Lars Hein

Wageningen University & Research | WUR

Abstract Countries have pledged to different national and international environmental agreements, most prominently the climate change mitigation targets of the Paris Agreement. Accounting for carbon stocks and flows (fluxes) is essential for countries that have recently adopted the United Nations System of Environmental-Economic Accounting - ecosys...

Above-ground biomass (AGB) is considered an essential climate variable that underpins our knowledge and information about the role of forests in mitigating climate change. The availability of satellite-based AGB and AGB change (ΔAGB) products has increased in recent years. Here we assessed the past decade net ΔAGB derived from four recent global mu...

Social media has created new opportunities to map cultural ecosystem services (CES) related to biodiversity at large scales. However, using these novel data to understand people's preferences in relation to these CES remains a challenge. To address this, we trained a deep learning model to capture people's interactions with selected flora and fauna...

Peatland stretches across approximately 8% of Indonesia's land area. Peat fire disturbance, which affects the carbon dynamics of the ecosystem, will determine the country's vision for a long-term strategy for low carbon development. While the impact of excessive draining on peatland fire is well-known to the scientific community, much less is known...

Several million hectares of Indonesian peatlands have been converted to plantations, with oil palm being the most important plantation crop. This has contributed to the economic development of Indonesia. At the same time, it poses environmental challenges. An as yet insufficiently understood concern is that the drainage required for cultivation of...

Ecosystems contribute to economic activities and provide economic value. There is an increasing interest in measuring these monetary values. This helps making comparisons with other macro-economic variables, such as GDP and the stock of non-financial assets. The System of Environmental Economic Accounting – Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA), adopted b...

Background Indonesian peatlands have been drained for agricultural development for several decades. This development has made a major contribution to economic development. At the same time, peatland drainage is causing significant air pollution resulting from peatland fires. Peatland fires occur every year, even though their extent is much larger i...

Over the past decade, several global maps of above-ground biomass (AGB) have been produced, but they exhibit significant differences that reduce their value for climate and carbon cycle modelling, and also for national estimates of forest carbon stocks and their changes. The number of such maps is anticipated to increase because of new satellite mi...

In March 2021, the UN Statistical Commission adopted the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Ecosystem Accounting. The SEEA EA provides detailed guidance measuring the extent and condition of ecosystems, and how to quantify ecosystem services. This paper presents the SEEA EA in terms of the various types of ecosystem accounts, its origins,...

Peoples’ recreation and well-being are closely related to their aesthetic enjoyment of the landscape. Ecosystem service (ES) assessments record the aesthetic contributions of landscapes to peoples’ well-being in support of sustainable policy goals. However, the survey methods available to measure these contributions restrict modelling at large scal...

Like many other tropical countries, the Philippines has suffered from decades of deforestation and forest degradation during and even after the logging era. Several open access Earth Observation (EO) products are increasingly being used for deforestation analysis in support of national and international initiatives and policymaking on forest conser...

Scenic beauty is an important contributing factor to peoples' well-being. Modelling scenic beauty has been made possible at large scales with the availability of open-source remote sensing products. At the same time, the metadata available through social media, including tags and descriptions, offer a novel modelling alternative with a personalised...

Forests play an important role in maintaining rainfall patterns worldwide by recycling water back to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration. We present a novel spatiotemporal data-driven model and assessment of the impacts of various deforestation scenarios on rainfall patterns in sub-Saharan Africa, where rainfed agriculture is the main source...

Streamflow predictions in ungauged basins (PUB) has been geared towards data-driven methods, including the use of machine learning methods such as random forest (RF). Such methods are applied in PUB regionalization or the transfer of a streamflow model from gauged to ungauged (sub) basins or watersheds after grouping watersheds on similarity rules....

Inland valleys (IVs) are seasonally flooded wetlands comprising valley bottoms and hydromorphic fringes but excluding river flood plains. IVs have year-round water availability, and high soil fertility levels compared to surrounding uplands. Decisions by farmers to use IVs for agricultural production are the result of a combination of factors. Th...

