scholarly journals Synthesis of Two Decades of US EPA’s Ecosystem Services Research to Inform Environmental, Community and Sustainability Decision Making

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8249
Author(s):  
Matthew C. Harwell ◽  
Chloe A. Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Services Research ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Structured Decision Making ◽  
Decision Context ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Us Epa

A conceptual framework is helpful to understand what types of ecosystem services (ES) information is needed to support decision making. Principles of structured decision making are helpful for articulating how ES consideration can influence different elements in a given decision context resulting in changes to the environment, human health, and well-being. This article presents a holistic view of an ES framework, summarizing two decades of the US EPA’s ES research, including recent advances in final ES, those ES that provide benefits directly to people. Approximately 150 peer-reviewed publications, technical reports, and book chapters characterize a large ES research portfolio. In introducing framework elements and the suite of relevant US EPA research for each element, both challenges and opportunities are identified. Lessons from research to advance each of the final ES elements can be useful for identifying gaps and future science needs. Ultimately, the goal of this article is to help the reader develop an operational understanding of the final ES conceptual framework, an understanding of the state of science for a number of ES elements, and an introduction to some ES tools, models, and frameworks that may be of use in their case-study applications or decision-making contexts.

scholarly journals Structured decision making as a conceptual framework to identify thresholds for conservation and management

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 1079-1090 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Martin ◽  
Michael C. Runge ◽  
James D. Nichols ◽  
Bruce C. Lubow ◽  
William L. Kendall
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Structured Decision Making ◽  
Conservation And Management

scholarly journals Process and Content in Decisions from Memory

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjia Joyce Zhao ◽  
Russell Richie ◽  
Sudeep Bhatia
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Memory Search ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Quantitative Model ◽  
Decision Processes ◽  
Language Models ◽  
Choice Data ◽  
Model Driven ◽  
Decision Context

Information stored in memory influences the formation of preferences and beliefs in most everyday decision tasks. The richness of this information, and the complexity inherent in interacting memory and decision processes, makes the quantitative model-driven analysis of such decisions very difficult. In this paper we present a general framework that is capable of addressing the theoretical and methodological barriers to building formal models of naturalistic memory-based decision making. Our framework implements established theories of memory search and decision making within a single integrated cognitive system, and uses computational language models to quantify the thoughts over which memory and decision processes operate. It can thus describe both the content of the information that is sampled from memory, as well as the processes involved in retrieving and evaluating this information in order to make a decision. Furthermore, our framework is tractable, and the parameters that characterize memory-based decisions can be recovered using thought-listing and choice data from existing experimental tasks, and in turn be used to make quantitative predictions regarding choice probability, length of deliberation, retrieved thoughts, and the effects of decision context. We showcase the power and generality of our framework by applying it to study risk perception, consumer behavior, financial decision making, ethical decision making, legal decision making, food choice, and judgments about well-being, society and culture.

scholarly journals Contribution of Ecosystem Services to Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals

Proceedings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veidemane
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Water Ecosystems

The sustainable development goals (SDGs) for 2030 are established to address global challenges including environment and human well-being. The SDGs are interconnected and achievement of them requires consideration of the planet’s ecosystems and resources - land, water and air. Ecosystem services (ES) approach has a high potential for better planning, policy and decision making. Understanding how different ecosystems (e.g., forests, rivers, wetlands, grasslands) contribute to the social and economic benefits is critical to ensure the long-term biodiversity protection and sustainable use of ecosystems. A conceptual framework linking biodiversity and ecosystem condition (its structure and functions), and ES to human well-being has been well-established in EU by so called MAES process (Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystem Services) lead by the European Commission. The framework is applied in recent research studies and projects, as well as national MAES processes. Various methods are applied for MAES in terms to determine biophysical, economic and social values and to deliver integrated ecosystem assessment. Assessment of ES and trade off analysis shall provide a new perspective for land use planning and decision making at different administrative and spatial levels and in different sectoral policies. EU and national policies for instance on agriculture, fishery, forestry, climate should account the benefits provided by relevant ecosystems and to ensure that the values are not diminished but rather enhanced during the implementation of the policies. Terrestrial and water ecosystems are interconnected as land-based human activities creates pressure that impacts the conditions in water ecosystems and thus delivery of ES by rivers and lakes. For example, intensive agricultural land use produces food for people and income; however, the activity also most frequently causes problems with water quality and quantity in the catchment area and a loss of biodiversity. A risk of such trade-off shall be handled in policy development. Ecosystems also contributes to the resilience of communities by reducing the risk of natural hazards and mitigate adverse impacts. Regulating services such as flood control are substituting investments in flood protection ensured by forests, wetlands and grasslands instead of human built infrastructure. Appropriate land cover and land use shall serve as a basic flood protection measure. Natural processes are increasingly recognised to create new-type solutions that use and deploy the properties of natural ecosystems and their services in an “engineered” way. A wide range of measures called also as nature-based solutions provide another opportunity to work with nature towards global sustainability.

