Elsevier

Biological Conservation

Volume 184, April 2015, Pages 229-238
Biological Conservation

Review
Making decisions for managing ecosystem services

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2015.01.024Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • It is unknown how ecosystem service assessments could inform environmental decisions.

  • We review the components of a decision making process that have been included to date.

  • We find that stakeholders need to be more engaged in setting objectives and actions.

  • User-related measures of service delivery are required.

Abstract

Numerous assessments have quantified, mapped, and valued the services provided by ecosystems that are important for human wellbeing. However, much of the literature does not clarify how the information gathered in such assessments could be used to inform decisions that will impact ecosystem services. We propose that the process of making management decisions for ecosystem services comprises five core steps: identification of the problem and its social–ecological context; specification of objectives and associated performance measures; defining alternative management actions and evaluating the consequences of these actions; assessment of trade-offs and prioritization of alternative management actions; and making management decisions. We synthesize the degree to which the peer-reviewed ecosystem services literature has captured these steps. For the ecosystem service paradigm to gain traction in science and policy arenas, future ecosystem service assessments should have clearly articulated objectives, seek to evaluate the consequences of alternative management actions, and facilitate closer engagement between scientists and stakeholders.

Keywords

Ecosystem services
Structured decision-making
Objectives
Management actions
Trade-offs

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