Exploring socio-cultural values of ecosystem service categories in the Central Alps: the influence of socio-demographic factors and landscape type

The socio-cultural assessment of ecosystem services has been proposed as a promising tool for eliciting people’s preferences towards ecosystem services. Despite an increasing integration of the socio-cultural perspective in ecosystem service research, little knowledge exists about linkages between landscape and the socio-cultural values people assign to ecosystem services. This paper combines a socio-cultural valuation approach with the use of landscape pictures to analyse and compare people’s perceived importance of the provisioning, regulating, and cultural ecosystem service categories across three landscape types (i.e. larch meadows, spruce forests, and hay meadow). A survey with 470 tourists visiting the region of South Tyrol (Italy) was conducted to link people’s perceived importance to their socio-demographic background and to the landscape types explored. The results show that regulating ecosystem services are preferred over provisioning and cultural services, whereby environmental awareness is found to be more influential than formal education levels regarding the perceived importance of regulating services. The results further demonstrate that cultural background is an important driver in determining people’s perceived importance of cultural services. The underlying landscape types, however, exert an even stronger influence on people’s socio-cultural valuation of ecosystem service categories. This finding suggests that the focus of most ecosystem services assessments on the study area as a whole risks mistakenly attributing differences in people’s socio-cultural values to socio-demographic characteristics only. A better knowledge of the spatial integration of socio-cultural values, however, could help with anticipating the consequences of changes in the landscape and provide better guidance for future landscape planning.     

Sociocultural valuation of ecosystem services to improve protected area management: a multi-method approach applied to Catalonia,Spain

The notion of ecosystem services is considered useful for integrating perceptions and values into decision-making on environment and nature. Sociocultural factors have been suggested to explain perceptions and values assigned to ecosystem services. We examine this by undertaking a sociocultural valuation of ecosystem services provided by the natural park of Sant Llorenç del Munt, located at the edge of the Barcelona Metropolitan Region. Four methods are used, namely a review of the literature on ecosystem services, non-participant observation, semi-structured interviews with stakeholders and a valuation survey among visitors. We assess whether visitors and other stakeholders understand the term ecosystem service, finding that the concept is rather unknown or misunderstood. Among the 28 ecosystem services identified, habitat and cultural services were the most valued. We statistically identify socioeconomic characteristics of visitors that have a main influence on their valuation of ecosystem services. We further assess diverging preferences of all stakeholders that might give rise to conflicting views about policies for protected areas. We draw lessons about the usefulness of the multi-method approach and about the management of protected areas.     

Benefits and costs of oil palm expansion in Central Kalimantan,Indonesia, under different policy scenarios

Deforestation and oil palm expansion in Central Kalimantan province are among the highest in Indonesia. This study examines the physical and monetary impacts of oil palm expansion in Central Kalimantan up to 2025 under three policy scenarios. Our modelling approach combines a spatial logistic regression model with a set of rules governing land use change as a function of the policy scenario. Our physical and monetary analyses include palm oil expansion and five other ecosystem services: timber, rattan, paddy rice, carbon sequestration, and orangutan habitat (the last service is analysed in physical units only). In monetary terms, our analysis comprises the contribution of land and ecosystems to economic production, as measured according to the valuation approach of the System of National Accounts. We focus our analysis on government-owned land which covers around 97 % of the province, where the main policy issues are. We show that, in the business-as-usual scenario, the societal costs of carbon emissions and the loss of other ecosystem services far exceed the benefits from increased oil palm production. This is, in particular, related to the conversion of peatlands. We also show that, for Central Kalimantan, the moratorium scenario, which is modelled based on the moratorium currently in place in Indonesia, generates important economic benefits compared to the business-as-usual scenario. In the moratorium scenario, however, there is still conversion of forest to plantation and associated loss of ecosystem services. We developed an alternative, sustainable production scenario based on an ecosystem services approach and show that this policy scenario leads to higher net social benefits including some more space for oil palm expansion.     

