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PRACTICAL STRATEGIES FOR DECISION SUPPORT BASED ON STRUCTURED DECISION MAKING AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
Citation:
Fulford, R., S. Yee, Tim Canfield, J. Hoffman, Bob McKane, M. Harwell, L. Sharpe, AND K. Williams. PRACTICAL STRATEGIES FOR DECISION SUPPORT BASED ON STRUCTURED DECISION MAKING AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES. 55th Annual Ouachita River Valley Association Annual Meeting, West Monroe, LA, August 11 - 12, 2022.
Impact/Purpose:
This presentation is for a public advocacy organization closely associated with the clients for the original research. This presentation is an opportunity to increase awareness of the work and promote its use in community decision making.
Description:
The consideration of ecosystem services in local decision making is greatly aided by the development of a formal decisional framework. The concept of Final Ecosystem Goods and Services (FEGS) explicitly connects ecosystem services to people and this connection greatly aids the process of ecosystem service assessment. Here we present the results of a case study application of practical strategies for incorporating FEGS, and more broadly ecosystem services, into the decision-making process. The goal was to look for common elements across a suite of case studies in different regions of the country and dealing with different issues so to inform the transfer and use of these practical strategies in new communities. Whether a decision process is in early or late stages, or whether a process includes informal or formal decision analysis, there are multiple points where ecosystem services concepts can be integrated. This decisional framework is centered on Structured Decision Making (SDM) as an organizing framework to illustrate the role ecosystem services can play in a values-focused decision-process. Ecosystem services can help clarify the potential impacts of a decision based on supply and delivery of those services and help identify beneficiaries for inclusion as stakeholders in the deliberative process. Ecosystem services may directly represent stakeholder objectives or may be means toward achieving other objectives. Ecosystem services can bring to light creative alternatives for achieving other social, economic, health, or general well-being objectives. Ecosystem services assessments can inform ecological production functions (EPFs) and ecological benefits functions (EBFs) to link decision alternatives to stakeholder objectives. The decision process can consider ecosystem services objectives alongside other kinds of objectives (e.g., social, economic) that may or may not be related to ecosystem conditions. Monitoring FEGS after a decision is implemented can help determine whether the incorporation of ecosystem services leads to measurable benefits, or what levels of ecosystem function are needed for meaningful change. An evaluation of impacts on ecosystem services from past decisions can provide a learning opportunity to adapt future decisions.