Environmental decision making and an ecosystems approach

2011 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 671-680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob D. Fish
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Natural Resource Management ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Project Proposal ◽  
Stakeholder Values ◽  
Environmental Decision Making ◽  
Theoretical Design ◽  
Environmental Decision

This paper explores issues of theoretical design and application arising from ecosystem service based approaches to natural resource management. Conserving ecosystem services is now a key normative goal of environmental decision making, but the implications of embracing this concept are still little understood. In this paper I highlight two recurring and cross-cutting aspects of an ecosystems approach around which credible treatments of ecosystem services can be realized, not only in theory, but also in practice: first, the need to think ‘holistically’ about how any given project, proposal or plan would impact on service provision and human well-being; and, second, the need to manage ecosystem services in relation to wider stakeholder values, needs and priorities. While thinking about decision making from the perspective of ecosystem services is no panacea for sustainability, the paper points to a number of social science issues that interdisciplinary researchers could usefully address in these two contexts if they are to harness this concept in creative and critically engaged ways.

scholarly journals Ecosystem services: Challenges and opportunities for hydrologic modeling to support decision making

2014 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 4535-4544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Guswa ◽  
Kate A. Brauman ◽  
Casey Brown ◽  
Perrine Hamel ◽  
Bonnie L. Keeler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Hydrologic Modeling ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Support Decision Making

Using information on ecosystem services in Nepal to inform biodiversity conservation and local to national decision-making

Oryx ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ishana Thapa ◽  
Stuart H. M. Butchart ◽  
Hum Gurung ◽  
Alison J. Stattersfield ◽  
David H. L. Thomas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
National Level ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Trade Offs

AbstractPolicy-makers are paying increasing attention to ecosystem services, given improved understanding that they underpin human well-being, and following their integration within the Aichi Targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Decision-makers need information on trends in biodiversity and ecosystem services but tools for assessing the latter are often expensive, technically demanding and ignore the local context. In this study we used a simple, replicable participatory assessment approach to gather information on ecosystem services at important sites for biodiversity conservation in Nepal, to feed into local and national decision-making. Through engaging knowledgeable stakeholders we assessed the services delivered by Nepal's 27 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas, the pressures affecting services through impacts on land cover and land use, and the consequences of these for people. We found that these sites provide ecosystem services to beneficiaries at a range of scales but under current pressures the balance of services will change, with local communities incurring the greatest costs. The approach provided valuable information on the trade-offs between ecosystem services and between different people, developed the capacity of civil society to engage in decision-making at the local and national level, and provided digestible information for Nepal's government. We recommend this approach in other countries where there is a lack of information on the likely impacts of land-use change on ecosystem services and people.

scholarly journals Applying the Evaluation of Cultural Ecosystem Services in Landscape Architecture Design: Challenges and Opportunities

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 665
Author(s):  
Xin Cheng ◽  
Sylvie Van Damme ◽  
Pieter Uyttenhove
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Landscape Architecture ◽  
Practical Knowledge ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Evaluation Methods ◽  
Urban Landscapes ◽  
Cultural Ecosystem Services ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Practical Challenge

Landscape architects play a significant role in safeguarding urban landscapes and human well-being by means of design and they call for practical knowledge, skills, and methods to address increasing environmental pressure. Cultural ecosystem services (CES) are recognized as highly related to landscape architecture (LA) studies, and the outcomes of CES evaluations have the potential to support LA practice. However, few efforts have focused on systematically investigating CES in LA studies. Additionally, how CES evaluations are performed in LA studies is rarely researched. This study aims to identify the challenges and provide recommendations for applying CES evaluations to LA practice, focusing specifically on LA design. To conclude, three challenges are identified, namely a lack of consistent concepts (conceptual challenge); a lack of CES evaluation methods to inform designs (methodological challenge); and practical issues of transferring CES evaluations to LA design (practical challenge). Based on our findings, we highlight using CES as a common term to refer to socio-cultural values and encourage more CES evaluation methods to be developed and tested for LA design. In addition, we encourage more studies to explore the links of CES and landscape features and address other practical issues to better transfer CES evaluations onto LA designs.

scholarly journals Challenges and Opportunities for the community of Food Sciences to contribute Towards a Society of Healthier Consumers and a Better World