遗产旅游地生态移民影响的实证研究——以武陵源风景名胜区为例

生态移民是近年来诸多景区为保护生态环境而采取的重要举措之一。以世界遗产地武陵源风景名胜区为例，通过对安置点居民的问卷调查与实地访谈获取第一手资料，从居民感知的角度分析生态移民给安置区居民所带来的经济、社会文化、资源环境、心理及安置政策等方面的影响及其相关因素。构建生态移民影响的感知差异分析模型，探讨不同基本背景的居民对生态移民影响的感知差异性。结果表明，安置点居民对生态移民的社会文化、资源环境以及心理层面的正面影响比较认可；对于经济影响的感知分歧较大；而对于移民政策的感知十分消极；不同性别、年龄、文化程度、收入水平以及不同旅游业参与程度的居民对生态移民影响的认知态度存在显著差异。在此基础上，指出武陵源生态移民过程中所存在的主要问题及相关政策导向     

生态补偿理论研究进展及争论——基于生态与社会关系的思考

生态补偿的概念自提出便受到学界和政府决策者的广泛关注,并迅速成为近20年来生态保护的主要政策手段。虽然基于生态补偿的政策手段被大范围使用,但是生态补偿的相关理论却处于发展与争论的阶段,该理论的适用性及对现实问题的剖析在实践过程中备受质疑。本文梳理了生态补偿理论发展及构建的过程,将其总结为生态系统服务概念的提出、生态系统服务价值评估方法的建立、以及生态系统服务市场机制的构建三个主要阶段。已有研究更多集中在生态补偿的具体实施层面,如补偿标准、补偿方式、效果评估等方面,但是对基础理论探讨不足。本文从生态补偿理论发展及构建的三个过程,综述了目前对生态补偿理论的讨论及争议,认为在处理"社会—生态"关系的核心问题上,尤其在一些长期依赖并利用自然资源的传统地区或者民族地区,目前学术界和政策决策者均对此问题缺乏深入的理解,这也是实践中生态补偿政策未达到理想效果的主要原因之一。最后,本文提出用"社会生态系统服务"一词代替目前所使用的"生态系统服务",这一概念有助于在理论上避免忽视社会系统及社会与生态系统二者之间的关系,减少不当外部政策干预。     

Hierarchical priority setting for restoration in a watershed in NE Spain, based on assessments of soil erosion and ecosystem services

Maintaining and enhancing ecosystem services through the restoration of degraded ecosystems have become an important biodiversity conservation strategy. Deciding where to restore ecosystems for the attainment of multiple services is a key issue for future planning, management, and human well-being. Most restoration projects usually entail a small number of actions in a local area and do not consider the potential benefits of planning restoration at broad regional scales. We developed a hierarchical priority setting approach to evaluate the performance of restoration measures in a semiarid basin in NE Spain (the Martín River Basin, 2,112 km²). Our analysis utilized a combination of erosion (a key driver of degradation in this Mediterranean region) and six spatially explicit ecosystem services data layers (five of these maps plotted surrogates for soil retention and accumulation, water supply and regulation, and carbon storage, and one plotted a cultural service, ecotourism). Hierarchical maps were generated using a geographic information system that combined areas important for providing a bundle of ecosystem services, as state variables, with erosion maps, as the disturbance or regulatory variable. This was performed for multiple scales, thereby identifying the most adequate scale of analysis and establishing a spatial hierarchy of restoration actions based on the combination of the evaluation of erosion rates and the provision of ecosystem services. Our approach provides managers with a straightforward method for determining the spatial distribution of values for a set of ecosystem services in relation to ecological degradation thresholds and for allocating efforts and resources for restoration projects in complex landscapes.     

Irrigation canals as tools for climate change adaptation and fish biodiversity management in Southern France

This paper is based on the interdisciplinary research conducted in the south of France that analyses the different economic, social and environmental roles played by agricultural irrigation canals. We argue that beyond their productive role, which is to supply farmers with water, they fulfil other environmental services and play an important role in the context of future climate change to face challenges of adaptation. We point up several ecosystem services provided by such canals, e.g. replenishing the groundwater table, the development of riparian vegetation and wet areas in the Mediterranean zone, tools for regulating flooding and drought, the bases for new cultural approaches to nature. Moreover, they play an important role in the maintenance of an ichthyological biodiversity that is indispensable for the persistence of natural ecosystem. Functioning as an ecological corridor, they display interesting capacities as refuges for certain fish species under stress. Indeed, they can potentially connect upstream and downstream zones over a continuum of more than 300 km and thus covering very contrasted climatic zones (alpine versus Mediterranean). For now, most of these services remain largely unknown and underestimated. However, they serve as assets for territorial development since they combine economic, ecological and social factors whose remodelling is becoming increasingly necessary in the face of climate change.     

