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Ecosystem Goods and Service Tools
Citation:
Sharpe, L., T. Newcomer-Johnson, AND A. Neale. Ecosystem Goods and Service Tools. Ecosystem Services: Tools and Applications from EPA, NA - Virtual, FL, November 01, 2022.
Impact/Purpose:
This presentation with requested by Department of Interior economists. The goal is to share EPA-developed ecosystem goods and services tools for potential use in meeting the goals of the White House Natural Capital Accounting initiative.
Description:
The concept of final ecosystem goods and services (FEGS) are the aspects of the environment directly enjoyed, used, or consumed by humans. The central feature of FEGS is that ecosystems are viewed through the diverse ways people directly benefit from them. The USEPA has developed classification systems for these services, the latest version is the National Ecosystem Services Classification System (NESCS) Plus. The standardization made available by NESCS Plus allows other tools and databases developed with NESCS Plus categories to interact. These presentations provide an overview of NESCS Plus-based tools useful for implementing ecosystem services analysis. The consistent framework allows tool users to smoothly move from one to another and build upon the results from each to answer a variety of questions for decision makers. The FEGS Scoping Tool helps users determine what ecosystem services are relevant to a decision, project, or area by harnessing FEGS understanding to understand the relative importance of relevant beneficiaries and the biophysical aspects of the environment of direct relevance to those beneficiaries. The FEGS Metrics Report can then provide guidance on how to measure and monitor those priority services. The EnviroAtlas, a powerful tool, provides geospatial data and other resources related to ecosystem services, their chemical and non-chemical stressors, and connections to human health. And finally, the EcoService Models Library, a database of ecological models, contains crosswalks from NESCS Plus that allow users to model those priority services. Each of these tools is valuable on their own, but together they provide a powerful approach to easily incorporate ecosystem services into decision-making in ways that focus on priority benefits to humans.