In 2012, the Netherlands started the testing and production of high resolution, national scale ecosystem accounts following the methodology of the System of Environmental Economic Accounting – Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EEA), in short ‘ecosystem accounting’. The SEEA is endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission as a compreh...

Cultural ecosystem services (CES) are some of the most valuable contributions of ecosystems to human well-being. Nevertheless, these services are often underrepresented in ecosystem service assessments. Defining CES for the purposes of spatial quantification has been challenging because it has been difficult to spatially model CES. However, rapid i...

The current drainage-based peatland management systems in Indonesia result in high fire risks, soil subsidence and CO2 emissions. This study aims to assess different alternatives of peatland crops in order to help prevent further degradation of peatlands in Indonesia. We focus on tropical peatland crops that provide food and that are of particular...

Global statistical standards are being developed

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) have been developed as a policy instrument to help safeguard the contributions of ecosystems to human well-being. A critical measure of a programme’s effectiveness is whether it is generating an additional supply of ecosystem services (ES). So far, there has been limited analysis of PES programmes based on the...

The conversion of Indonesian tropical peatlands has been associated with the recurring problems of peatland fires and smoke affecting humans and the environment. Yet, the local government and public in the affected areas have paid little attention to the impacts and costs of the poor air quality on human health. This study aims to analyse the long-...

Ecosystems contribute to economic development through the supply of ecosystem services such as food and fresh water. Information on ecosystems and their services is required to support policy making, but this information is not captured in economic statistics. Ecosystem accounting has been developed to integrate ecosystems and ecosystem services in...

Economic development has increased pressures on natural resources during the last decades. The concept of planetary boundaries has been developed to propose limits on human activities based on earth processes and ecological thresholds. However, this concept was not developed to downscale planetary boundaries to sub-global level. The absence of boun...

Abstract Forest ecosystems provide benefits to people locally and globally. Sustainable management of forest resources is required to ensure continued supply of these benefits, but complex social-ecological processes are often a constraint to the design of such forest management strategies. In this study, we developed a model of adaptive forest zon...

The Government of Indonesia has published a number of policies and regulations to better manage its vast amount of tropical peatland, yet the degradation and conversion of Indonesian peatlands still continues. This paper analyses the institutional fit between Indonesian regulations related to peatland use and the characteristics of peatland users....

In recent decades, there have been substantial increases in crop production in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as a result of higher yields, increased cropping intensity, expansion of irrigated cropping systems, and rainfed cropland expansion. Yet, to date much of the research focus of the impact of climate change on crop production in the coming decades...

Supporting information document contains Table B (Calibrated parameter values of the SWAT landscape model); and Table B and Figure A (SWAT calibration and validation results). (DOCX)

Supporting information document contains Table A listing the general circulation models used in the study. (DOCX)

Supporting information document contains severity-duration-frequency methodology for modelling streamflow droughts and Table D which shows the goodness of fit of marginal distributions. (DOCX)

Large areas of Indonesian peatlands have been converted for agricultural and plantation forest purposes. This requires draining with associated CO2 emissions and fire risks. In order to identify alternative management regimes for peatlands, it is important to understand the sustainability of different peatland uses as well as the economic benefits...

Meeting the dual objectives of food security and ecosystem protection is a major challenge in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). To this end agricultural intensification is considered desirable, yet, there remain uncertainties regarding the impact of climate change on opportunities for agricultural intensification and the adequacy of intensification options...

Worldwide, ecosystem change compromises the supply of ecosystem services (ES). Better managing ecosystems requires detailed information on these changes and their implications for ES supply. Ecosystem accounting has been developed as an environmental-economic accounting system using concepts aligned with the System of National Accounts. Ecosystem a...

In natural capital accounting, ecosystems are assets that provide ecosystem services to people. Assets can be measured using both physical and monetary units. In the international System of Environmental-Economic Accounting, ecosystem assets are generally valued on the basis of the net present value of the expected flow of ecosystem services. In th...

In many parts of the world, ecosystems change compromises the supply of ecosystem services (ES). Better ecosystem management requires detailed and structured information. Ecosystem accounting has been developed as an information system for ecosystems, using concepts and valuation approaches that are aligned with the System of National Accounts (SNA...

