Assessment of the Spatial Dynamics and Interactions among Multiple Ecosystem Services to Promote Effective Policy Making across Mediterranean Island Landscapes

Spatial characterization of forest ecosystem services and human-induced complexities in Himalayan biodiversity hotspot area

The forest ecosystem of Indian Himalayan Region offers various ecosystem services (ESs) that are crucial for the sustenance of human beings. However, the rapid expansion of human activities (HA) poses a significant threat to the provision of the forest ecosystem services (FES). For simple and definitive assessments of FES and HA, the use of indicators has become an indispensable approach. In the present study, we performed: (i) indicator-based mapping of FES and HA, and (ii) evaluated the impact of HA on FES with the aid of geospatial techniques. Village-level analysis was conducted for FES and HA in the Aglar watershed of Uttarakhand, India for 2015. Four dominant forest types in the watershed-Quercus mixed, Pinus roxburghii, Cedrus deodara, and mixed forest were considered. For spatial characterization of FES, indicators such as forest carbon stock, net primary productivity, total water retention, and sediment yield were assessed, whereas human activity index (HAI) was evaluated using indicators of HAs, namely population density, road density, farmland, and habitation ratio. The integration of normalized values of FES indicators generated multiple ecosystem services indicator (MESI), and HAI was contructed using analytical hierarchical process based assignment of weights to HA indicators. Spatial analysis techniques such as ordinary least-square regression (OLS) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models were used to derive the spatial relationship between them. The adjusted R2 and AIC were utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of the model. The GWR model had a better fit with an adjusted R2 of 0.68 and a lower AIC of 42.940, compared to the OLS model with an adjusted R2 of 0.21 and an AIC of 60.52. The statistics showed that GWR performed better than OLS and ably captured the heteroscedasticity of the phenomena. An inverse relation was observed between MESI and HAI. The findings of the study highlight the close link between the supply of FES and the impact of human-induced disturbances over the provision of FES, which has the potential to increase over time. The study provides a scientific basis for structuring policy dialogues to coordinate the long-term regional sustainability of FES provisioned from the Himalayan regions.

Mapping the functional connectivity of ecosystem services supply across a regional landscape

Sustainably managing multifunctional landscapes for production of multiple ecosystem services (ES) requires thorough understanding of the interactions between ES and the ecological processes that drive them. We build upon landscape connectivity theory to present a spatial approach for assessing functional connections between multiple ES at the landscape scale, and take a closer look at the concept of ES interactions by explicitly representing the mechanisms behind the relationships between ES. We demonstrate application of the approach using existing ES supply mapping data for plant agriculture, waterflow regulation, and landscape aesthetics and map the functional connectivity between them. We find that, when weights of all linkages were amalgamated, areas of high-value connectivity are revealed that are not present on any individual ES supply area or pairwise link maps, which suggests that the spatial focus of planning for optimal service provisioning may shift when functional relationships between several ES are considered. From water flow supply areas, our modeling maps several functional connections that operate over both short and long distances, which highlights the importance of managing ES flows both locally and across jurisdictions. We also found that different land use and land cover types than those associated with ES supply areas may be serving as critical corridors connecting interdependent ES. By providing spatial information on ES connectivity, our approach enables local and regional environmental planning and management to take full consideration of the complex, multi-scale interactions between ecological processes, land use and land cover, and ecosystem service supply on a landscape.

Management of Slum-Based Urban Farming and Economic Empowerment of the Community of Makassar City, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

The handling of slums based on urban farming and community empowerment is oriented toward improving the welfare and independence of the community. This study aimed to (1) analyze the influence of business motivation, human resource capacity, community participation, and economic business management on the economic empowerment in the handling of slums; (2) analyze the direct and indirect effects of urban farming, community capacity, and capital support efforts to improve the welfare and independence of the community; and (3) formulate a sustainability model for community-based slum management in the Metro Tanjung Bunga area. The research approach used was a sequential explanatory design, which is a combination of quantitative and qualitative research, and data were obtained through observation, surveys, in-depth interviews, and documentation. The research findings show that business motivation, human resource capacity, community participation, and economic business management have a significant effect on economic empowerment. The direct influence of urban farming increases the welfare of the community by 27.66%, strengthens the capacity of the community to increase welfare by 55.95%, and provides business capital support to improve community welfare by 36.72%. Urban farming, community capacity-building, and business capital support provide a positive effect on improving the welfare and independence of the community in slums. Sustainability in slum settlements includes infrastructure, developing economic potential, and community participation.

