openLandscapes - Session G - Case studies on ecosystem services

University of Kiel, Ecology Centre, Msc Environmental Science, a seminar paper
Status: completed (2008)

Ecosystem Services Case Studies

Ulrich Breitenbach and Fabian Delong

ubreitenbach@ecology.uni-kiel.de and fdelong@ecology.uni-kiel.de

This compendium of case studies belonging to the field of research of ecosystem services which were presented during the workshop of "Ecosystem Services Solution for problems or a problem that needs solutions" at Salzau/Germany in May 2008. The studies are sorted by the country where the research took place. You are welcome to enlarge this case study compendium by your own research but you should stick to the following guideline.

Focus on the Ecosystem Services concept (Supporting, Provisioning, Regulating, Cultural Services)
Investigation of at least one of its components
If possible, establish cross references to other, similar case studies
Include a link for further reading about your case study (e.g. published paper, participating institutions...)

List of countries:

EastAfrica
Finland
Germany
Indonesia
Madagascar

1. Mangroves as biofilters for sewage: Using the ecosystem service perspective to evaluate social impacts in periurban environments

Beatrice I. Crona, Patrik Rönnbäck, Narriman Jiddawi, Jacob Ochiewo and Sam Maghimbi; Stockholm University, Sweden

Introduction

There is growing research interest in the ethnobiology, socioeconomics and management of mangrove. Mangroves support local fisheries and also provide critical nursery habitat and marine productivity which support wider commercial fisheries. These forests also provide valuable ecosystem services that benefit coastal communities, including coastal land stabilization, storm protection and also wood for fuel and construction. The overlapping of marine and terrestrial resources in mangroves creates a complicate management situation and may induce conflicts between competing interests. Using mangroves as biofilters for sewage has been proposed as a solution for untreated sewage in coastal areas especially in less developed countries. But designating mangroves as biofilters reduces the ecosystem services of these systems.

Methods

This case study tried to evaluate locally noticed impacts on provisioning and regulating services in four East African countries, namely Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya and Zanzibar. The investigation is based on interviews with respondents around the communities of Mombasa, Zanzibar Town, Dar es Salam and Maputo. The Evaluation can be seen in Fig. 1.

Figure 1: Evaluation area in East Africa

They were questioned about effects of sewage on persons, ecosystems and effects of exclusion.

Results

The perceptions of local users on the provisioning and regulating/supporting services provided by periurban mangroves are shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Perceptions of the local users

Overall the large majority receives a high consensus, with a few minor exceptions like cooking of oil and collecting fruits etc. These figures are surprisingly similar across gender again with a few minor exceptions in provisioning services which are explained by being primarily related to trades that are gender specific.

There are also some differences in the strength of the consensus around certain products and services between the different countries, most likely related to traditional use and culture, but also related to the species available in each site.

Table 2 shows how the people answered to the question, “How does sewage impact…?”. Although many people did not know or could not say what the effects would be or didn’t think there would be any effects, many foresaw negative effects with using nearby mangroves as sewage biofilters. The largest effects were seen in products that are related to the marine environment and marine food products.

Table 2 Answers of local people to the question: "How does sewage impact...?"

The last question took it down to the level of the individual by asking how respondents perceived the effects of sewage on their own health, recreation and other aspects.

Table 3 Estimated effects on health

The respond of polled people is shown in Table 3 and states that around 80% saw negative impacts.

References

Rönnbäck, P., Crona, B.I. and Ingwall, L.: The return of ecosystem goods and services in replanted mangrove forests – Perspectives from two local communities in Kenya. (Manuscript)

Crona, B.I. (2006): Supporting and enhancing development of heterogeneous ecological knowledge among resource users in a Kenyan seascape. Ecology and Society 11(1): art 32.

