Ecosystem Services and The Natural Capital Project

Emily McKenzie

2 April, InVEST Introductory Seminar, Bangkok

Republic of the Marshall Islands

Despite their importance, ecosystem services are often not considered in decisions.

This is because we lack practical, credible information about their value.

The Challenge

Outline

1. Ecosystem services– What is the concept?– How is it being applied?

2. Natural Capital Project– Strategy – Content and philosophy of our work

Ecosystem Services• Links nature & human welfare

• Integrate environmental values & trade-offs in decisions

• Nature supports us in countless ways: – stores carbon to slow climate change, – purifies and regulates water supplies, and – provides foods and medicines – provides opportunities for spiritual and cultural

experiences

The Basics

• Impact of nature on human well-being known since antiquity

• History of natural resource management for survival

History

Bust of Plato

• From 1960s on, “environmental services” coined, ecological economics developed

• First global studies and analyses

• First global assessment of ecosystem services• 2001-2005, 1360 scientists• Over the last 50 years, out of 24 services: – 15 have seriously declined – 4 have shown some improvement– 5 are generally stable but under

threat in some parts of the world

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

ES = The benefits that people obtain from ecosystems

• Provisioning services - goods like food, water, timber, and fiber;

• Regulating services - stabilize climate, moderate risk of flooding and disease, protect water quality;

• Cultural services - recreational, aesthetic, educational, spiritual benefits; and

• Supporting services - underpin the others, e.g. photosynthesis, nutrient cycling, preservation of future options

Definition and Categorization

Natural Capital the goods and services from nature which are essential for human life

• Well-being - considering the impacts on people of having or losing these benefits

NatCap Approach

SupplyPotential available

ServiceDelivered to

people

ValueEconomic &

social impacts

Why assess ecosystem services?

• Important for human wellbeing and prosperity

• More comprehensive accounting of impacts

• Engage a wider array of stakeholders

• Generate financing for conservation

• Innovative policy mechanisms

New tools to help• General assessments of ES– Reports– E.g. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, TEEB

• Assessments of dependence and impact on ES– Work books – E.g. WRI’s Corporate Ecosystem Services Review, Impact

Assessment Review,

• Mapping of ES under alternative scenarios– Software tools– E.g. InVEST, ARIES

– Tools: Make it easy to quantify ecosystem services– Evidence: Test tools, improve decisions, share stories– Influence: Inspire policy change globally

Introducing the team

Terrestrial & freshwater science

Marine science

Standing on the shoulders of many…

…giants

Unlike the accounting tools we apply to measure the value of traditional economic goods and services… we have no ready set of existing accounting tools to measure the value of ecosystem services. Absent these, ecosystem services are invariably undervalued or not valued at all – by governments, businesses, and the public.

Who and what will catalyze the next giant step forward? Part of the answer lies with improving science.

Gretchen Daily, 2011

NatCap’s Vision

?

? ?

?

Effects of management decisions

$

$ $

$lbs of fish

# of tourists

# of people mangroves

protect

Health of corals

20

Success = inform decisions– How would a proposed dam or logging project affect

ecosystem services and biodiversity?

– What would be the best marine spatial plan for balancing different stakeholders’ goals?

– How would upstream deforestation affect the quality & quantity of water downstream?

– Where might REDD and payments for watershed services projects be feasible?

ANSWERS:Accounting tools for quantifying ES

Filling the Gap

Policy decisions:Region/landscape scale

Short timelineForward looking, comparative

Assess tradeoffs

GLOBAL, SYNTHETIC60% of global ES in decline (MA, 2005)$33 Trillion/y (Costanza et al. 1997 Nature)

LOCAL, SPECIFIC

2 forest patches: $60K/yr (Ricketts, 2004. PNAS)

22 others (just for pollination!)

Ecosystem service framework

InVEST: Quantify, map & value

ecosystem services under alternative

scenarios Photo credit: Neil Burgess

China

Tanzania

California

Hawai’i

AmazonBasin

Colombia

Ecuador

WCVI, B.C.

Belize

Chesapeake Bay

Puget Sound

Galveston Bay

Terrestrial & FreshwaterCoastal & Marine

Borneoand SumatraAlbertine

Rift

New England

Applications around the world

Many decision contexts

Decision Context Geography

Spatial Planning Tanzania, Indonesia, British Columbia, Hawai’i, China, Belize

Ecosystem-based management (terrestrial-marine links)

USA (Puget Sound, Galveston & Chesapeake Bays)

Climate adaptation USA - Galveston & Monterey Bays

Payments for ecosystem services Colombia (water funds), Indonesia (REDD), Borneo, Tanzania

Impact assessment, permitting, licensing Colombia (mining)

Multilateral development bank investments World Bank in Malawi

Corporate strategy Lafarge in Michigan, USA

Support policy and practice globally

• Researchers– TEEB– Academic collaborators around the world

• Governments– GEOBON– IPBES

• Multilaterals and donors– World Bank & WAVES – UNEP, UNDP– Millennium Challenge Corporation

• Business– World Business Council for Sustainable Development– Business for Social Responsibility– Multilateral companies e.g. Dow, Coke

And many more…

Any questions?

www.naturalcapitalproject.org