The concept of ecological infrastructure

and its uptake in policy and practice

Mandy Driver

m.driver@sanbi.org.za

Overview

• Key milestones in the process to date

• EI concept and definition

• Uptake of the EI concept in policy and

practice

• Framework for investing in ecological

infrastructure

Key milestones in the process to date

• Biodiversity Planning Forum May 2012 (Kruger)

– Workshop session on mapping EI for ecosystem services

• National Ecological Infrastructure Dialogue

– 8-9 November 2012, Grasslands Programme

• Biodiversity Planning Forum May 2013 (Golden Gate)

– Plenary session on concept of EI – much more clarity

• Significant uptake of EI in various initiatives

Definition of ecological infrastructure

• Ecological infrastructure refers to

naturally functioning* ecosystems

that deliver valuable services to people

– e.g. mountain catchments, wetlands, riparian zones, coastal

dunes, kelp beds, spawning grounds

– network of interconnected structural elements in the

landscape and seascape

• One piece of EI can provide several different services

Key characteristics

of ecological infrastructure

• The nature-based equivalent of built infrastructure

– Crucial for providing services and underpinning socio-

economic development

• Unlike built infrastructure, EI already exists – we don’t

have to build it

• Like built infrastructure needs to be managed,

maintained and in some cases restored

• Value often not captured in market transactions

tends to be under-valued and under-invested in

• Public sector has a central role to play in leading

investment in EI

Underpins

economic

development

Delivers

services to

people

Creates jobs Supports rural

development

Physical infrastructure

(e.g. roads, ports,

powerlines, ICT)

- Construction

- Maintenance

In some cases

Social infrastructure

(e.g. schools, hospitals)

- Construction

- Maintenance

In some cases

Ecological infrastructure

(e.g. healthy catchments,

wetlands, coastal dunes)

- Restoration

- Maintenance

In many cases

well-recognised

under-recognised

Ecological infrastructure underpins physical and social infrastructure

Manage,

maintain &

restore

ecological

infrastructure

Produce

and deliver

services

Create jobs,

especially in

rural areas

Augment, enhance and protect

built infrastructure (e.g. restoring degraded catchments

prevents siltation and prolongs life of

dams; kelp beds and coastal dunes

protect human settlements from

impacts of storm surges)

Contribute to water security (e.g. by assuring the quality and

quantity of water supplies)

Contribute to food security (e.g. through ensuring productive

rangelands, preventing erosion and

contributing to soil health)

Reduce the risk of disasters (e.g. intact ecosystems are better able

to help humans cope with extreme

events such as droughts and floods,

also important for climate change

adaptation)

FAQs

• What’s the difference between EI and green

infrastructure?

– “Green infrastructure” used VERY broadly

– E.g. roof garden; artificial wetland; bridge/dam for which EIA was

done

green

infrastructure

ecological infrastructure

FAQs

• What’s the difference between EI and ecosystem

services (ES)?

– EI is the underlying asset (stock)

– ES flow from EI

– Like the difference between capital (EI) and income (ES)

– Not all ES flow from EI (e.g. some ES come from highly modified

ecosystems)

stock of

ecological

infrastructure flow of

ecosystem services

FAQs

• What’s the difference between EI and biodiversity?

Wha

t do

we m

ea

n b

y b

iod

ivers

ity?

After Noss 1990

species and ecosystem types

ecological infrastructure

Ecological infrastructure = naturally functioning

ecosystems that deliver valuable services to people

Ecological infrastructure focuses on the “function” aspect of biodiversity, rather than structure or composition

An aspect/subset of biodiversity

Not something separate from or other than biodiversity

• Not all biodiversity is ecological infrastructure

• Useful phrase:

– “Biodiversity assets and ecological infrastructure”

FAQs cont

• Do artificial wetlands (or other forms of man-made

infrastructure that mimic ecosystems) count as EI?

– No – artificial wetlands are “artificial EI”

– We should be rigorous about this distinction

between real EI and artificial EI

• Do restored wetlands count as EI?