Crona, B.I., Nyström, M., Mogren, J., and Folke, C. Middlemen as critical links in Social-Ecological Systems: An example from fishing communities in Eastern Africa. (In review Environmental Conservation)

2 Ecosystem services – a new tool for land use planning. Case study of Forest Lapland, northern Finland

Petteri Vihervaara, Timo Kumpula, A. Tanskanen and Benjamin Burkhard; University of Turku and University of Joensuu, Finland; ChristianAlbrechtsUniversität of Kiel

Introduction

The land use planning in Forest Lapland, in northern Finland has been a very controversial issue for a long time. A lot of different stakeholders like forestry people, reindeer herders, conservationists, gold diggers and other local peaople are acting in this area and have different demands. The roots of the political conflict are in land owning questions of Samí people. The ecosystem service approach could give new, objective perspectives for the question of optimal land use combination between different human interests and conservation needs in a long run. The aims of this ongoing project are:

To classify what ecosystem services the study areas do offer.
To examine how the different land use forms affect to the provision of ecosystem services in the study areas.
To lay scenarios for the ecological, social and economical longterm impacts of different land use options.
The ultimate goal is to develop a tool how the ecosystem services approach could be used in sustainable land use planning.

Forestry

From total 15173 km²land area of Inari there are 7121 km²forest land. 57 % the forests in the study area is over 120 years old. 70 % is state owned, 30 % is under private ownership. Forestry is restricted in 19 % of the forest area and 12 % is strictly conserved.

Reindeer husbandry

The study area consists of three reindeer herding districts with about were 134 reindeer owners in Ivalo, 82 in Hammastunturi and 154 in Lappi district. Allowed number of reindeers in 20052006 was 6000 in Ivalo district, 5500 in Hammastunturi district and 8000 in Lappi district. Total number of slaughtered reindeers was 13352 and the meet could be sold for approximately 9 €/kg.

Gold digging

Gold digging is concentrated in Ivalo river valley and its southern tributaries. From 19952004 there have been about 400 permits to the area per year. Result of gold digging in Ivalo river region in 2003 was 29,38 kg while price was 19785 €/kg) in May 2008.

Soft Tourism The number of hikers in Saariselkä region has increased from 2200 in 1965 to 9600 in 1980, and e.g. the number of visitors in Urho Kekkonen National Park, (UKPark) is nowadays 150 000200 000 in every year of which 8088 spent there more than one night.

Hard Tourism

The skidoo safaris are the most profitable tourist attractions and put a pressure to open new routes. Downhill skiing is concentrated in Saariselkä and slopes were built in 1971, 1978 and 1983.

The values of the forests displayed by yearly income and employed people is presented in Tabel 4.

Table 4 Income and employees of the different economic branches

How the demands and impacts of different land use types affect the ecosystem services is shown in Table 5.

Table 5 Effects of different land use types on ecosystem services

Methods and scales

Land use classes and other GIS data (e.g. biological data, geography database, aerial pictures) were merged to different polygons, and afterwards the ecosystem services and the socioeconomical gains and impacts were determined from each polygon. The accuracy of the information and the occurrence of the ecosystem services were checked with field inventories. Stakeholder and expert interviews were done with a view to get local people’s opinions on possibilities and challenges confronting different land use forms and the ecosystem services they offer.

Summary

Ecosystem service approach offers tools to link the biodiversity and functioning of ecosystems to the landscape level that will benefit sustainable land use planning. Changes in ecosystem service production induced by human pressure might have straight influence also on local species populations. Chances to take conservation needs better into account in decission making will increase when assessment of ecosystem services is included in land use planning and finally, it is noteworthy to realise that changes in land use has both negative and positive impacts on ecosystem services.

Further Reading:

Burkhard, Benjamin, Kumpula, Timo, & Muller, Felix (2003). Landscape Assessment for a Sustainable Reindeer Husbandry in Northern Scandinavia. Eds. F. Muller, W. Kepner & C. Caesar: Landscape Sciences for Environmental Assessment, Proceedings from a CCMS Pilot Study Meeting at Salzau Castle, Germany. Ecosys - Beiträge zur Ökosystemforschungs 10:116-124.