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Harris N. Lazarides
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Education ◽  
Medical Care ◽  
Healthy Eating ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Medical Professionals ◽  
World Hunger ◽  
Adult Age ◽  
Average Consumer ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities

Despite the tremendous scientific and technological achievements in the production of food, human well-being has not been served to a satisfactory extent. Millions of people are literally killing themselves by excessive eating or wrong use of food, leading to obesity and nutrition-related diseases. At the same time millions of people continue to suffer from lack of food, leading to starvation, malnutrition and death, often before reaching adult age. Parallel to striving for better-safer-healthier food, the community of Food Sciences is faced with the challenge to help educate the average consumer on how to select, handle, store and use food for safe and healthy eating. The need to reshape and reform public education to better serve this task is obvious. What is also obvious is the need for medical professionals to recognize healthy eating (and exercise) as the most valuable tool in preventive medical care. This perspective will concentrate on challenges and opportunities for Food Scientists/Engineers: to contribute towards a society of well-informed, self-protected, active and considerate citizens; to support public (food-related) education and actively participate in the fight against obesity and nutrition-related diseases; to intervene in decision making bodies and underline the importance of education on nutrition and food; to invent avenues and possibilities to contribute to the fight against world hunger; and all in all, to contribute towards a healthier world, a world that will not be split between hunger and obesity.

scholarly journals Drivers and Constraints of Land use Transitions on Western Grasslands: Insights from a California Mountain Ranching Community

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Buckley Biggs
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Real Estate ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Land Use Patterns ◽  
Services Research ◽  
Study Region

Abstract Context. Land use change drives a host of sustainability challenges on Earth’s grasslands. To understand the relationship between changing land use patterns, human well-being, and ecosystem services, research is needed into land use transitions on privately-owned grasslands. Such inquiry lies at the intersection of land system science and landscape sustainability science. Objectives. This study investigated land use change in a mountain cattle ranching community in the Sierra Nevada, California. The research objective was to highlight the drivers and constraints of identified land use transitions and the types of landowners and policies influencing ecological outcomes. Methods. This research used a mixed methods case study based on participant observation, 30 semi-structured interviews, and analysis of land cover and real estate data from California’s Farmland Monitoring and Mapping Program, USDA CropScape, and a local real estate sales database. Interviews were conducted with ranchers, public agencies, and conservation and real estate industry representatives, and analyzed with the constant comparison method using Nvivo 12. Results. Land use transitions in the case study region include agricultural intensification, residential and solar development, and disintensification from amenity migration. These transitions were influenced by decreasing land access and water availability, remote work, intergenerational succession, and conservation policy. Conclusions. By highlighting influences on working lands, this study can be applied to improve the uptake of conservation policies. For the future, several factors appear critical to conserving ecosystem services on private grasslands: ensuring grazing lands access, income diversification, groundwater regulations, agriculture-compatible conservation easements, and land use policies supporting ownership transition to amenity purposes rather than low-density residential development.

scholarly journals Mapping the social values of ecosystem services to support better decision making

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sedigheh Mousavipour
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Social Values ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Value ◽  
General View ◽  
Landscape Units

<p><b>Social values of ecosystem services are the perceived benefits of natural ecosystems for the well-being of people. For sustainable land management, social values and preferences need to be integrated into land-use decision-making. Existing methods of social value capture commonly use participatory mapping and deliberative mapping. However, social media data has recently contributed to the gathering of spatial social value data. By reducing the time and cost of mapping, social media may be effective in social value mapping. However, the credibility of this data source has rarely been assessed for land planning.</b></p> <p>This thesis critically analysed the results of social media-based mapping (passive Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI)) and deliberative mapping (expert-based evaluation) methods into providing credible social value data (recreation, aesthetics, and historical/cultural values) for recreation planning. We analysed the content of 4642 photographs uploaded to Flickr as passive VGI and the results of an online survey and face to face interview for expert-based evaluation. This thesis found both the passive VGI and expert-based evaluation could identify all three types of relevant social values for ecosystem services (recreation, aesthetics, and historical/cultural). </p> <p>Passive VGI can provide reasonably reliable information on the recreational preferences of people at the time that data is provided. Although social values identified in expert-based evaluation included useful information about current public preferences and a potential supply of recreation ecosystem services, it only captured a general view of the study area. Large areas of interest were provided by each of the experts participating in the online survey. Several landscape units were missed by passive VGI while expert-based dataset overrepresented a majority of landscape units. </p> <p>The results of this research demonstrated that spatial social value data are limited when a single method is applied. Potential users of such data need to understand their limitations. Applying several mapping methods (PPGIS, expert-based evaluation, passive VGI, etc.) may create a more useful and credible social value dataset to appropriately support recreational planning.</p>

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