– Yes

– John Dini: “a person with a hip replacement is still

a person”

Uptake of the EI concept

• Key policy and implementation messages re

EI have resonated

• Examples of uptake:

– NWRS

– UEIP

– SIP19

Traction with new audiences… Opening new doors e.g. National Treasury, Dept of Agriculture, municipal engineers

June 2013

“These areas form the foundational ecological infrastructure on

which a great deal of built infrastructure for water services

depends. They are thus strategic national assets that are

vital for water security, and need to be acknowledged as such

at the highest level across all sectors.”

National Water Resource Strategy – recently revised

uMngeni Ecological Infrastructure

Partnership – launched Nov 2013

• uMngeni catchment supplies water to

city of Durban: SA’s 3rd largest city –

major challenges with water quality &

quantity

• Engineers have run out of conventional

engineering solutions

National Infrastructure Plan 2012

– flows from National Development Plan

– implementation co-ordinated by a Presidential Commission

– investment of R1trillion (~$100 billion) over next 3 years

– speaks to government’s long-term priorities of

job creation, poverty alleviation and service delivery

Strategic Integrated Projects (SIPs)

• SIPs 1-18: key infrastructure investments e.g.

energy, transport, health, municipal, dams

• Possibility for SIP19: Ecological infrastructure

for water security

– SIP18 – conventional water infrastructure – “below

the dam”

– SIP19 – ecological infrastructure – “above the

dam”

Framework for

Investing in Ecological Infrastructure

• Finalised in March 2014

• SANBI in collaboration with partners

• To guide efforts of the sector

7 principles for IEI

Investment in ecological infrastructure:

• should focus on achieving clearly defined benefits & outcomes

• should focus on systematically identified spatially strategic areas

• will be strengthened by a transdisciplinary approach

• should build on and learn from existing experience and

programmes (e.g. Working for’s)

• should optimise its contribution to job creation, poverty

alleviation and rural development

• should take place in a participatory and socially sensitive

manner

• should include monitoring and evaluation

Initial mapping of EI

• Last year:

– Strategic Water Source Areas

– EI for greater uMngeni catchment

• Many more examples this year

Key points re mapping EI

• Services flow from something – an underlying stock

of assets

• Often easier to map the underlying asset than the

services (think of roads, ports, schools)

• Avoid the trap of mapping ALL intact ecosystems as

EI – build a bottom-up case for particular features

• Why map EI?

Same reason we map biodiversity priority areas…

3-way action plan

Reduce loss /

maintain in good condition Protect Restore

- Land use planning

- Environmental

authorisations

- Classification of

water resources

- PA expansion strategy

- Biodiversity

stewardship

- Management

effectiveness in PAs

- Working for’s

- Pilots to show value

of ecol infrastructure

How will EI maps relate to existing

maps of biodiversity priority areas?

• Biodiversity priority areas include Critical Biodiversity Areas

(CBAs) and Ecological Support Areas (ESAs)

• Definition of ESAs:

– Areas that play an important role in supporting the ecological

functioning of CBAs and/or in delivering ecosystem services

• Still need to explore:

– Is EI a subset of ESAs?

– Is EI a subset of ESAs and CBAs?

– Should we keep CBA maps and EI maps separate or merge

them?

– How to present – maps products & accompanying guidelines

The State of South Africa’s

Ecological Infrastructure

2017?

Ecological

infrastructure for… (Benefits)

Examples of features Relevant ecological functions

Water security Strategic Water Source Areas

Wetlands with water purification function Wetlands with flow regulation function Areas important for erosion control

Groundwater recharge areas …

Soil infiltration rate

Plant water use Filtering capacity / nutrient retention capacity

Sediment and erosion dynamics (e.g. impacts on dam sedimentation)

Flow dynamics (timing and volume of flow)

Food security Forage for pollinators

Areas important for erosion control Estuaries that provide a nursery function for harvested marine species

Spawning grounds …

Pollination

Salinisation Sediment and erosion dynamics Nutrient cycling

Habitat for spawning Freshwater cues

Estuary mouth dynamics Disaster risk reduction

Coastal dunes

Mangroves Kelp beds Wetlands important for flow regulation

Riparian vegetation …

Soil infiltration rate

Biomass load Sediment and erosion dynamics (e.g. beach erosion)

Flow dynamics (timing and volume of flow) (impacts on stream regulation and

flood attenuation) Other (tourism,

traditional medicine) … more?

