Ecosystem Services - Ecological Systems - page 91

International Scale: Global Policy and Research Efforts
As described above, the MA was the first major effort to establish ES in the
international policy arena. Activities stemming from that effort are now aimed at
bringing countries together in making tangible commitments to safeguard ES (e.g.,
2020 targets for the Convention on Biodiversity) and to assess national and inter-
national progress toward those commitments (e.g., through Group on Earth
Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON) and the Programme
on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS), which synthesize knowledge for the
International Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), formally
established in 2010). Several new international research efforts aim to feed into
these international processes, including the Natural Capital Project, The Resilience
Alliance, and the Stockholm Resilience Centre. Other entities are focused on
establishing and tracking ES markets, as a mechanism for bringing larger attention
to ES benefits to society (e.g., The Katoomba Group and The Ecosystem Market-
place, both initiated by Forest Trends). As an example of many burgeoning
international efforts, we describe in greater detail the Natural Capital Project.
The Natural Capital Project (NatCap) ( www.naturalcapitalproject.org )isan
international partnership working to align economic forces with conservation, by
developing tools that make incorporating natural capital into decisions easy and
replicable; by demonstrating the power of these tools in important, contrasting places;
and by engaging leaders globally. NatCap is developing InVEST, a family of tools for
Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs.
InVEST helps decision makers visualize the impacts of potential policies by
modeling and mapping the delivery, distribution, and economic value of ES under
alternative scenarios (for more information, see [ 30 ]). The outputs identify trade-
offs and compatibilities between environmental, economic, and social benefits.
InVEST is designed for use as part of an active decision-making process
( Fig. 6.4 ) and can be applied at local, regional, or global scales. The first phase of
the approach involves working with stakeholders to identify critical management
decisions and to develop scenarios that project how the provision of services might
change in response to those decisions as well as to changing climate, population,
etc. Based on these scenarios, a modular set of models quantifies and maps ES.
The outputs of these models provide decision makers with information about costs,
benefits, trade-offs, and synergies of alternative investments in ES provision.
NatCap is using InVEST in major natural resource decisions in diverse contexts
around the world, including in the three examples given above (water funds,
coastal and marine spatial planning, and land-use planning and human develop-
ment in China). The aim is to demonstrate the power of these approaches and to
learn how to replicate and scale up models of success. The Project is engaged in a
suite of international efforts, including GEO BON and IPBES, to offer a common,
unifying platform for regional and national efforts that are spawned by these
initiatives.