GIS-Based Mapping of Ecosystem Services: The Case of Coral Reefs

This chapter illustrates the process of mapping ecosystem service values with an application to coral reef recreational values in Southeast Asia. The case study provides an estimate of the value of reef-related recreation foregone, due to the decline in coral reef area in Southeast Asia, under a baseline scenario for the period 2000 – 2050. This value is estimated by combining a visitor model, meta-analytic value function and spatial data on individual coral reef ecosystems to produce site-specific values. Values are mapped in order to communicate the spatial variability in the value of coral reef degradation. Although the aggregated change in the value of reef-related recreation due to ecosystem degradation is not high, there is substantial spatial variation in welfare losses, which is potentially useful information for targeting conservation efforts

Assessing the societal benefits of river restoration using the ecosystem services approach

This paper is a contribution from the EU seventh framework funded research project REFORM (Grant Agreement 282656).The success of river restoration was estimated using the ecosystem services approach. In eight pairs of restored–unrestored reaches and floodplains across Europe, we quantified provisioning (agricultural products, wood, reed for thatching, infiltrated drinking water), regulating (flooding and drainage, nutrient retention, carbon sequestration) and cultural (recreational hunting and fishing, kayaking, biodiversity conservation, appreciation of scenic landscapes) services for separate habitats within each reach, and summed these to annual economic value normalized per reach area. We used locally available data and literature, did surveys among inhabitants and visitors, and used a range of economic methods (market value, shadow price, replacement cost, avoided damage, willingness-to-pay survey, choice experiment) to provide final monetary service estimates. Total ecosystem service value was significantly increased in the restored reaches (difference 1400 ± 600 € ha−1 year−1; 2500 − 1100, p = 0.03, paired t test). Removal of one extreme case did not affect this outcome. We analysed the relation between services delivered and with floodplain and catchment characteristics after reducing these 23 variables to four principal components explaining 80% of the variance. Cultural and regulating services correlated positively with human population density, cattle density and agricultural N surplus in the catchment, but not with the fraction of arable land or forest, floodplain slope, mean river discharge or GDP. Our interpretation is that landscape appreciation and flood risk alleviation are a function of human population density, but not wealth, in areas where dairy farming is the prime form of agriculture.PostprintPeer reviewe

An indicator set for capturing long-term open space fragmentation and urban development dynamics

Open space preservation is an important spatial policy issue in developed, densely populated countries. Understanding open space dynamics in relation to urban development is critical to the development and evaluation of such policies. Starting from a conceptual model that hypotheses how open space will have developed over the past century we use a set of landscape ecology based indicators to capture these changes from a societal (perceptional) perspective. The indicators are applied to a newly compiled geodatabase of urban development in the Netherlands to show their performance in detecting and understanding past and future trends in open space provision. Our combined indicator set consists of land-use-based metrics that capture the area ratio of open space in relation to the total available space and total unit density of open and built-up patches. The methodology is designed to fit the low spatial and thematic resolution of land-use models as is exemplified by the inclusion of a future land-use scenario in the evaluation of open space development. The indicators confirm the hypothesised intrusion, intermediate and fill-up phases in open space fragmentation, and indicate a strong correlation between fragmentation and loss of open area. The results facilitate the distinguishing of compact urban regions from more fragmented counterparts while taking their relative state of urban development into account. The combined indicator set is useful to summarise and compare spatial development status between regions, while in combination with the advent of more detailed historic land-use data, our approach can be used to analyse open-space dynamics in different socioeconomic contexts

Economic valuation of regulating services provided by wetlands in agricultural landscapes: A meta-analysis

This paper presents a meta-analysis of the economic valuation literature on ecosystem services provided by wetlands in agricultural landscapes. We focus on the value of three regulating services, namely flood control, water supply and nutrient recycling. We construct a database containing 66 value estimates, mainly for wetlands in the US and Europe but also a substantial number in developing countries. Values are standardised to USD per hectare per year. The mean (median) values are found to be 6923 (427) USD/ha/yr for flood control; 3389 (57) USD/ha/yr for water supply; and 5788 (243) USD/ha/yr for nutrient recycling. The values of these services are highly variable across individual wetland sites due to, amongst other factors, differences in wetland type, size, the scarcity or abundance of other wetlands in the surrounding landscape, and the socio-economic characteristics of the beneficiaries of these services. We include explanatory variables in the meta-analysis to account for these influences on estimated wetland values. GIS is used to quantify potentially important spatial variables. The meta-regression is used to produce a value function for wetland regulating services, which can be used to transfer values to other wetland sites while controlling for site and context specific characteristics. An illustrative value transfer exercise is conducted to estimate global values for wetland regulating services in agricultural landscapes. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Walking to work: The role of walkability around the workplace in a Dutch adult commuting population.

Current evidence on neighborhood walkability and active commuting focuses on residential rather than workplace environment. This cross-sectional study investigated whether higher workplace walkability (WW) was associated with commute walking, both independently and together with residential walkability, using data from 6769 respondents of the 2017 Dutch national travel survey. In a fully adjusted logistic regression model, 10% increase in WW was associated with 32% higher odds of commute walking (Odds ratio (OR): 1.31, 95% Confidence Interval (CI: 1.27-1.36). The estimates were stronger in rural dwellers than urban residents, (ORrural 1.49, 95%CI: 1.34-1.64 vs ORhighly.urban 1.19, 95%CI: 1.13-1.26). In participants with both high residential walkability and WW, we observed 215% higher odds (OR 3.15, 95% CI: 2.48-3.99) of commute walking compared to those with low walkability in both. Our study indicated the importance and complementary nature of walkable residence and workplace in contribution to physical activity of working individuals through active commuting

Associations of changes in neighbourhood walkability with changes in walking activity in older adults:a fixed effects analysis

BACKGROUND: Supporting older adults to engage in physically active lifestyles requires supporting environments. Walkable environments may increase walking activity in older adults, but evidence for this subgroup is scarce, and longitudinal studies are lacking. This study therefore examined whether changes in neighbourhood walkability were associated with changes in walking activity in older adults, and whether this association differed by individual-level characteristics and by contextual conditions beyond the built environment. METHODS: Data from 668 participants (57.8–93.4 years at baseline) across three waves (2005/06, 2008/09 and 2011/12) of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA) were used. These individuals did not relocate during follow-up. Self-reported outdoor walking activity in minutes per week was assessed using the LASA Physical Activity Questionnaire. Composite exposure measures of neighbourhood walkability (range: 0 (low)-100 (high)) within 500-m Euclidean buffer zones around each participant’s residential address were constructed by combining objectively measured high-resolution Geographic Information System data on population density, retail and service destination density, land use mix, street connectivity, green space density, and sidewalk density. Fixed effects linear regression analyses were applied, adjusted for relevant time-varying confounders. RESULTS: Changes in neighbourhood walkability were not statistically significantly associated with changes in walking activity in older adults (β(500m) = − 0.99, 95% CI = -6.17–4.20). The association of changes in neighbourhood walkability with changes in walking activity did not differ by any of the individual-level characteristics (i.e., age, sex, educational level, cognitive impairment, mobility disability, and season) and area-level characteristics (i.e., road traffic noise, air pollution, and socioeconomic status). CONCLUSIONS: This study did not show evidence for an association between changes in neighbourhood walkability and changes in walking activity in older adults. If neighbourhood walkability and walking activity are causally linked, then changes in neighbourhood walkability between 2005/06 and 2011/12 might have been not substantial enough to produce meaningful changes in walking activity in older adults