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How to Classify and Measure Ecosystem Services to Connect to Human Well Being -- Is there an Answer?
Citation:
Landers, D., A. Nahlik, P. Ringold, AND J. Powers. How to Classify and Measure Ecosystem Services to Connect to Human Well Being -- Is there an Answer? Presented at Ecosystem Services Partnership 5th Conference, Portland, OR, July 31 - August 04, 2012.
Impact/Purpose:
This presentation focuses on a new ecosystem classification system developed by ORD that solves many problems that have plagued researchers all over the globe who have attempted to develop an approach to define, classify and quantitfy ecosystems services. As such, there is likely to be considerable interest from the ecosystem services community in this product from a broad range of scientists from the United Nations to Communities.
Description:
Abstract 2.0: Ecosystem services remain poorly defined despite an extensive and growing literature. While approaches are many and varied, none appear to adequately define a systematic, complete, and non-duplicative solution to the crucial problem of connecting ecosystems to human well being. Many approaches to define and classify ecosystem services become entangled in attempts to include a broad range of intermediate services (cf. B. Fisher et al. Ecological Economics 2009, 68:643-653) which tend to be elements of ecological structure, function or process that do not resonate well with most humans (ecologists excepted) and are therefore fraught with problems in connecting ecosystems to human well being. A different approach is needed to successfully implement ecosystem service approaches and attain its considerable promise in policy and decision making. The EPA Office of Research and Development provides scientific support to the policy and regulatory Offices of Water and of Air, among others. This relationship has the potential for collaboration to develop and combine the supply (ecologic) and the demand (economic) side of the ecosystem services issue in one agency. Together, we have developed the basic structure of a National Ecosystem Services Classification System (NESCS). This provisional classification approach interprets land use/land cover information into mappable environmental classes and treats them as the earth's ecological goods and services production sectors, similar to how an industrial classification system (e.g. North American Industrial Classification System) treats industrial groupings. This classification is paired with a beneficiary classification based on the final ecosystem goods and services (e.g. Boyd and Banzhaf 2007) a beneficiary would derive from the environmental classes. These explicit, defined classes of beneficiaries offer a complete and nearly non