Critical linkages between land-use transition and human health in the Himalayan region

This article reviews critical linkages between land-use transition and human health in the Himalayan region by applying ecosystem approaches to human health (or EcoHealth). Land-use transition in the Himalayan and similar regions includes sedentarization, agricultural intensification, habitat modification, migration, change of livelihoods and lifestyles, biodiversity loss, and increasing flash floods. These transitions, which can have impacts on human health, are driven by state policies, a market economy, and climate change. Human health is dependent on access to ecosystem services for food, nutrition, medicine, fiber and shelter, fresh water, and clear air. Ecosystem management has been a key means of controlling disease vectors and creating suitable habitats for human well-being. The paper identifies the web of environmental factors that influence human health. Institutional and policy issues for land-use and health transitions are also discussed.     

Stakeholder perceptions of grassland ecosystem services in relation to knowledge on soil fertility and biodiversity

The concept of ecosystem services is increasingly being used by scientists and policy makers. However, most studies in this area have focussed on factors that regulate ecosystem functions (i.e. the potential to deliver ecosystem services) or the supply of ecosystem services. In contrast, demand for ecosystem services (i.e. the needs of beneficiaries) or understanding of the concept and the relative ranking of different ecosystem services by beneficiaries has received limited attention. The aim of this study was to identify in three European mountain regions the ecosystem services of grassland that different stakeholders identify (which ecosystem services for whom), the relative rankings of these ecosystem services, and how stakeholders perceive the provision of these ecosystem services to be related to agricultural activities. We found differences: (1) between farmers?? perceptions of ecosystem services across regions and (2) within regions, between knowledge of ecosystem services gained by regional experts through education and farmers?? local field-based knowledge. Nevertheless, we identified a common set of ecosystem services that were considered important by stakeholders across the three regions, including soil stability, water quantity and quality, forage quality, conservation of botanical diversity, aesthetics and recreation (for regional experts), and forage quantity and aesthetic (for local farmers). We observed two contrasting stakeholder representations of the effects of agricultural management on ecosystem services delivery, one negative and the other positive (considering low to medium management intensity). These representations were determined by stakeholders?? perceptions of the relationships between soil fertility and biodiversity. Overall, differences in perceptions highlighted in this study show that practitioners, policy makers and researchers should be more explicit in their uses of the ecosystem services concept in order to be correctly understood and to foster improved communication among stakeholders.     

Risk perception research: socio-cultural perspectives on the public experience of air pollution

This paper reviews recent work in the field of risk perception research, taking its examples primarily from work relating to air pollution issues. The paper opens with a brief discussion of the psychological literature on risk perception, in order to set out the key insights, criticisms and more recent developments associated with such approaches, before turning to the findings of recent socio-cultural analyses of perceptions of air pollution. This account, which considers how social and cultural factors influence the way in which people interpret and make sense of risk, draws linkages with psychological risk perception research, revealing that over the last decade there has been a pronounced degree of convergence between the conclusions being reached across these two (historically disparate) fields of research. The paper concludes by evaluating the relevance of risk perception research for the science and policy of risk assessment and management.     

Training future experts in “biodiversity and ecosystem services”: a progress report

Biodiversity is essential for multiple aspects of human life and well-being, but many current assessments of the functioning of biodiversity and ecosystems, understanding of risks posed by environmental change and the best practice of their management of ecosystems are lacking a unified scientific and conceptual basis. Methods such as scenario analysis, and terms such as ecosystem services, are widely used, but their meaning is understood in many different ways depending on context, user needs and experience of researchers. In order to advance the conceptual basis for ecosystem analysis and management in a rapidly changing world, as well as the ability of young scientists to reflect upon these concepts, we have organised five 2-week-long summer schools in Peyresq, a remote village in the Southern French Alps. In total 173 participants have worked intensively with 69 experienced researchers and a team of conveners and tutors in order to discuss a broad range of views on topics on ecosystem analysis and functioning. Topics ranged from conditions of and threats to various ecosystems due to environmental change, models and scenarios for assessment, stakeholder perceptions and needs for information, to the social and economic contexts for biodiversity. We report our experience from these schools, present the training concept which has emerged from them and suggest lines of further development.