3 Preferences for insurance services provided by the biological diversity of a centralEuropean deciduous forest

S. Rajmis, J. Barkmann and R. Margraf; Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, GeorgAugustUniversity Göttingen, Germany

Introduction

The Hainich National Park (7,600 ha, situated in Thuringia, Germany) is the largest coherent deciduous forest in Germany. This project investigated economic preferences in the form of the “willingness to pay” (WTP) of the local population for several forest ecosystem services. From the knowledge that biological diversity enhances the selforganizing capacity of ecosystems under environmental pressures, the idea of an insurance scheme against the loss of ecosystem services was derived. But not only insurance effects of biodiversity against known ecological threats were economically estimated. Economic preferences for proactive measures that provide insurance against yet unknown risks were also studied. The main aims of this study are to investigate the WTP for insurance services against environmental threats. Furthermore a method for the economic valuation of ecosystem services should be developed by which the underestimation of insurance services of biodiversity could be reduced.

Methods

In a first step, extensive qualitative prestudies on the understanding and the knowledge about biological diversity and environmental risks of the local population were carried out. Based on this background information, a choice experiment (CE) survey was designed. In the course of the survey, 1055 people were contacted. The participators could express their WTP on four possible insurance services

1 climate change CO2 sequestration as insurance service against

2 pests and storms stand typical tree species as insurance service against

3 invasive species forest biodiversity as insurance service against

4 unknown threats mycorrhiza of the forest soil as insurance service against unknown risks

Results

The WTP, expressed in € per person and year, differed in the four different insurance services in the range of 8 – 26 € p.pers. and year. For an optimal set of insurance services around Hainich National Park, a total WTP of 96.82 € per year and person was estimated.

Further Reading:

http://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/48018.html

Rajmis, S. (2005): Wertschätzung von Biodiversität als Quelle ökologischer Versicherungsleistungen in Deutschland; Treffpunkt Biologische Vielfalt 6; 143-148; Bundesamt für Naturschutz, Bonn

4 Valuing pollination services in coffee landscapes

Roland Olschewski; Swiss Federal Research Institute ESL, Switzerland

Introduction

Agro forestry, like extensive coffee production is known to contribute to biodiversity. However, in the events of falling coffee prices, many coffee growers decide to convert their sites into economically more attractive land uses.

The case study was conducted in order to show and value the production of external effects. And to give an idea of the “real” value of the pollination service, provided by bees.

The case study was conducted in the LoreLindu national park on Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Methods

In order to quantify the pollination service, the fruit set and the average berry weight of the coffee plants were determined. As many bee species depend on natural habitats, such as natural forests, it has been shown that coffee fruit set increases when forest patches are adjacent. There is a clear relationship between forest distance and coffee yield. The further afar the coffee plantation is from the bee habitats, the lower the yield.

In this case study the effects of deforestation were investigated. In a second step the netwelfare effects of landuse changes were determined.

For the economic analysis it was assumed that coffee growers strive to maximise their net revenue. As forest destruction reduces net coffee revenues, preserving forest avoids such negative effects. The avoided losses can be assigned to the preserved forest area as a value for pollination services.

Results

Based on the knowledge on fruit set and berry weight, the economic impact on coffee sites with increasing distance from a 100ha circular forest area was calculated.

For this purpose, the coffee area around the forest was divided into four 100 m wide concentric circles (adding up to 192 ha), where net coffee revenues depended on forest distance. This was used as a reference scenario for comparison with the effects of forest destruction, as it was assumed that step after step 100 m wide patches of forest were destroyed. The results and changes in the net revenue of the coffee plantation can be seen in Table 6.

Table 6 Net revenues depending on destructed forest patches

In a second step a cost benefit analysis for an alternative land use on the deforested area was conducted. It was found that the gain in net income with an alternative land use exceeded the losses through deforestation. The results can be seen in Table 7.

Table 7 Total net revenues under an alternative land use in the deforested area

The presented results show that payments for pollination services are hardly sufficient in order to prevent deforestation. The coffee farmers will, if possible, opt for an alternative land use in the forested area such as maize, rice or pasture.

