It has been 20 years since two seminal publications about ecosystem services came out: an edited book by Gretchen Daily and an article in Nature by a group of ecologists and economists on the value of the world’s ecosystem services. Both of these have been very highly cited and kicked off an explosion of research, policy, and applications of the idea, including the establishment of this journal. This article traces the history leading up to these publications and the subsequent debates, research, institutions, policies, on-the-ground actions, and controversies they triggered. It also explores what we have learned during this period about the key issues: from definitions to classification to valuation, from integrated modelling to public participation and communication, and the evolution of institutions and governance innovation. Finally, it provides recommendations for the future. In particular, it points to the weakness of the mainstream economic approaches to valuation, growth, and development. It concludes that the substantial contributions of ecosystem services to the sustainable wellbeing of humans and the rest of nature should be at the core of the fundamental change needed in economic theory and practice if we are to achieve a societal transformation to a sustainable and desirable future.

Twenty years of ecosystem services: How far have we come and how far do we still need to go?

Assessing, mapping, and quantifying cultural ecosystem services at community level

Cultural ecosystem services constitute a growing field of research that is characterized by an increasing number of publications from various academic disciplines. We conducted a semiquantitative review of publications explicitly dealing with cultural ecosystem services. Our aims were: (1) to provide an overview of the current state of research, (2) to classify the diversity of research approaches by identifying clusters of publications that address cultural ecosystem services in similar ways, and (3) to highlight some important challenges for the future of cultural ecosystem services research. We reviewed 107 publications and extracted 20 attributes describing their type and content, including methods, scales, drivers of change, and trade-offs between services. Using a cluster analysis on a subset of attributes we identified five groups of publications: Group 1, conceptual focus, deals with theoretical issues; Group 2, descriptive reviews, consists mostly of desktop studies; Group 3, localized outcomes, deals with case studies coming from different disciplines; Group 4, social and participatory, deals mainly with assessing preferences and perceptions; and Group 5, economic assessments, provides economic valuations. Emerging themes in cultural ecosystem services research relate to improving methods for cultural ecosystem services valuation, studying cultural ecosystem services in the context of ecosystem service bundles, and more clearly articulating policy implications. Based on our findings, we conclude that: (1) cultural ecosystem services are well placed as a tool to bridge gaps between different academic disciplines and research communities, (2) capitalizing on the societal relevance of cultural ecosystem services could help address real-world problems, and (3) cultural ecosystem services have the potential to foster new conceptual links between alternative logics relating to a variety of social and ecological issues.

/pdf/cultural-ecosystem-services-a-literature-review-and-g4yb4u2vyw.pdf

Cultural Ecosystem Services: A Literature Review and Prospects for Future Research

The Past Is a Foreign Country

Africa is thought to be the region most vulnerable to the impacts of climate variability and change. Agriculture plays a dominant role in supporting rural livelihoods and economic growth over most of Africa. Three aspects of the vulnerability of food crop systems to climate change in Africa are discussed: the assessment of the sensitivity of crops to variability in climate, the adaptive capacity of farmers, and the role of institutions in adapting to climate change. The magnitude of projected impacts of climate change on food crops in Africa varies widely among different studies. These differences arise from the variety of climate and crop models used, and the different techniques used to match the scale of climate model output to that needed by crop models. Most studies show a negative impact of climate change on crop productivity in Africa. Farmers have proved highly adaptable in the past to short- and long-term variations in climate and in their environment. Key to the ability of farmers to adapt to climate variability and change will be access to relevant knowledge and information. It is important that governments put in place institutional and macro-economic conditions that support and facilitate adaptation and resilience to climate change at local, national and transnational level.