生态系统服务市场化工具:概念、类型与适用

生态系统服务市场化工具作为一种与命令控制型进路相对的环境政策工具,最初与污染问题相联系而出现,之后扩展至生物多样性和生态系统服务的保护,被认为能够更有效地应对市场失灵,为自然资源管理提供正向激励,有助于优化资源配置以及填补生态保护资金缺口。通过对生态系统服务市场化工具概念、类型和适用的考察,可以发现生态系统服务市场化工具的概念虽频繁出现,但界定过于宽泛模糊,几乎泛指所有带有价格成分的工具;生态系统服务市场化工具的类型划分并不一致,基于归纳的类型划分将现行市场化工具归纳为基于价格的机制、基于数量的机制和市场摩擦机制三类,而基于演绎的类型划分,则将市场化工具分为直接市场交易、许可证交易、反向拍卖、科斯类型协议、调控价格变化和自愿性价格信号六类;生态系统服务市场化工具的适用需要以生态系统服务的货币化为前提,受制于制度背景,并且应当针对市场的弊端予以法律规制,确保交易能够真正提供环境效益;市场化工具的选择不仅有赖于数字运算,还应当考虑多种因素并予以权衡,同时综合运用各种市场化或非市场化工具。中国在建立健全生态保护市场体系的过程中,应当把握生态系统服务市场化工具通过生态系统服务货币化和商品化解决环境外部性问题这一实质,理解缓解银行、生态系统服务付费、反向拍卖、生态标签和生态认证等典型市场化工具的运行机理,明确生态系统服务市场化工具适用的前提和规则,更好地发挥市场化工具的积极功效,从而实现特定的环境政策目标。     

Disaggregated contributions of ecosystem services to human well-being: a case study from Eastern Europe

Aggregated analyses of the benefits from ecosystem services (ES) to well-being neglect important differences among beneficiaries and fail to capture the complexity of factors that mediate the ES–well-being relationship. Based on 25 group interviews, we disaggregated the ES–well-being relationships across six groups of potential beneficiaries in a farming landscape in central Romania, Eastern Europe. We explored what mediates distributional patterns of needs and benefits among beneficiaries and identified six contextual factors: (1) characteristics of the appropriated ES; (2) policies, formal institutions, and markets; (3) social and power relations, and informal institutions; (4) household decisions and individual contexts; (5) different perceptions and understandings of equity; and (6) individually held values. Based on these empirically derived factors, we developed a conceptual model of mediating factors that holistically takes into account the contextual space between ES and human beneficiaries. This model provides a framework for unpacking ES–well-being relationships that may guide ES research across varying socioeconomic cases. Notably, this model of mediating factors incorporates an equity perspective that is more refined than the dominant discourse on the relation between poverty and ES (which typically emphasizes that poor people are most dependent on ES, but neglects factors such as power relations and held values). Recognizing multiple contextual factors that shape the contribution of ES to well-being opens doors for harnessing new interdisciplinary collaborations and can help to inform more holistic policy interventions.     