Major increases in food production are needed to feed the rapidly growing population of sub-Saharan Africa. Increased application of irrigation has often been identified as one of the main pathways to agricultural intensification. However, water flows, in particular during the dry season, often depend upon the water regulation services provided by...

Oil palm has increasingly been established on peatlands throughout Indonesia. One of the concerns is that the drainage required for cultivating oil palm in peatlands leads to soil subsidence, potentially increasing future flood risks. This study analyzes the hydrological and economic effects of oil palm production in a peat landscape in Central Kal...

Worldwide, ecosystems and their biodiversity are under severe environmental pressure. Consequently, the supply of valuable services provided by these ecosystems, such as the provisioning of timber, water regulation, air filtration or recreation, is being reduced or lost. Ecosystem accounting aims to quantify and monitor the interdependence between...

Worldwide, ecosystems and their biodiversity are under severe environmental pressure. Consequently, valuable services provided by these ecosystems, such as the provisioning of timber, water regulation, air filtration or recreation, may be reduced or lost. Ecosystem accounting aims to quantify and monitor the interdependence between ecosystems (and...

There is increasing experience with the valuation of ecosystem services. However, to date, less attention has been devoted to who is actually benefiting from ecosystem services. This nevertheless is a key issue, in particular, if ecosystem services analysis and valuation is used to support environmental management. This study assesses and analyzes...

Ecosystem accounting is an emerging field that aims to provide a consistent approach to analysing environment–economy interactions. One of the specific features of ecosystem accounting is the distinction between the capacity and the flow of ecosystem services. Ecohydrologi-cal modelling to support ecosystem accounting requires considering among oth...

The separated and combined effects of land cover scenarios and future climate on the provision of hydrological services were evaluated in Vez watershed, northern Portugal. SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) was calibrated against daily discharge, sediments and nitrates, with good agreements between model predictions and field observations. Four...

Ecosystem accounting has been developed as a systematic approach to incorporate measures of ecosystem services and ecosystem assets into an accounting structure. Ecosystem accounting involves spatially explicit modelling of ecosystem services and assets, in both physical and monetary terms. A range of recent studies has tested the various elements...

Deforestation and oil palm expansion in Central Kalimantan province are among the highest in Indonesia. This study examines the physical and monetary impacts of oil palm expansion in Central Kalimantan up to 2025 under three policy scenarios. Our modelling approach combines a spatial logistic regression model with a set of rules governing land use...

There has long been interest in integrating the value of environmental stocks and flows into standard measures of economic activity and wealth, in particular through the development of adjusted measures of GDP and extended measures of national wealth. This paper examines how the valuation of ecosystem services and ecosystem assets can be undertaken...

Ecosystem accounting has been proposed as a comprehensive, innovative approach to natural capital accounting, and basically involves the biophysical and monetary analysis of ecosystem services in a national accounting framework. Characteristic for ecosystem accounting is the spatial approach taken to analyzing ecosystem services. This study examine...

Land cover change and future climate conditions may influence the provision of hydrological services. Therefore, it is important to understand how these drivers will affect water supplies and water hazards mitigation, in order to support the planning and management of water resources. In this study, the separated and combined effects of land cover...

The implementation of the decentralisation policies in Indonesia, which started in 2000, has fundamentally changed the country's forest governance framework. This study investigates how decentralisation has influenced forest governance, and links the forest governance to deforestation rates at the district level. We measure and compare the quality...

Forests are among the most important ecosystems for the provision of hydrological services. These include water supply and water damage mitigation, in the dimensions of quantity, timing and quality. Although the hydrological role of forests is well documented in the literature, a conceptual framework integrating these three dimensions is still miss...

Promoting sustainable land management requires a thorough understanding of land use change drivers, processes and effects over time. An integrated approach was therefore tested to analyse land use dynamics, combining satellite images, an in-depth quantitative survey, stakeholder interviews and local statistics. Analysis of land dynamics and agricul...

