative management, further investigation of environmental and economic properties of mānuka, and development of community engagement programmes. This multi-disciplinary and holistic approach outlines a pathway towards a positive and inclusive future for Lake Wairarapa and its communities.</p>

scholarly journals Delineating Urban Growth Boundaries with Ecosystem Service Evaluation

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 5390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fang Wei ◽  
Xiaowen Zhan
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Urban Growth ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Urban Land Use ◽  
Water Yield ◽  
Sediment Retention ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
The Past ◽  
Conservation Prioritization ◽  
Urban Growth Boundaries

China’s rapid urbanization over the past decades has been accompanied by ecological deterioration. This decline in the provision of vital ecosystem services now poses a significant threat to urban area sustainability. Accordingly, the evaluation of ecosystem services has gained greater importance in ecological and sustainable development over the past decade. However, little information about ecosystem services is factored into urban planning and management decisions and limited studies to date have incorporated conservation prioritization when making decisions about urban growth boundaries. In this study, we proposed an initial framework to illustrate its application in Hangzhou. We modeled and mapped five ecosystem services (i.e., habitat quality as a proxy of biodiversity, carbon storage, water yield, sediment retention, nutrient retention) using the InVEST model and evaluated the overlaps among them. Zonation, a systematic conservation planning tool, was applied to explicitly spatialize conservation prioritization, and we proposed an analytical framework to define priority areas for ecosystem services conservation and delineated a rigid urban growth boundary. Our study integrated ecosystem service evaluations into the urban land-use decision-making process and addressed compromises in decisions regarding conservation prioritization.

scholarly journals An ecosystem services perspective of Lake Wairarapa: Insights from the past, present, and toward the future

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sky Halford
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Collaborative Management ◽  
Coastal Lake ◽  
E Coli ◽  
The Past ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Impact

<p>Ecosystem services encompass the wide range of intrinsic and extrinsic benefits that humans derive from ecosystems and how such services contribute to community wellbeing. The delivery of effective and efficient provisioning, regulating, and cultural ecosystem services at Lake Wairarapa (a shallow, super-trophic, coastal lake in the lower North Island) has been heavily impacted through current land use. Using a pragmatic epistemology and mixed methods approach, this research sought to understand the past, present, and future delivery of ecosystem services at Lake Wairarapa through three distinct, yet complementary, studies.  Firstly, a palaeo-environmental reconstruction using five proxies was completed to build an understanding of past environmental conditions at Lake Wairarapa. Prior to human arrival, the lake was stable and resilient in response to environmental perturbations. However, alteration of the landscape following human arrival has reduced ecosystem service effectiveness, prompting a transition into an entirely new environmental state at Lake Wairarapa. This chapter highlighted the abrupt removal of mānuka and centennial shift from a forest catchment into one dominated by agriculture so a field trial was conducted to assess the ability of mānuka to reduce nitrogen leaching and E. coli contamination. Mānuka can significantly reduce the conversion of ammonium to nitrate compared to pasture, thus regulating nitrate leaching; however, the impact on E. coli counts was less conclusive. Finally, cultural services present at Lake Wairarapa and future community aspirations were assessed through seven semi-structured interviews of Wairarapa community members. Place attachment was recognised as the underlying factor that facilitated strong cultural service delivery. Social and environmental restoration was identified as the key vision for the future, underpinned by collaboration within resource management.  From this research, four recommendations were made to enhance ecosystem service delivery at Lake Wairarapa: establishment of ecologically appropriate restoration plans, facilitated collaborative management, further investigation of environmental and economic properties of mānuka, and development of community engagement programmes. This multi-disciplinary and holistic approach outlines a pathway towards a positive and inclusive future for Lake Wairarapa and its communities.</p>

scholarly journals Bundling ecosystem services at a high resolution in the UK: trade-offs and synergies in urban landscapes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. Karimi ◽  
Ron Corstanje ◽  
Jim A. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Landscape Planning ◽  
Rank Correlation ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Nutrient Retention ◽  
Urban Landscapes ◽  
Pollinator Abundance ◽  
Trade Offs

Abstract Context Ecosystem service bundles can be defined as the spatial co-occurrence of ecosystem services in a landscape. The understanding of the delivery of multiple ecosystem services as bundles in urban areas is limited. This study modelled ecosystem services in an urban area comprising the towns of Milton Keynes, Bedford and Luton. Objectives The objectives of this study were to assess (1) how ecosystem service bundles scale at a 2 m spatial resolution and (2) identify and analyse the composition of ecosystem service bundles. Methods Six ecosystem services were modelled with the InVEST framework at a 2 m resolution. The correlations between ecosystem services were calculated using the Spearman rank correlation coefficient method. Principal Component Analysis and K-means cluster analysis were used to analyse the distributions, spatial trade-offs and synergies of multiple ecosystem services. Results The results showed that regulating services had the tendency to form trade-offs and synergies. There was a significant tendency for trade-offs between supporting service Habitat quality and Pollinator abundance. Four bundle types were identified which showed specialised areas with prevalent soil erosion with high levels in water supply, areas with high values in nutrient retention, areas with high levels in carbon storage and urban areas with pollinator abundance. Conclusions This study demonstrates the existence of synergies and trade-offs between ecosystem services and the formation of ecosystem service bundles in urban areas. This study provides a better understanding of the interactions between services and improve the management choices in ecosystem service provision in urban and landscape planning.