/pdf/assessing-the-vulnerability-of-food-crop-systems-in-africa-2ecqoffmqu.pdf

Assessing the vulnerability of food crop systems in Africa to climate change

This paper aims to provide a conceptual analysis of cultural ecosystem services and how they are linked to the concepts of landscape, heritage and identity. It discusses how these cultural ecosystem services can be assessed and integrated into spatial and physical planning. The paper presents two case studies to shed light on the assessment process. A case study from Sweden combines an analysis of ecosystem services with methods for documenting cultural heritage values in landscapes. A second case study from the Arafura–Timor Seas combines an analysis of cultural ecosystem services with methods for assessment of priority environmental concerns at the seascape scale. We demonstrate that the methods from cultural heritage conservation provide tools for the analysis of historical values as well as historical drivers of change in landscapes that can add time-depth to more spatially focused ecosystem assessments. We propose that methods for valuation of cultural heritage and identity in landscapes are integrated into assessments of ecosystem services to inform policy making and physical and spatial planning for sustainable management of ecosystems and landscapes. This could also provide an approach for bringing about integrated implementation of conventions and instruments from the environmental and cultural heritage fields, respectively.

Cultural ecosystem services provided by landscapes: Assessment of heritage values and identity

http://rcg.gvc.gu.se/dc/PUBs/TengbergAndChen1998.pdf

A comparative analysis of nebkhas in central Tunisia and northern Burkina Faso

Nebkha dunes as indicators of wind erosion and land degradation in the Sahel zone of Burkina Faso

Farmers in many parts of Africa use indigenous soil and water conserving (ISWC) practices as an integral part of their farming systems. Farmers have developed such methods which have maintained productivity and contributed to long-term sustainability, while introduced measures have often been rejected or simply failed to achieve their technical objectives.



This paper examines the strengths and weaknesses of some ISWC practices in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. An evaluation has been carried out based on farmers' evaluation criteria as well as criteria identified by researchers. Farmers' criteria are often based on the quality of their natural resources (farmers are more likely to conserve those soils that will give the highest return on their investment), the resource level of the household (particularly income levels and labour availability), cropping intensity as well as cultural traditions related to age, education and gender. Of great importance, however, is the need to maintain or increase soil productivity. Methods that conserve moisture, reduce soil erosion, maintain soil fertility and increase productivity, which are socially acceptable and economically viable, are those which farmers favour. ISWC practices often have these qualities but farmers have not always been able to adjust the techniques to rapid changes in farming systems and increasing intensity of land use.



Soil productivity and economic modelling indicate that although yields declines are lower when traditional technologies are used, long-term productivity remains a problem. There is an urgent need to work closely with farmers to improve and develop traditional SWC techniques. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The impact of indigenous soil and water conservation practices on soil productivity: examples from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda

The People's Republic of China-Global Environment Facility Partnership to Combat Land Degradation in Dryland Ecosystems promotes an integrated ecosystem management (IEM) approach to restore, sustain and enhance the productive capacity of dryland ecosystems. This paper provides an analysis and synthesis of the funding strategies, methods and approaches that have been applied and tested under the Partnership to pilot and scale up IEM and sustainable land management (SLM) practices in the western People's Republic of China under its first 10 years. On the basis of a mix of methods using literature reviews, data collection at selected pilot sites through household questionnaire surveys, stakeholder workshops and field sampling, the following lessons were generated: (i) mainstreaming of IEM into relevant policy and development frameworks has been the most effective way of mobilizing funding for scaling up of SLM; (ii) SLM best practices need to be combined with economic incentives for land users, and pilot demonstrations of SLM need to be integrated into larger investment programmes to achieve impacts and economies of scale; (iii) market-based approaches to scaling up of SLM, such as payment for ecosystem services and public–private partnerships, have a role to play, but cost–benefit analysis need to be better integrated into payment schemes; (iv) the economic benefits of carbon sequestration are too low to fund eco-compensation schemes on their own but can provide supplementary funding; and (v) land degradation and SLM monitoring and assessment systems should be multiscale to support decision-making on SLM and to monitor impact from the local to the national level. Copyright © 2014 Asian Development Bank

Anna Tengberg

Papers

Cultural ecosystem services provided by landscapes: Assessment of heritage values and identity

A comparative analysis of nebkhas in central Tunisia and northern Burkina Faso

Nebkha dunes as indicators of wind erosion and land degradation in the Sahel zone of Burkina Faso

The impact of indigenous soil and water conservation practices on soil productivity: examples from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda

Scaling up of sustainable land management in the western people's republic of china: evaluation of a 10‐year partnership