A new valuation school: Integrating diverse values of nature in resource and land use decisions

We are increasingly confronted with severe social and economic impacts of environmental degradation all over the world. From a valuation perspective, environmental problems and conflicts originate from trade-offs between values. The urgency and importance to integrate nature\u27s diverse values in decisions and actions stand out more than ever. Valuation, in its broad sense of ‘assigning importance’, is inherently part of most decisions on natural resource and land use. Scholars from different traditions -while moving from heuristic interdisciplinary debate to applied transdisciplinary science- now acknowledge the need for combining multiple disciplines and methods to represent the diverse set of values of nature. This growing group of scientists and practitioners share the ambition to explore how combinations of ecological, socio-cultural and economic valuation tools can support real-life resource and land use decision-making. The current sustainability challenges and the ineffectiveness of single-value approaches to offer relief demonstrate that continuing along a single path is no option. We advocate for the adherence of a plural valuation culture and its establishment as a common practice, by contesting and complementing ineffective and discriminatory single-value approaches. In policy and decision contexts with a willingness to improve sustainability, integrated valuation approaches can be blended in existing processes, whereas in contexts of power asymmetries or environmental conflicts, integrated valuation can promote the inclusion of diverse values through action research and support the struggle for social and environmental justice. The special issue and this editorial synthesis paper bring together lessons from pioneer case studies and research papers, synthesizing main challenges and setting out priorities for the years to come for the field of integrated valuation

A new valuation school : Integrating diverse values of nature in resource and land use decisions

We are increasingly confronted with severe social and economic impacts of environmental degradation all over the world. From a valuation perspective, environmental problems and conflicts originate from trade-offs between values. The urgency and importance to integrate nature's diverse values in decisions and actions stand out more than ever. Valuation, in its broad sense of 'assigning importance', is inherently part of most decisions on natural resource and land use. Scholars from different traditions -while moving from heuristic interdisciplinary debate to applied transdisciplinary science- now acknowledge the need for combining multiple disciplines and methods to represent the diverse set of values of nature. This growing group of scientists and practitioners share the ambition to explore how combinations of ecological, socio-cultural and economic valuation tools can support real-life resource and land use decision-making. The current sustainability challenges and the ineffectiveness of single-value approaches to offer relief demonstrate that continuing along a single path is no option. We advocate for the adherence of a plural valuation culture and its establishment as a common practice, by contesting and complementing ineffective and discriminatory single-value approaches. In policy and decision contexts with a willingness to improve sustainability, integrated valuation approaches can be blended in existing processes, whereas in contexts of power asymmetries or environmental conflicts, integrated valuation can promote the inclusion of diverse values through action research and support the struggle for social and environmental justice. The special issue and this editorial synthesis paper bring together lessons from pioneer case studies and research papers, synthesizing main challenges and setting out priorities for the years to come for the field of integrated valuation.Peer reviewe

Télédétection spatiale de l'occupation du Sol en Wallonie

1- Analyse de la qualité radiométrique de la couche ORTHOS_DGA (Unité de Géomatique) 2-Mise au point d’une stratégie d’acquisition d’images HR destinées à être utilisées en complément de la couche ORTHOS_DGA (Unité de Géomatique) -3 Production d’une couche de différence d’altitude entre le MNS_DGA et un MNT (Unité de Géomatique - GRFMN) 4- Préparation d’une base de données d’objets de référence (GRFMN) 5- Mise au point des procédures de segmentation d’images (GRFMN) 6- Préparation de la base de données « images » (GRFMN) 7- Analyses thématiques (GRFMN – Unité de Géomatique) 8- Intégration des données produites dans la base de données géographique de la Région wallonne (Unité de Géomatique - GRFMN) 9- Recommandations pour les réalisations des futures couches « image satellitale HR » de la Wallonie (Unité de Géomatique - GRFMN)Télédétection spatiale de l'occupation du sol en Walloni

Linking Forest Cover to Water Quality: A Multivariate Analysis of Large Monitoring Datasets

Forested catchments are generally assumed to provide higher quality water. However, this hypothesis must be validated in various contexts as interactions between multiple land use and land cover (LULC) types, ecological variables and water quality variables render this relationship highly complex. This paper applies a straightforward multivariate approach on a typical large monitoring dataset of a highly managed and densely populated area (Wallonia, Belgium; 10-year dataset), quantifying forest cover effects on nine physico-chemical water quality variables. Results show that forest cover explains about one third of the variability of water quality and is positively correlated with higher quality water. When controlling for spatial autocorrelation, forest cover still explains 9% of water quality. Unlike needle-leaved forest cover, broad-leaved forest cover presents an independent effect from ecological variables and explains independently 4.8% of water quality variability while it shares 5.8% with cropland cover. This study demonstrates clear independent effects of forest cover on water quality, and presents a method to tease out independent LULC effects from typical large multivariate monitoring datasets. Further research on explanatory variables, spatial distribution effects and water quality datasets could lead to effective strategies to mitigate pollution and reach legal targets

How does forest cover impact water flows and ecosystem services? Insights from real-life catchments in Wallonia (Belgium)

While planet boundaries are being crossed and ecosystems degraded, the Ecosystem Service (ES) conceptrepresents a potential decision-making tool for improved natural resources management. The main aimof this paper is to assess the impact of forest cover on water related ES in Wallonia (Belgium) in termsof quantity and timing. We developed an approach based on easily accessible data, monitored in severalcountries and using straightforward statistical methods. This led us to study ES at “real-life” catchmentsscale: 22 catchments – from 30 to 250 km2– with mixed land covers were studied. We approached thewater supply and flood protection services through 5 indicators extracted from 10 hydrological years(2005–2014) discharge data series. These were computed annually and seasonally (vegetation periodfrom March to September and “non-vegetation” period the rest of the year). The water supply wasassessed through the specific volume Vs, the baseflow index BFI and the specific discharge exceeded95% of the time Q95s whereas the flood protection service was approached through the specific dis-charge exceeded 5% of the time Q05s and the flashiness index FI. Our study gives two main insights. First,statistical analyses show that forest cover negatively impact water supply when studying annual and“non-vegetation” period flows in general (Vs) but positively when studying low flows (Q95s). Regardingflood protection a slightly negative impact of forest cover on high flows (Q05s) was highlighted in the“non-vegetation” period. Results also show a negative impact of forests annually and in the vegetationperiod on the flashy behaviour of the catchment thus a positive impact on the flood protection ES. The“year” effect is overall highly significant testifying the importance of climatic factors. Rainfall is oftensignificant and can be considered as a main driver of these ES. Secondly, analyzing the quality of themodels produced and the results overall we assume that other variables characterizing the catchmentssuch as topography or soil types do play a significant role in the delivery of these ES. This questions theuse of land cover proxies in assessing and mapping of hydrological ES at a complex landscape scale. Wethus recommend further research to keep improving land cover proxies if they are used