…

… …

Questions for discussion

• What ecological infrastructure that you would find

useful to have mapped in your region or province?

• Do you know of other work currently underway

related to mapping / measuring / monitoring EI?

– If so, what and who?

• What are the strategic priorities for EI mapping?

– Brainstorm

– Choose top three to report back on

• 10 groups of about 20 each

• Each map reports back on 3 priorities for EI

mapping

• (paper and pens for note taking)

Discussion

• EI should be considered a biodiversity surrogate in systematic

biodiversity planning

• CBAs should be a sub-category of EI. When we create CBA

maps and do prioritisation, include EI areas even if it’s spatially

a bit less efficient.

• EI could be used as a way of incorporating biodiversity into

municipal planning

• Problem of still using old datasets eg NLC2000

• Nervous about how we link EI and CBAs – CBAs can’t just be a

subset of EI – some CBAs won’t fit as subset of EI

• Opps for funding for EI projects – need to be giving direction

and support on this

• Need better understanding of soils and their role in EI – links to

agric and hydrology. Finding better surrogates and ways of

interpreting the data.

• Wcape example: attempt to include floodplain EI in CBA map

led to v big CBAs which were then simplified … might have

been better to just make them EI

• CBAs are something very specific – arrived at through a

particular approach. There are other approaches to spatial

planning. We could look at principles for mapping EI, and

compare and contrast these with SBP principles

• Need some categories of EI based on condition and ability to

manage/intervene

• Step back: lessons learned from CBA process and

implementation of CBAs. Think about how EI maps will be used

BEFORE we make maps and put them out there.

• Work of this community of practice not necessarily filtering down

to on-the-ground work. There are existing tools for on the

ground work that could feed into EI mapping and

implementation.

• Need more discusion on how/whether D side is incroporated

• More emphasis on science side – data, numbers. A lot of what

we have is quite tenuous.

• Coastal vulnerability work on the Eastern seaboard – natural

areas provided protection from impacts – need to integrate this

type of mapping into EI (not just water-related) (useful for e.g.

insurance industry)

• Useful to put something out there on the value of EI and the “so-

what” for eg IDPs and SDFs

• Concern about stifling innovation if we develop guidelines now.

Maybe another couple of years. Useful to have a clear definition

of EI to work with.

• Not yet useful to have detailed guidance, but could be useful to

agree on terminology for eg “intact EI”, “degraded EI” – what’s in

these baskets, and making sure it doesn’t conflict with

terminology we’re using in CBA maps.

• Concern that we don’t want too MUCH innovation that inhibits

implementation

• Responsibility to minimise the number of products we expect

municipalities to work with.

• Example from Eden: a lot of data needed to map EI exists – can

be relatively cheap and easy to get people around the table

• Definition of EI: “valuable services” – has this been quantified

and described? Which services are valuable? Do we set

quantifiable thresholds for how valuable in order to “qualify” as

EI? So we don’t end up with everything!

• EI is a huge topic that spans many departmental mandates.

Each department focuses on/pushes its mandate, and the

municipalities are lumped with all the layers in the end. Need

some discussion between depts on what aspects of EI they are

responsible for – and get clarity on this before we push it onto

municipal level.

• Can’t always restore/fix EI once it’s destroyed – people need to

know this

Clusters of issues

• CBAs / EI – same, different, integrated etc

• Are there EI categories that we could use generically (along the

lines of CBAs)

– And what would we use to populate these categories

• Communicating, mainstreaming and implementing maps

• Forums / learning networks related to EI

• Integrating D

• Quantification of value (in financial and other terms) and return

on investment

• Getting back to the science and data on ecosystem functioning

• Are we at the point where we could get together some initial

guidelines on mapping EI?

• Relationship between EI and regulation – what relationships

already exist, and what could we aim to put in place