国家级重点生态功能区县生态系统生产总值核算研究——以阿尔山市为例

国家级重点生态功能区是国家重要的生态安全屏障,是保障生态系统稳定的重要区域,生态系统生产总值(GEP)是生态系统为人类福祉和经济社会可持续发展提供的产品与服务价值的总和。核算重点生态功能区县生态系统生产总值(GEP)不仅为揭示区域生态系统为人类福祉和经济社会发展贡献提供了新的手段,同时为完善限制开发区市县政府考核机制和离任审计提供了新的科学方法。本文以国家级重点生态功能区县——阿尔山市为例,运用市场价值法、影子工程法、替代成本法及旅游费用法等研究方法,对阿尔山市生态系统产品提供、调节服务、文化服务3大类11项服务功能进行核算,结果表明:(1)2014年,阿尔山市生态系统生产总值539.88亿元,就生态系统服务类别而言,调节服务价值最高,占88.44%;文化服务价值占8.72%;产品提供价值占2.83%。(2)就不同生态系统服务类型而言,气候调节功能价值最大,占45.33%;固碳释氧价值、水源涵养价值、洪水调蓄价值次之。(3)就不同生态系统类型而言,由大到小排序,森林湿地草地灌丛农田。其中,森林生态系统生产总值最高,占61.99%;湿地次之,占32.44%。     

Recent changes in ecosystem services and human well-being in the Bangladesh coastal zone

This study takes an historical approach in order to establish how the form and function of the social-ecological system that represents the Bangladesh south-western coastal zone has changed over recent decades. Time series data for a range of ecosystem services and drivers are analysed to define the range of trends, the presence of change points, slow and fast variables and the significant drivers of change. Since the 1980s, increasing gross domestic product and per capita income mirror rising levels of food and inland fish production. As a result, the size of population below the poverty line has reduced by ~17 %. In contrast, non-food ecosystem services such as water availability, water quality and land stability have deteriorated. Conversion of rice fields to shrimp farms is almost certainly a factor in increasing soil and surface water salinity. Most of the services experienced statistically significant change points between 1975 and 1980, and among the services, water availability, shrimp farming and maintenance of biodiversity appear to have passed tipping points. An environmental Kuznets curve analysis suggests that the point at which growing economic wealth feeds back into effective environmental protection has not yet been reached for water resources. Trends in indicators of ecosystem services and human well-being point to widespread non-stationary dynamics governed by slowly changing variables with an increased likelihood of systemic threshold changes/tipping points in the near future. The results will feed into simulation models and strategies that can define alternative and sustainable paths for land management.     

Farmer typology, future scenarios and the implications for ecosystem service provision: a case study from south-eastern Spain

Farming communities are increasingly expected to manage their agricultural activities in ways that ensure sustainable flows of a wide range of ecosystem services for society. The land use and management choices that farmers make are dependent upon their socio-economic characteristics and background, and in turn have important implications for the landscape and associated ecosystem services. Thus, a better understanding about the linkages between the characteristics of farmers, farm management and land use is important for managing multifunctional agro-ecosystems. In this paper, we first develop a typology of farmers for Torrealvilla catchment in Murcia, Spain, according to the characteristics of their households and farm management (e.g. the farmer’s age, household income, water access, land tenure and farm labour). This analysis distinguishes six types of farmers. Secondly, we analyse the link between farmer typology and the farmers’ responses to a number of scenarios. The scenarios describe different likely changes to agriculture in the catchment in terms of environmental constraints (irrigation water availability and rainfall pattern) and environmental policy regulation (water taxation and subsidies). This exercise enables us to explore the range of future land use changes that are likely to occur in the study area. The results indicate that: rain-fed agriculture is expected to experience gradual but extensive abandonment; vegetable/fruit farming and pig/animal rearing are likely to stagnate or even decline; and growing of grapes is likely to expand. Thirdly, we qualitatively evaluate how future land use changes are likely to affect key ecosystem services in the study area including future agricultural production and associated local income generation, erosion control, maintenance of the groundwater table and various cultural services associated with a heterogeneous agro-ecosystem. Particular changes such as expansion of grape production will increase food production and local income at the cost of further depletion of the aquifer and increased risk of salinisation. The outcomes of the study highlight that, to be effective, the design of agri-environmental schemes and other government interventions (e.g. specific compulsory regulations on farming practices and associated water use) should carefully take into account the characteristics of the farmers within the area of interest, their land uses and the possible diversity of responses to policy and environmental drivers. Opportunities exist for future studies quantifying the extent of the impacts of ecosystem service provision through formal models combining farmers’ land use decision-making and spatially explicit modelling of landscape processes.     