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 Analysis of the Internal Relationship between Ecological Value and Economic Value Based on the Forest Resources in China

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6795
Author(s):  
Jianxin Geng ◽  
Chengzhi Liang
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Market Value ◽  
Forest Resources ◽  
Atmospheric Environment ◽  
Shanxi Province ◽  
Ecosystem Service Value ◽  
Service Value ◽  
Asset Value

In this study, we applied gross ecosystem product (GEP) theory in a case study to analyze and explain the natural resource asset value and ecosystem service value of forest resources in Jiaokou County, Shanxi Province, Northern China, in 2018. GEP refers to the total value of various final material products and services provided by ecosystems. In this paper, six service functions of a forest system, including water conservation, soil conservation, carbon fixation and oxygen release, forest nutrients, purification of atmospheric environment, and biodiversity, are valued by three calculation methods: the alternative cost method, market value method, and control cost method. The study revealed the following: (1) There is a parallel relationship between the value of natural resource assets and the value of ecosystem services. GEP includes the market value of natural resource assets, but it is mostly the value of ecosystem services. (2) The measurement of the physical quantity of forest ecosystem services depends on parameter data, and the monetary calculation often has no mature pricing basis, which leads to the large scale and uncertainty surrounding the evaluation results of ecosystem services. (3) The ecosystem service value and natural resource asset value have different practical significance, as well as alternate theoretical bases. The value of natural resource assets can be used as the asset valuation basis of economic transactions, which plays a role in macroeconomic management. The value of ecosystem services can be used as the basis of ecological compensation, providing information for the preparation of the balance sheet of natural resources.

scholarly journals An Overview of Ecosystem Service Studies in a Tropical Biodiversity Hotspot, Sri Lanka: Key Perspectives for Future Research

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 540
Author(s):  
Chaya Sarathchandra ◽  
Yirga Alemu Abebe ◽  
Iresha Lakmali Wijerathne ◽  
Sasith Tharanga Aluthwattha ◽  
Sriyani Wickramasinghe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Species Introduction ◽  
Related Research ◽  
Management Actions ◽  
Service Category ◽  
Tropical Biodiversity ◽  
Published Evidence

Tropical island countries are often highly populated and deliver immense ecosystem service benefits. As human wellbeing depends on these ecosystems, proper management is crucial in the resource-rich tropical lands where there is less related research. Though ecosystem service and biodiversity studies are a promising path to inform the ecosystem management for these mostly developing countries, published evidence of using ecosystem service studies in decision making is lacking. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of ecosystem services and related research in Sri Lanka, examining trends and gaps in how these studies are conceptualized. Out of the considered 220 peer-reviewed articles, the majority of articles (48.2%) were terrestrial and forest related while coastal ecosystems were considered in 33.2% of studies. In most studies, the ecosystem service category studied was provisioning (31.5%) followed by regulatory service (28.7%). Studies investigating and quantifying ecosystem services, pressures on ecosystems, and their management were fewer compared to studies related to biodiversity or species introduction. Moreover, studies investigating the value of ecosystem services and biodiversity to the communities or involvement of stakeholders in the development of management actions regarding the ecosystem services were rare in Sri Lanka, and an intense focus from future studies in these aspects is timely and necessary.

scholarly journals Study on the Comprehensive Improvement of Ecosystem Services in a China’s Bay City for Spatial Optimization

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 2072
Author(s):  
Ying Fang ◽  
Tianlin Zhai ◽  
Xiaodong Zhao ◽  
Kun Chen ◽  
Baishu Guo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Spatial Optimization ◽  
Coastal Areas ◽  
Water Yield ◽  
Human Welfare ◽  
Yantai City ◽  
Synergistic Relationships

Ecosystem services are characterized by region and scale, and contribute to human welfare. Taking Yantai city, a typical bay city in China, as the example, its three representative ecosystem services: food supply (FS), carbon sequestration (CS) and water yield (WY) were chosen as study targets. Based on analyzation of six different aspects of the supply and variation characteristic of demand, this study tried to propose advices for comprehensive improvement of ecosystem services for spatial optimization. The results showed that: (1) ecosystem services supply was strong in central and southern areas of Yantai, while the northern coastal areas were relatively weak; (2) synergistic relationships were found of FS-CS, FS-WY and CS-WY both in 2009 and 2015, with the strongest one for FS-WY. Additionally, in the synergistic relationships, each pair of ecosystem services was dominated by one ecosystem service; (3) most of the three pairs of synergistic relationships had the tendency to strengthen with larger scales; (4) four ecosystem demands changing areas were observed and comprehensive improvement suggestions for them were proposed. This work provides a new attempt to improve ecosystem services based on its supply-demand relationship, which will give a baseline reference for related studies in Yantai city, as well as other similar bay cities.

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