Increasing uptake of ecosystem service assessments: best practice check-lists for practitioners in Europe

David N. Barton*, Bart Immerzeel, Luke Brander, Adrienne Grêt-Regamey, Jarumi Kato Huerta, Conor Kretsch, Solen Le Clech, Paula Rendón, Joana Seguin, Martha V. Arámbula Coyote, Javier Babí Almenar, Mario V. Balzan, Benjamin Burkhard, Claudia Carvalho-Santos, Davide Geneletti, Victoria Guisado Goñi, Elias Giannakis, Inge Liekens, Piotr Lupa, Gillian RyanMałgorzata K. Stępniewska, Eszter Tanács, Vince van ‘t Hoff, Franziska E. Walther, Christos Zoumides, Iwona Zwierzchowska, Ioanna Grammatikopoulou, Miguel Villosalda

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Aiming at understanding the role of plural values in decision-making, the IPBES Values Assessment defined nature valuation broadly as including biophysical, economic and socio-cultural assessments, including ecosystem service assessment. IPBES reviews of scientific literature revealed a lack of documentation of uptake by stakeholders across method types. The EU project SELINA aims to contribute to increasing uptake of ES assessments at different governance levels. This paper reviews guidance in national and local applications by compiling study design recommendations for ES assessments from 111 guidance documents on ES assessments covering 12 European languages. Guidance documents are evaluated for seven diagnostic topics suggested to increase relevance and robustness of ES assessments: ecosystem condition variables; capacity-potential; supply-demand; spatial scaling and resolution capability; social and health benefit compatibility; economic valuation compatibility; and uncertainty assessment. The paper develops the guidance recommendations across these topics into a set of checklists for practitioners and contractors of ES assessments. We find synergies between these study design features and gaps in guidance in relation to the policy cycle. Checklists are aimed at projects self-assessing and improving their design and implementation to increase robustness of their ES assessment. From a knowledge supply perspective, this is expected to increase the likelihood of uptake of results by stakeholders. We end the paper with some cautions on limitations to uptake from different perspectives and the demand for and political uses of ES assessment knowledge.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere120449
JournalOne Ecosystem
Volume9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 14 Jun 2024

Keywords

  • economic valuation
  • ecosystem accounting
  • ecosystem capacity
  • ecosystem condition
  • ecosystem potential
  • health benefits
  • social benefits
  • spatial resolution
  • spatial scale
  • uncertainty

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