Ecosystem Services

Introduction 2 The 1995 adoption by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) of the Ecosystem Approach as its primary framework (Secretariat of the CBD, 2000) stimulated interest in how natural systems deliver ecosystem services to societies around the world. Further stimuli have been the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) and the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (2011). In response there has been a very substantial research effort coalescing around improving understanding of: 1) measuring and mapping ecosystem services; 2) how natural systems and their biodiversity deliver ecosystem services; 3) the valuation of ecosystem services; 4) how interactions between people and the environment deliver services; 5) how ecosystem services and the ecosystem approach support sustainable land management. Research in the 2011-2016 Scottish Government Strategic Research Programme addresses these questions, and this booklet summarises its headline findings. We begin with fundamentals, considering the terminology which has built up around the Ecosystem Approach and ecosystem service concepts (Chapter 1), and the role of biodiversity in regulating ecosystem functions (Chapter 2). Modelling and mapping of ecosystem services starts to demonstrate national-level patterns of service delivery (Chapter 3). However, some services - including cultural services - remain difficult to assess; new approaches are therefore needed (Chapter 4). Valuation of ecosystem services enables the development of natural capital accounts, but there are multiple approaches and a need for context-appropriate methods (Chapter 5). Case studies explore how approaches to participatory decision-making (in some cases using service mapping and valuation) can help balance multiple demands for services (Chapter 6). Decision-making can be further aided by tools for envisaging how particular policy goals might lead to different configurations of land use (Chapter 7). Considering the Ecosystem Approach overall (which includes ecosystem service assessments), there may be key barriers which impede the uptake of this type of framework (Chapter 8), whilst a considerable challenge at the local scale is understanding how people’s interactions with the environment generate ecosystem services (Chapter 9). Two case studies demonstrate how many ecosystem services are co-produced by people and ecosystems, highlighting limitations of existing ecosystem service assessments. Finally we explore ES delivery by specific ecosystems and management regimes. Considering delivery of water-related services in catchments and peatlands (Chapter 10), we see how ‘environmental’ policies support Scottish society and the economy. Consideration of service delivery in cropland systems (Chapter 11) shows that - particularly in intensively farmed systems - key supporting services are reduced, but also that data are available to target action for service restoration. Finally we explore nature conservation and ecosystem service delivery (Chapter 12), demonstrating that sites managed for nature conservation overall deliver higher levels of services than non-protected sites, but also highlighting limitations in the data available for assessments. The work introduced here addresses many of the key challenges of developing and implementing the ecosystem service and Ecosystem Approach concepts and highlights important future directions to progress this field. Rob Brooker, Alison Hester, Robin Pakeman (The James Hutton Institute) rob.brooker@hutton.ac.uk