Photo credits, Erika Nortemann, Ellen Morris Bishop and Mark Godfrey
Applying Ecosystem Services: Lessons learned in California
November 7, 2011
Timeline of engagement with ecosystem services
2005-6: ES and ecoregional planning study
2006-7: Scoping for Sierra demonstration site
2008-9: Climate change impacts study2007-10: Implementation of mapping
tools and policy studies, outreach2008- Communicating externally,
applying in places
What are ecosystem services?
“ Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems”
-Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005
One area can provide multiple benefits, often to different beneficiaries
Categories of ecosystem services
Source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
Ecosystems benefit humans in a multitude of ways
Some California examples
Pollination of crops
Water quantity and timing
Carbon sequestration
Regulation of floods
Timber
Forage production
Fiber
Food
Spiritual & religious
Freshwater
Genetic Resources
Climate regulation
Water purification
Disease regulation
Flood/Fire regulation
Recreation & tourism
Aesthetic
Economic Value ($)
Economic Valuation
Difficult or impossible
Easy
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Many services are public goods
Source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
The Big Idea
- Landowners, governments, companies make decisions motivated by economic considerations
- Land use planning traditionally does not factor in the full array of values that an ecosystem provides - The importance of these values is
emphasized in a warming climate
- If the values of these services are put into the trade-off equation, a different decision might be made
Guidance on Purchasing Land for National Forests (Weeks Law 1911)
1. protection against disastrous erosion of the soil
2. preservation of the purity and regularity of flow of the mountain streams,
with a view to their use for the water supply of towns and cities;
3. preservation of a timber supply to meet the needs of the industries of the country;
4. preservation of the beauty and attractiveness of
the uplands for the recreation and pleasure of the people.Source: http://www.foresthistory.org/Research/usfscoll/policy/Agency_Organization/NF_System/weeks_law/
Conservation Planning: 100 years ago
What is new….
• Emphasis on quantifying economic value of services
• Global agreement on decline of many services (MEA)
• Emergence of markets to buy and sell units of services
• Acknowledgment of global warming
Average Timber Revenue per County (2001-2006)Highest- Humboldt County- $166MSource: CA Board of Equalization
Total Market Value of all Agricultural Products Sold per County (2002)Highest- Fresno County- $2.8BSource: NASS
Economic Value of Traditional Commodities (Provisioning Services)
ForageHabitat Integrity
OverlapsWater Yield
Forest Carbon
Potential Aquifer Recharge
“Hotspots”: Carbon, water yield, habitat
integrity
Showing aggregate provision (and value) or services can tell simple, powerful story
Net change in aboveground live tree carbon stored by the end of the century (2070–2099 mean)
Shaw et al. in press. Climatic Change
Policy context
Survey of Sierra Nevada stakeholders on barriers and opportunities
Completed statewide assessment of existing markets for services
Advance Mitigation MOU
Link the investment in planning to the purpose
Use of Models Needed Level of Accuracy and Precision of Data
Media or Type of Information Delivery
Size of Audience
Frequency of Update, Need for Dynamic Information
Build awareness about distribution and importance of a service
Low Maps, posters, animations, presentations, popular media
Large Low
Identify areas of high service production, or overlap with conservation lands or priorities
Moderate Web mapping portal, synthesized or input data sets, maps of overlap, scenario-based trade-off and synergy summaries
Medium Medium
Support development of a market and transactions among market actors
High Trading platform, near-real-time sensors, monitoring reports
Small (at least initially)
High
Shaw and Cameron, in prep.
Getting people to pay for something that has been free is
hard
- Need regulatory reason to pay for service
- Risk management might be viable avenue
- Paying for public goods through public funding?
© The Economist
Where does the value come from?Provisioning : often after service has
been exploited, value is commodity (eg fish)
Carbon- value is given through regulation
Can the regulations include co-benefits?
Without regulations, voluntary actions
How do regulations affect market
Where are the users?
California State Water Project (CWP) Deliveries
23%
4%
55%
18%
Feather River
San Francisco BayArea
CaliforniaAqueduct
AqueductBranches
Mapping flows and beneficiaries – at what scale?
Infrastructure mediates delivery
Acknowledgements
Rebecca Shaw, Erik Haunreiter, Holly Davis, Nat Cap team, Adam Davis
Funding provided by Resources Legacy Fund