Research of the Response of Ecosystem to LUCC in Miyun County,Beijing: Based on Ecosystem Services Valuation

Abstract

Miyun County, located in the northeast of Chinese capital Beijing, was underwent remarkable variations in land use in recent years. This paper aimed to detect changes in land use of Miyun from 1997 to 2005, and to qualify the response of ecosystem to LUCC based on ecosystem services valuation. With two-periods TM images, we got land use change data, and then ecosystem services values were calculated using ecosystem services valuation coefficients proposed by Chinese scholar Xie Gaodi. Results showed that water area, farm land and unused land decreased while residential land, forest land, grassland and orchard land increased during the study period. The loss of ESV was RMB 206 million and the main reason was the decrease of water area and farm land area. As for spatial variation, there were most dramatically land use change and ESV decline in reservoir ecological protection region. The coefficient sensitivity analysis indicates that valuation coefficients used in the study are suitable and results are reasonable. The driving forces of ESV loss were rapid population growth and economic development. More work should be done to make eco-environment stay healthy.     

土地利用变化对生态系统服务的影响研究综述

土地利用/覆被变化是全球环境变化的重要组成部分和主要原因之一,不仅带来了地表结构的巨大变化,而且对生态系统服务也造成重要影响。土地利用变化和生态系统服务研究已成为国际上生态学和地理学等跨学科研究的热点之一。从土地利用变化和生态系统服务的概念及其影响因素分析入手,综述了土地利用面积变化、土地利用方式变化和土地利用空间格局变化等对生态系统服务的影响,归纳了土地利用变化对生态系统服务的影响研究的主要方法和模型,分析了相关研究的不足,并提出了加强生态系统服务动态评估方法和时空动态评估模型的研究、强化土地利用变化对生态系统服务影响的生态学机制研究和注重土地利用变化下生态系统服务评估结果的集成应用研究等建议,以期对我国的土地利用变化与生态系统服务评估研究提供科学参考。     

Practices and opportunities of ecosystem service studies for ecological restoration in China

New approaches have emerged in integrating ecosystem services, their structure and function for ecological restoration. As the concept relating with ecosystem services has become widely accepted in last decade in China, its linking with ecological restoration will provide good opportunities and make substantial progress towards sustainable development. By analyzing the traditional ecological restoration procedure in China, we developed a framework of ecological restoration based on ecosystem services valuation. Relevant researches of ecological restoration based on ecosystem services are also carefully reviewed. China’s ecosystem services studies and payments for ecosystem services (PES) experiences were extensively discussed to show the ecological restoration strategy and its change. Two case studies in China were presented to show the framework for ecological restoration based on PES. We suggested that despite the limitations of valuation uncertainties at present, PES could be an opportunity for ecological restoration by evaluating the trade-offs of different stakeholders. In current state in China, challenges and opportunities coexist and scientists should work together in the integrated research of sustainable ecological management and economic development policies.     

Landscape diversity and associated coping strategies during food shortage periods: evidence from the Sudano-Sahelian region of Burkina Faso

The importance of forest resources for rural communities’ livelihoods has increasingly been recognized over the last three decades. Forests provide food, generate incomes, provide supporting (nutrient cycling, pollination), and regulating (climate, diseases, water regulation and purification) services for agriculture, in addition to their aesthetic, cultural and spiritual role. However, most of the studies on forest resource use do not focus on the role of landscape organization in addressing the impact of climate variability and the risk of food insecurity. This study aims to examine the contribution of woodlands and trees towards decreasing the risk of food insecurity and the importance of landscape structure and composition in coping with food shortages. It took place in two villages in Burkina Faso, on both ends of the woodlands and tree-cover spectrum. We demonstrate that in both landscapes, ecosystem goods, such as shea nuts and fuelwood, represent a safety net for households during food shortage periods. We demonstrate that households shape their adaptive strategies differently depending on the resources available and the structure of the landscape. People living in a landscape with a savannah matrix (Sorobouly) rely on fuelwood trade to purchase cereals, while those living in a landscape with a parkland matrix (Kalembouly) rely on shea nuts. Agricultural, environmental and climate change policies that reinforce the rights of the most vulnerable to access key resources provided by these landscapes and development programs which assure their sustainable use will simultaneously enhance food security and increase their adaptive capacity in the face of climate change and variability.