International benchmarking: Policy responses to biodiversity and climate change in OECD countries

Responding to global environmental issues like biodiversity loss and climate change challenge national governments and intergovernmental bodies. A conventional response has been to set targets. Yet to achieve targets, governments must implement effective policies. Indicators that track policy implementation could provide information on individual country progress towards targets and for international benchmarking. We take up a recommendation from Convention on Biological Diversity mandated experts to develop a policy indicator(s) for biodiversity. This expert group identified four indicator attributes: identification, establishment, strengthening and assessment. We review biodiversity (and climate change) policies implemented in the period 1952–2012 in 54 nations using an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) database. We find: the number of countries implementing biodiversity policies increased steadily until the end of the 2000s (identification); evidence of continuous innovation in the types of policy instruments implemented (establishment); and evidence of policy revision and shifts in jurisdiction (strengthening). To overcome a lack of data to evaluate policy effectiveness (assessment) we suggest improvements in data collection and the possibility to combine the OECD database with other databases

Ecosystem services assessment at Steart Peninsula, Somerset, UK

© 2014 Elsevier B.V. A systemic valuation was undertaken of marginal changes in ecosystem services assessed as likely to result from the Steart Coastal Management project, some in monetary terms and others semi-quantified. The Steart Coastal Management project entails allowing seawater once again to inundate formerly defended farmland, including modifications to the landform of to assist the re-creation of a range of wetland habitats on the Steart Peninsula. Primary drivers for this project include habitat creation and management of coastal flooding, although implications for a range of other connected services need also to be taken into account. Ecosystem services for which a market exists (typically traded goods with associated use values) were valued using market prices. For non-traded services, this study relied substantially on the economic valuation technique of 'value transfer'. Despite having to rely on some wide but transparently stated assumptions and uncertainties, a conservative, yet considerable, net annual benefit range of £491,155 to £913,752 was deduced. Research gaps that limited our ability to quantify and/or value several ecosystem services were identified

Interactions between climate change and land use change on biodiversity: attribution problems, risks, and opportunities

Global change drivers are known to interact in their effects on biodiversity, but much research to date ignores this complexity. As a consequence, there are problems in the attribution of biodiversity change to different drivers and, therefore, our ability to manage habitats and landscapes appropriately. Few studies explicitly acknowledge and account for interactive (i.e., nonadditive) effects of land use and climate change on biodiversity. One reason is that the mechanisms by which drivers interact are poorly understood. We evaluate such mechanisms, including interactions between demographic parameters, evolutionary trade-offs and synergies and threshold effects of population size and patch occupancy on population persistence. Other reasons for the lack of appropriate research are limited data availability and analytical issues in addressing interaction effects. We highlight the influence that attribution errors can have on biodiversity projections and discuss experimental designs and analytical tools suited to this challenge. Finally, we summarize the risks and opportunities provided by the existence of interaction effects. Risks include ineffective conservation management; but opportunities also arise, whereby the negative impacts of climate change on biodiversity can be reduced through appropriate land management as an adaptation measure. We hope that increasing the understanding of key mechanisms underlying interaction effects and discussing appropriate experimental and analytical designs for attribution will help researchers, policy makers, and conservation practitioners to better minimize risks and exploit opportunities provided by land use-climate change interactions

Mapping natural capital: optimising the use of national scale datasets

Understanding the spatial distribution of specific environmental variables and the interdependencies of these variables is crucial for managing the environment in a sustainable way. Here we discuss two methods of mapping – a Geographical Information System classification-based approach and a statistical model-based approach. If detailed, spatially comprehensive covariate datasets exist to complement the ecological-response data, then using a statistical model-based analysis provides the potential for greater understanding of underlying relationships, as well as the uncertainty in the spatial predictions. Further, the model-based approach facilitates scenario testing. Although similar methods are already adopted in species distribution modeling, the flexibility of the model framework used is rarely exploited to go beyond modeling occupancy or suitability for a single species, into modeling complex derived metrics such as community composition and indicators of natural capital. As an example, we assess the potential benefits of the statistical model-based approach to mapping natural capital through the use of two national survey datasets; The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) Land Cover Map (LCM) and the British Geological Survey’s (BGS) Parent Material Model (PMM), to predict national soil microbial community distributions based on data from a sample of > 1000 soils covering Great Britain. The results are mapped and compared against a more traditional, land classification-based approach. The comparison shows that, although the maps look broadly similar, the model-based approach provides better overall spatial prediction, and the contribution of individual model terms (along with their uncertainty) are far easier to understand and interpret, whilst also facilitating any scenario testing. We therefore both recommend the use of spatial statistical modelling techniques to map natural capital and anticipate that they will become more prominent over the forthcoming years

Patriotic values for public goods: transnational trade-offs for biodiversity and ecosystem services?

