Theory and practice of water ecosystem services valuation: Where are we going?

Hackbart, Vivian Cristina dos Santos; Lima, Guilherme Theodoro Nascimento Pereira de; Santos, Rozely Ferreira dos

doi:10.1016/j.ecoser.2016.12.010

Cited by 65 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…Water provision is a vital ES for human being’s survival and a most widely cited ES. In many studies on water provision, the quantity, quality and spatial-temporal distribution of water resources are analyzed separately (Hackbart et al, 2017). In this work, we just used the water quantity for evaluating the ES OCV of water provision, and then quantified the PES among the hydrologic units of Zhujiang River Basin.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying the Payments for Ecosystem Services among hydrologic units in Zhujiang River Basin, China based on the indicator of Optional Capacity Value

Yang

Zhao

Chen

2019

Preprint

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 1 Ecosystem services (ES) are fundamental to human being's livelihoods, production and survival. 2However, the spatial mismatch between ES supply and demand is a common phenomenon. 3Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) provide a way to promote the complementary advantages 4 and benefits equilibrium between ES supplier and beneficiary. At present, PES is mainly based on 5 the tradeoff between the profit and loss of ecological conservation. The quantifying of PES mainly 6 uses the opportunity cost of ES supplier and follows the principle of additionality, which neglects 7 the benefits that arise from the basic (contrast to additional) ES experienced by ES beneficiary and 8 ignores the rights and interests of ES supplier who supplies the basic ES. To resolve this problem, 9we proposed that we should set the value of ES experienced by ES beneficiary as the quantitative 10 indicator of PES. Here, we introduced a new indicator (optional capacity value, OCV) to 11 implement this idea. The ES OCV indicates the optional capacity of supporting the total value 12 produced by human being's economic and social activities provided by the total volume of an ES. 13In this paper, we calculated the ES OCV of water provision in Zhujiang River Basin (Pearl River 14 Basin), China. Then, we discussed three scenarios of quantifying PES, based on the principles of 15(1) interests sharing and responsibilities bearing and (2) equal pay for equal work. The results 16showed that the ES OCV could describe the conditions that water resources in a hydrologic unit 17 not only provide benefits to the hydrologic unit itself, but also provide benefits to downstream 18 hydrologic units, and then could be a quantitative indicator for PES. This research provides a new 19 PES scheme which would promote the coordinated development and ecological conservation 20 among the regions with mismatch between ES supply and demand. 21 22

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying the Payments for Ecosystem Services among hydrologic units in Zhujiang River Basin, China based on the indicator of Optional Capacity Value

Yang

Zhao

Chen

2019

Preprint

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“…By providing solutions that foster ecosystem functions and related services, the integration of the ES concept in water resources management seems capable of tackling this challenge [15]. ES related to water such as "freshwater for domestic use" are among the most important ES for human wellbeing [16]. To guarantee their sustainable use as well as to protect relevant ecosystem properties such as the capacity to regulate and store water, a systematic approach combining geographical (catchments) and institutional borders is needed for the Alpine region.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Freshwater Provision and Consumption in the Alpine Space Applying the Ecosystem Service Concept

et al. 2019

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A key challenge in the sustainable management of freshwater is related to non-stationary processes and transboundary requirements. The assessment of freshwater is often hampered due to small-scale analyses, lacking data and with the focus on only its provision. Based on the ecosystem service (ES) concept, this study aims at quantitatively comparing potential water supply with the demand for freshwater in the European Alps and their surrounding lowlands. We propose an easy-to-use combination of different mapping approaches, including a large-scale hydrologic model to estimate water supply and the downscaling of regional data to the local scale to map demand. Our results demonstrate spatial mismatches between supply and demand and a high dependency of the densely populated lowlands from water providing mountain areas. Under expected climate variations and future demographic changes, our results suggest increasing pressures on freshwater in the south of the Alps. Hence, sustainable water management strategies need to assure the supply of freshwater under changing environmental conditions to meet the increasing water demand of urbanized areas in the lowlands. Moreover, national water management strategies need to be optimally concerted at the international level, as transboundary policies and frameworks can strengthen future water provision.

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“…Unsustainable patterns of anthropogenic water use are a major concern due to increasing population growth and demand for goods and services [1][2][3]. The allocation of natural resources for extractive purposes, like metallic, non-metallic or energy mineral mining, results in considerable shifts in the benefit flow from ecosystems to humans.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Freshwater Ecosystem Services in Mining Regions: Modelling Options for Policy Development Support

Mercado‐Garcia

Wyseure

Goethals

2018

Water

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The ecosystem services (ES) approach offers an integrated perspective of social-ecological systems, suitable for holistic assessments of mining impacts. Yet for ES models to be policy-relevant, methodological consensus in mining contexts is needed. We review articles assessing ES in mining areas focusing on freshwater components and policy support potential. Twenty-six articles were analysed concerning (i) methodological complexity (data types, number of parameters, processes and ecosystem-human integration level) and (ii) potential applicability for policy development (communication of uncertainties, scenario simulation, stakeholder participation and management recommendations). Articles illustrate mining impacts on ES through valuation exercises mostly. However, the lack of ground-and surface-water measurements, as well as insufficient representation of the connectivity among soil, water and humans, leave room for improvements. Inclusion of mining-specific environmental stressors models, increasing resolution of topographies, determination of baseline ES patterns and inclusion of multi-stakeholder perspectives are advantageous for policy support. We argue that achieving more holistic assessments exhorts practitioners to aim for high social-ecological connectivity using mechanistic models where possible and using inductive methods only where necessary. Due to data constraints, cause-effect networks might be the most feasible and best solution. Thus, a policy-oriented framework is proposed, in which data science is directed to environmental modelling for analysis of mining impacts on water ES.

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Theory and practice of water ecosystem services valuation: Where are we going?

Cited by 65 publications

References 86 publications

Quantifying the Payments for Ecosystem Services among hydrologic units in Zhujiang River Basin, China based on the indicator of Optional Capacity Value

Quantifying the Payments for Ecosystem Services among hydrologic units in Zhujiang River Basin, China based on the indicator of Optional Capacity Value

Assessing Freshwater Provision and Consumption in the Alpine Space Applying the Ecosystem Service Concept

Freshwater Ecosystem Services in Mining Regions: Modelling Options for Policy Development Support

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