Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Human well-being and poverty reduction
Indirect drivers of change
Security (e.g., personal safety, security
from disasters)
Basic material for good life (e.g., shelter,
sufficient nutritious food)
Health (e.g., feeling well, access to clean air
and water)
Good social relations (e.g., social
cohesion, mutual respect)
Freedom of choice and action
Demograhic
Economic (e.g., globalisation, trade, market
and policy framework)
Sociopolitical (e.g., governance, institutional
and legal framework)
Science and technology
Cultural and religious (e.g., beliefs,
consumption choices)
Direct drivers of change
Ecosystem services
Changes in land use and cover
Species introductions or removal
Technology adaptation and use
External inputs (e.g., fertiliser use, pest
control, irrigation)
Harvest and resource consumption
Climate change
Natural, physical and biological
drivers (e.g., evolution, volcanoes)
Provisioning (e.g., food, freshwater, timber,
fibre, fuel)
Regulating (e.g., climate, floods, disease,
pests)
Cultural (e.g., aesthetic, recreational,
spiritual)
Supporting (e.g., nutrient cycling, soil
formation, pollination)
Figure 16.4.
Interactions between ecosystem services, human well-being and drivers
of change. Based on the MEA and reported from Hodgson et al. (
2007
).
Towards a quality assessment framework based
on ecosystem services
First, we suggest that there are certain features that might be desirable, or
necessary, to generate a robust concept of ecological quality based around the
idea of ecosystem services. These are as follows.
1. The flexibility to allow context dependent definition of quality. 'Good'
quality need not be the same in all situations; what is a meaningful and
practical aspiration for a river in a sparsely populated rural area may not
be appropriate for one in an urban area. Both systems provide ecosystem
services, but the balance of these may be rather different in the two
situations and we want to recognise that each system might be different,
yet might be functioning in a way very appropriate to the context it is in.
We want to be able to recognise that this 'fit' of function to context may be
an important element of whether a system is of good quality.
2. The ability to take account of more than one ecosystem service, and the
trade-offs between services. There are few, if any, situations in which all
the assessment of quality could, or should, be based on the delivery of a
single function or service. Partly, this is because there will almost always
be explicit demand for multiple services in any system, and partly
because even if one element is taken to be paramount, services are not
independent. Alteration of one process or function may have negative