The natural environment is central to human well-being through its role in ecosystem service (ES) provision. Managing ES often requires coordination across international borders. Although this may deliver greater conservation gains than countries acting alone, we do not know whether the public supports such an international approach. Using the same questionnaire in three countries, we quantified public preferences for ES in home countries and across international borders. In all three countries, the people were generally willing to pay for ES. However, our results show that there is a limit to the extent that environmental goods can be considered global. ES with a use element (habitat conservation, landscape preservation) attracted a patriotic premium, such that the people were willing to pay significantly more for locally delivered services. Supranational management of ES needs to be balanced against the preferences that people have for services delivered in their home countries

Subjective well-being indicators for large-scale assessment of cultural ecosystem services

The substantial importance of cultural benefits as a source of human well-being is increasingly recognised in society-environment interactions. The integration of cultural ecosystem services (CES) into the ecosystem services framework remains a challenge due to the difficulties associated with defining, articulating and measuring CES. We operationalise a novel framework developed by the UK National Ecosystem Assessment that identifies CES as the interactions between environmental spaces (i.e. physical localities or landscapes), and the activities that occur there. We evaluate the benefits of the CES provided by 151 UK marine sites to recreational sea anglers and divers, using subjective well-being indicators. Factor analysis of an online questionnaire with 1220 participants revealed multiple CES benefits that contribute to human wellbeing e.g. including ‘engagement with nature’, ‘place identity’ and ‘therapeutic value’. In addition to regional differences, we also found that biophysical attributes of sites, such as the presence of charismatic species and species diversity, were positively associated with provision of CES benefits. The study provides evidence that could be used to inform designation of protected areas. The indicators used in the study may also be adapted for use across a range of marine and terrestrial spaces for improved integration of CES in environmental decisionmaking

A model of the extent and distribution of woody linear features in rural Great Britain

Hedges and lines of trees (woody linear features) are important boundaries that connect and enclose habitats, buffer the effects of land management, and enhance biodiversity in increasingly impoverished landscapes. Despite their acknowledged importance in the wider countryside, they are usually not considered in models of landscape function due to their linear nature and the difficulties of acquiring relevant data about their character, extent, and location. We present a model which uses national datasets to describe the distribution of woody linear features along boundaries in Great Britain. The method can be applied for other boundary types and in other locations around the world across a range of spatial scales where different types of linear feature can be separated using characteristics such as height or width. Satellite-derived Land Cover Map 2007 (LCM2007) provided the spatial framework for locating linear features and was used to screen out areas unsuitable for their occurrence, that is, offshore, urban, and forest areas. Similarly, Ordnance Survey Land-Form PANORAMA®, a digital terrain model, was used to screen out where they do not occur. The presence of woody linear features on boundaries was modelled using attributes from a canopy height dataset obtained by subtracting a digital terrain map (DTM) from a digital surface model (DSM). The performance of the model was evaluated against existing woody linear feature data in Countryside Survey across a range of scales. The results indicate that, despite some underestimation, this simple approach may provide valuable information on the extents and locations of woody linear features in the countryside at both local and national scales

Integrating human and ecosystem health through ecosystem services frameworks

The pace and scale of environmental change is undermining the conditions for human health. Yet the environment and human health remain poorly integrated within research, policy and practice. The ecosystem services (ES) approach provides a way of promoting integration via the frameworks used to represent relationships between environment and society in simple visual forms. To assess this potential, we undertook a scoping review of ES frameworks and assessed how each represented seven key dimensions, including ecosystem and human health. Of the 84 ES frameworks identified, the majority did not include human health (62%) or include feedback mechanisms between ecosystems and human health (75%). While ecosystem drivers of human health are included in some ES frameworks, more comprehensive frameworks are required to drive forward research and policy on environmental change and human health

Potential impacts on ecosystem services of land use transitions to second-generation bioenergy crops in GB

We present the first assessment of the impact of land use change (LUC) to second-generation (2G) bioenergy crops on ecosystem services (ES) resolved spatially for Great Britain (GB). A systematic approach was used to assess available evidence on the impacts of LUC from arable, semi-improved grassland or woodland/forest, to 2G bioenergy crops, for which a quantitative ‘threat matrix’ was developed. The threat matrix was used to estimate potential impacts of transitions to either Miscanthus, short-rotation coppice (SRC, willow and poplar) or short-rotation forestry (SRF). The ES effects were found to be largely dependent on previous land uses rather than the choice of 2G crop when assessing the technical potential of available biomass with a transition from arable crops resulting in the most positive effect on ES. Combining these data with constraint masks and available land for SRC and Miscanthus (SRF omitted from this stage due to lack of data), south-west and north-west England were identified as areas where Miscanthus and SRC could be grown, respectively, with favourable combinations of economic viability, carbon sequestration, high yield and positive ES benefits. This study also suggests that not all prospective planting of Miscanthus and SRC can be allocated to agricultural land class (ALC) ALC 3 and ALC 4 and suitable areas of ALC 5 are only minimally available. Beneficial impacts were found on 146 583 and 71 890 ha when planting Miscanthus or SRC, respectively, under baseline planting conditions rising to 293 247 and 91 318 ha, respectively, under 2020 planting scenarios. The results provide an insight into the interplay between land availability, original land uses, bioenergy crop type and yield in determining overall positive or negative impacts of bioenergy cropping on ecosystems services and go some way towards developing a framework for quantifying wider ES impacts of this important LUC