Land use management based on multi-scenario allocation and trade-offs of ecosystem services in Wafangdian County, Liaoning Province, China

Developing effective methods to coordinate the trade-offs among ecosystem services (ES) is important for achieving inclusive growth and sustainable development, and has been the focus of scholars and ecosystem managers globally. Using remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) data, our study examined Wafangdian County of Liaoning Province as a case study to reveal the spatiotemporal evolution of four ES (food supply [FS], net primary productivity [NPP], water yield [WY], and soil conservation [SC]) and changes among their interactions. Then, an ordered weighted averaging model was introduced to simulate the optimal scenario of ES allocation. Results showed that: (1) the spatial and temporal changes in ES were significant over 14 years. All ES presented an inverted U-shaped growth curve from 2000–2014. (2) Synergies were observed within provisioning services, and there were trade-offs between provisioning services and regulating services, as well as provisioning services and supporting services. (3) The optimal scenario for Wafangdian was scenario 5 (trade-off coefficient, 0.68). The allocation of FS, NPP, WY, and SC in scenario 5 were 0.187, 0.427, 0.131, and 0.063, respectively. Implementing each ES weight of optimal scenario in land use management contributed to achieving intercoordination of ES. We propose to coordinate land and sea management to restore natural habitats that were expanded into in the high ES area. It is our anticipation that this study could provide a scientific basis for optimizing the allocation of ES and improving land use structure of coastal zones in the future.

Bio-Based Production Systems: Why Environmental Assessment Needs to Include Supporting Systems

The transition to a bio-based economy is expected to deliver substantial environmental and economic benefits. However, bio-based production systems still come with significant environmental challenges, and there is a need for assessment methods that are adapted for the specific characteristics of these systems. In this review, we investigated how the environmental aspects of bio-based production systems differ from those of non-renewable systems, what requirements these differences impose when assessing their sustainability, and to what extent mainstream assessment methods fulfil these requirements. One unique characteristic of bio-based production is the need to maintain the regenerative capacity of the system. The necessary conditions for maintaining regenerative capacity are often provided through direct or indirect interactions between the production system and surrounding “supporting” systems. Thus, in the environmental assessment, impact categories affected in both the primary production system and the supporting systems need to be included, and impact models tailored to the specific context of the study should be used. Development in this direction requires efforts to broaden the system boundaries of conventional environmental assessments, to increase the level of spatial and temporal differentiation, and to improve our understanding of how local uniqueness and temporal dynamics affect the performance of the investigated system.

The critical role of abiotic factors and human activities in the supply of ecosystem services in the ES matrix

In Western Europe, ecosystems have been shaped to maximise the supply of one specific biomass provisioning ecosystem service (ES), such as food or timber, with detrimental impacts on other ES. The ES approach has therefore been established to better understand the multiple interactions between human society and ecosystems. A variety of methods have been developed to assess ES and their relationships, for instance the ES matrix model based on land cover classes. This popular, flexible and simple method allows combining different data sources and easily comparing ES. However, in general, this method poorly takes into account landscape heterogeneity while abiotic factors and human activities seem to play an important role in ES supply. The objective of this paper is twofold: (1) to extent the methodology based on the ES matrix model by including abiotic factors and human activities and (2) to test the impacts of these two types of factors on ES supply and their relationships.

The assessment focused on the capacity of the forest to supply six ES depending on six types of soil ranging from productive soils to more constraining or less productive soils (i.e. abiotic factors) and two contrasting forest management strategies (i.e. human activities). This amended ES matrix was applied on one hand, to map the supply of ES and their relationships in four municipalities in the Ardenne ecoregion (Southern Belgium) and on the other hand, to investigate the impacts of three scenarios (i.e. three different management strategies) on ES supply and their relationships.

The amended ES matrix shows large differences in ES supply between the two forest management strategies on the more constraining and less productive soils, creating differences in the spatial pattern of ES. The changes in ES supply amongst the three scenarios and the current supply were quantified to identify the best management options.

In conclusion, one particular forest is not like another in terms of ES supply and their relationships. To capture this heterogeneity, we propose an amended ES matrix including abiotic factors and human activities. The maps, based on this matrix, allow identifying the hotspots (i.e. high capacity to supply different ES) and coldspots (i.e. low capacity to supply different ES or strong trade-offs between provisioning ES and regulating/cultural ES). Forest management should be adapted to the abiotic conditions, in particular in the coldspots, to ensure a more balanced supply of ES.

New Strategies to Improve Co-Management in Enclosed Coastal Seas and Wetlands Subjected to Complex Environments: Socio-Economic Analysis Applied to an International Recovery Success Case Study after an Environmental Crisis

Enclosed coastal seas and wetlands are areas of high ecological value with singular fauna and flora, but several cases of environmental catastrophes in recent decades can easily be referenced in the international literature. The management of these natural territories is complex in developed countries since they are usually subjected to intense human activity with a varied catalog of activities and anthropizing features that alter the balance of the ecosystem. In this article, the concept of the Socio-Ecological System (SES) to diagnose and achieve a sustainable cohabitation between human anthropization and the natural values based on the tool of GIS participatory mapping is proposed as an innovative approach for the management and recovery of these complex areas. The article develops a comprehensive general methodology of spatial GIS diagnosis, planning, and co-management implementation between public and private stakeholders combined with economic tools such as the Willingness to Pay (WTP) and the Cost Transfer Sector (CTS). This innovative approach is applied to the Mar Menor lagoon, which is an international and successful case study of environmental recovery on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. The coastal lagoon suffered an unprecedented eutrophication crisis in 2015, but it managed to recover in the summer of 2018 without the need to implement major structural measures. In this case study, several solutions to redress the current impacts will be developed through a participatory process based on GIS mapping. Lastly, the discussion reflects the concept of self-resilience of an ecosystem based on the unexpected positive turn of the environmental crisis in the lagoon ending.