Kick start of the drafting of a new scientific strategy for ecoSERVICES

ecoSERVICES reassesses its scientific priorities in the light of new challenges in the field of biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services and their valuation, and the relationship between ecosystem functioning and ecosystem services.

On 10-12 November 2013, over 25 scientists gathered in a workshop in Paris, France, to discuss ecosystem service science with the view to address the objectives of:

• reassessing the scientific priorities of ecoSERVICES,
• developing its new scientific strategy, and
• launching the drafting of this strategy for publication in a scientific journal.

Findings

Participants identified three interconnected thematic focus areas of the future science of ecoSERVICES.

1. How do social-ecological systems provide ecosystem services? (or How, when and where are ES produced?) — This interrogates how, where and when abiotic, biotic and social factors, and their interactions, contribute to the sustainable delivery of ecosystem service bundles. It addresses the understanding of multiples components of ecosystem service delivery. Understanding is needed about how these components, differences in their balance over space and time, are likely to lead to contrasting emergent properties on ecosystem service provisioning. This theme also questions how spatial planning, management and policy can be used to ensure landscape configurations that more optimally sustain a desired bundle of ecosystem services.
2. Who benefits from ecosystem services, where and when? — This one aims to enhance the understanding of how ecosystem services contribute to human wellbeing across different stakeholder groups and across temporal and spatial scales. Its objective is to deliver understanding on how the direct and indirect benefits of ecosystem services contribute to health and other components of human wellbeing and how the use of ecosystem services by some stakeholders may affect other stakeholder groups. It will also reflect on new approaches for more equitable access to ecosystem services.
3. What are good decisions and governance of ecosystem services? — The goal here is to understand and improve decision-making and governance to enhance the contribution of ecosystem services in sustainable human wellbeing. Key entry points to improve governance and decisions will be identified to handle the pervasive nature and complexity of global changes in socio-economic and environmental conditions. The understanding of the role of local and global institutions in shaping ecosystem services and in affecting human behaviour will be improved.

Next steps

In the course of 2014, the results of the workshop will be reviewed and developed in collaboration with interested scientists from inside and outside the scientific committee of ecoSERVICES with a view to draft an publish a science strategy for ecoSERVICES.

Wokshop participants

Elena Bennett, McGill University, Canada; Wolfgang Cramer, Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie marine et continentale (IMBE), France; Ilse Geijzendorffer, IMBE, France; Benis Egoh, European Commission, Italy; Louise Jackson, University of California, USA; Cornelia Krug, DIVERSITAS and bioDISCOVERY; Elena Lazos Chavero, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico; Georgina Mace, University College London, UK; Berta Martín López, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain; Patrick Meyfroidt, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium; Hal Mooney, Stanford University, USA; Jeanne Nel, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa; Unai Pascual, Basque centre for climate change (BC3), Spain; Karine Payet-Lebourges, DIVERSITAS and ecoSERVICES; Natalia Pérez Harguindeguy, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina; Garry Peterson, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Sweden; Anne-Hélène Prieur-Richard, DIVERSITAS; Belinda Reyers, CSIR, South Africa; Peter Roebeling, Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal; Ralf Seppelt, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung (UFZ), Germany; Martin Solan, University of Southampton, UK; Teja Tscharntke, Georg-August-Universität, Germany; B.L. Turner II, Arizona State University, USA; Peter Verburg, Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), The Netherlands; Matt Walpole, UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC); Piran White, University of York, UK; and Guy Woodward, Imperial College London, UK

This workshop was organised and sponsored by DIVERSITAS.