Further reading:

The complete paper of the case study can be found at http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art7/ES20051629.pdf.

5 Are payments for ecological services appropriate in discouraging deforestation in Madagascar's central Menabe region?

Clémence Dirac; Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), Switzerland

Introduction

Madagascar is worldwide recognised as a biodiversity hotspot. Among other environmental threats, deforestation is one of the biggest menaces for biodiversity in Madagascar. Slashandburn (S&B) activities to gain arable land continue. In central Menabe (west coast region), almost 1 % of dry forest is destroyed each year by fires. So far, no payment for ecological services (PES) analysis has been performed. The PES can be distinguished in direct (e.g. cash payments) and indirect (e.g. contributions in material and training) measures.

Figure 2 Map of Madagascar and the investigation area

Methods

The potential for PES is unknown and many related questions remain unanswered. The following key questions and their respective answers on the implementation of PES are the main goal of this case study.

Would villagers agree to systems of direct or indirect payments?
What reasons could they have to accept or refuse the PES?
Are PES systems suitable for conserving biodiversity?
What is the attitude of NGOs and the government on PES systems?

In the course of this study, 50 inhabitants of various villages were informally interviewed concerning their attitude towards a PES system. Furthermore, 24 people working for agriculturaldevelopment and biodiversityconservation organisations were questioned for the potential of a PES. From the tourism sector, 54 people were interviewed about the potential of ecotourism to protect forest landscape beauty. Unstructured surveys were arranged around three main questions.

"Would you stop slash and burn cultivation (S&B) if you would get each year the equivalent money to your annual S&B production?" > direct PES
"Would you stop S&B if you get the necessary equipment and training to do beekeeping?" > indirect PES
"Would you stop S&B if you get the necessary material and training to do ecotourism?" > indirect PES

The sampling was taken in random in 10 different villages that differed in their ethnicities, sensitization, PES experience and landscape.

Result

The villagers:

For the direct PES scheme, 67 % of the questioned villagers would go on with S&B. The main reasons for the refusal of the PES being habit and known practice, as well as security. For the indirect PES concerning the equipment and training for beekeeping, 65 % of the questioned villagers still favoured the S&B method. 39 % of these stated they would do so dor security reasons.

For the indirect PES concerning ecotourism the numbers changed, as 52 % of those people questioned would go on with their S&B practice. 43 % of these would do so due to security reasons.

Globally, 63 % of the villagers questioned favoured to go on with S&B rather than entering into a PES system. Overall the ecotourism option seems better accepted than the other options.

NGO people:

Concerning biodiversity, 88 % of the questioned people think that a PES system would perfectly or quite well suit to central Menabe. 43 % of the payments should be carried out in the form of training, 27 % in the form of material, 23 % in the form of land ownership and 3 % in the form of cash.

For ecotourism, 73 % think that PES would perfectly or quite well suit to central menabe in order to protect scenic beauty. 55 % of the payments should be done in the form of training, 24 % in the form of material and 9 % in the form of cash.

Concluding it can be stated that a huge gap in notions exists between the villagers and the people working for a NGO. 51 % of NGO people and governmental workers insist on sensitization, education and management trainings. From the case study, the following recommendations were given for the central Menabe region:

Focus on the villages that mostly agree with PES systems

To continue with the sensitization measures

To begin PES programmes in these villages and, in the case of success, motivate other villages to participate as well

To combine PES programmes with other development and ecological issues (e.g. agro forestry, livstocks improvement).

Contact to the author: http://www.env.ethz.ch/people/all/02722/diracc

Further Reading:

Dirac, C; Andriambelo, L; Sorg, J-P (2006): Scientific Bases for a Participatory Forest Landscape Management; Madagascar Conservation and Development; Volume 1, Issue 1;31

Lafortezza, R; Chen, J; Sanesi, G; Crow, T.R. (2008): Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Livelihoods in Tropical Forest Landscapes; in book: Patterns and Processes in Forest Landscapes; Springer Netherlands; ISBN: 978-1-4020-8504-8 (online)