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) faces further population growth in the coming decades and it is essential to increase food production in rural areas. However, development programs to enhance agricultural productivity have achieved mixed results. This study investigates farm household responses to a changing agro-environment in one of the most densely popu...

Land degradation is affecting rural livelihoods across sub-Saharan Africa. Promoting sustainable land management requires a thorough understanding of land use change drivers, processes and effects. However, in most African countries reliable data for such investigations are missing. We therefore test an integrated approach to analyse land use dynam...

Indonesia is subject to rapid land use change. One of the main causes for the conversion of land is the rapid expansion of the oil palm sector. Land use change involves a progressive loss of forest cover, with major impacts on biodiversity and global CO2 emissions. Ecosystem services have been proposed as a concept that would facilitate the identif...

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) faces further population growth in the coming decades and it is essential to increase food production in rural areas. However, development programs to enhance agricultural productivity have achieved only mixed results. This study investigates farm household responses to a changing agro-environment in one of the most densely...

Continuous decline of biodiversity over the past decades suggests that efforts to decrease biodiversity loss have been insufficient. One option to deal with this problem is the use of market-based mechanisms for biodiversity conservation. Several studies have analysed such mechanisms individually, but there is no comprehensive review with a compara...

In their Research Article “Bringing ecosystem services into economic decision making: Land use in the United Kingdom” (5 July, p. [45][1]), I. J. Bateman et al. demonstrate the importance of considering nonmarket ecosystem services in economic decision-making. It is an excellent example of the

This study explores the integration of ecosystem services and climate change adaptation in development plans for coastal wetlands in Bangladesh. A new response framework for adaptation is proposed, based on an empirical analysis and consultations with stakeholders, using a modified version of the DPSIR (Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response) framew...

It is generally recognized that addressing the ongoing loss of global biodiversity requires a substantial increase in funding for conservation activities, particularly in developing countries. An increasing interest in Payment Mechanisms for Ecosystem Services (PES) begs the question of whether a focus on developing payment mechanisms will also red...

Ecosystems provide hydrological services, namely water supply and water damage mitigation, essential for human well-being. Concerns over water problems and hydrological services provision have been increasing in the last decades, with special emphasis for water scarcity. For an effective water management and planning, hydrological services should b...

The design and implementation of REDD+ projects requires understanding the local ecological, economic and social context. This paper analyzes how REDD+ influences the context of ecosystem management, from both a conceptual and an ecosystem-scale perspective. We analyze how REDD+ changes the economic interests in ecosystem management for different s...

a b s t r a c t This paper gives an overview of the value of ecosystem services of 10 main biomes expressed in monetary units. In total, over 320 publications were screened covering over 300 case study locations. Approximately 1350 value estimates were coded and stored in a searchable Ecosystem Service Value Database (ESVD). A selection of 665 valu...

Shifting societal needs drive and shape landscapes and the provision of their services. This paper presents a modelling approach to visualize the regional spatial and temporal dynamics in landscape service supply as a function of changing landscapes and societal demand. This changing demand can result from different policy targets. In this paper we...

The large majority of biofuels to date is "first-generation" biofuel made from agricultural commodities. All first-generation biofuel production systems require phosphorus (P) fertilization. P is an essential plant nutrient, yet global reserves are finite. We argue that committing scarce P to biofuel production involves a trade-off between climate...

Eliciting the economic benefits provided by protected areas is important in order to ensure that they are properly considered in policy and decision making. There are relatively few studies that provide a comprehensive overview of the economic benefits provided by European forest ecosystems, in spite of the large share of forests in the protected a...

To date, there is no consensus on optimal stocking rates in the semi-arid Sahel. We develop a model for livestock management based on a detailed analysis of ecosystem dynamics, and we apply it to calculate optimal and sustainable livestock stocking rates in a Sahelian rangeland. The general model accounts for stochastic rainfall and the long-term i...

Rural landscapes are often multifunctional, meaning that at one single location different goods and services are being provided. Multifunctionality is spatially heterogeneous as not all areas are equally suitable to supply multiple goods and services. This suitability depends on favourable biophysical and socio-economic conditions and interactions...