Marion B. Potschin-Young

Fabis Consulting Ltd.

As the mapping and assessment of ecosystem services (MAES) becomes a widely used tool in environmental governance, there is an increasing need for structure and standardization. In this study we present a systematic review of European MAES studies focussing on two important, but rarely documented aspects of ecosystem service (ES) indicators: (1) th...

The European Union (EU) Horizon 2020 Coordination and Support Action ESMERALDA aimed at developing guidance and a flexible methodology for Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) to support the EU member states in the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy’s Target 2 Action 5. ESMERALDA’s key tasks included network cr...

Mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services (MAES) is a key EU initiative to synthesise vital environmental information and facilitate balanced policy decisions. As MAES integrates across many scientific and policy domains, the development of a common language and shared concepts is essential. Here we present a comprehensive MAES Glossa...

The focus of this report is to present a broad framework for ecosystem services assessment and to test it. The framework aims to illustrate the integrated assessment cycle for practitioners. The framework also places within the other assessment activities, such as scenarios and assessing policies.

The aim of this Deliverable is to report on the use of the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) to characterise the biophysical, social and economic methods of ecosystem assessments, and to identify how it can be further developed to support the needs of the user community. A first draft of this Deliverable was made ava...

Identifying and applying the appropriate method for ecosystem services mapping and assessment is not trivial. To provide guidance in this task, this paper describes the creation of a database for existing studies on mapping and assessing ecosystems and their services, which records relevant information to the ecosystem studies (e.g. methods used, t...

The Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) is widely used for mapping, ecosystem assessment, and natural capital ecosystem accounting. On the basis of the experience gained in using it since the first version was published in 2013, it has been updated for version 5.1. This policy brief summarises what has been done and ho...

This report provides an overview of the main social methods for mapping and assessment of ecosystem services. It addresses the challenge of improving the applicability of these methods with specific examples, particularly with respect to the MAES process and the ESMERALDA case studies. In this context, the term “mapping” is used to mean the descrip...

This report provides an overview of the main economic methods for mapping and assessment of ecosystem services.

We present a ‘concept matching’ systematic review linking the classes of the Common International Classification for Ecosystem Services (CICES, v4.3) to the ways scientists define and apply ES indicators in published studies. With the dual aim of creating an overview how the different services are measured in the studies, and determining if CICES p...

Small islands are of special interest for sustainable development because of their unique characteristics and vulnerabilities. They are ecologically fragile, have limited resources, are susceptible to natural disasters and climate change. This study reviews the literature on island ecosystems, their contribution in the delivery of five key Island E...

The aim of this paper is to identify the role of conceptual frameworks in operationalising and mainstreaming the idea of ecosystem services. It builds on some initial discussions from IPBES, which suggested that conceptual frameworks could be used to: ‘simplify thinking’, ‘structure work’, ‘clarify issues’, and ‘provide a common reference point’. T...

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We explore the degree to which a useful and cost-effective set of cultural ecosystem services (CES) indicators can be produced at different spatial scales in the UK, using readily available data. We place this within the conceptual framework developed for the understanding of CES produced by the recent UK National Ecosystem Assessment (UK NEA) and...

The ecosystem services (ES) concept is one of the main avenues for conveying society’s dependence on natural ecosystems. On-ground applications of the concept are now widespread and diverse, and include its use as a communication tool, for policy guidance and priority setting, and for designing economic instruments for conservation. Each applicatio...

The 'ecosystem service' debate has taken on many features of a classic Kuhnian paradigm. It challenges conventional wisdoms about conservation and the value of nature, and is driven as much by political agendas as scientific ones. In this paper we review some current and emerging issues arising in relation to the analysis and assessment of ecosyste...

Reviewing landscape developments in the last decades evidently shows that in the future most pressing changes can be expected for the land surface. This indispensably calls for strategic approaches based on visions and transdisciplinary creativity. Hence, this paper critically reviews the Leitbild concept, an idea on spatial planning which has been...

What can ecological science contribute to the sustainable management and conservation of the natural systems that underpin human well-being? Bridging the natural, physical and social sciences, this book shows how ecosystem ecology can inform the ecosystem services approach to environmental management. The authors recognise that ecosystems are rich...

Ecosystem services are the benefits humankind derives from the workings of the natural world. These include most obviously the supply of food, fuels and materials, but also more basic processes such as the formation of soils and the control and purification of water, and intangible ones such as amenity, recreation and aesthetics. Taken together, th...

Sustainability impact assessments (SIA) are inherently difficult because they often require policy advisors to compare things that are not easily compared. For example, they generally require an evaluation of policy proposals or options across the 'three pillars' of economy, society and environment. In this chapter we explore how decisions are made...

Recent European instruments such as the European Landscape Convention (ELC) and institutionalized environmental reporting activities such as by OECD or the European Environment Agency have formulated clear demands for assessing the state and trends of European landscapes. One critical reference for understanding landscape changes is the recognition...

Landscape Research has a long tradition in Germany. After Alexander von Humboldt introduced the term "landscape" 200 years ago, as the "Total Character of a Region" (Totalcharakter einer Erdgegend), it became a key focus of study for geography, stimulated by the work of Troll, Paffen, Schmithüsen, Neef and others. Although such ideas were, for a ti...

Over the last 40 years the partly irreversible change of land use in Germany has doubled. Beside the scaling of areas for infrastructure such as roads, parking space, housing and industry increasingly areas are used for large leisure and recreation facilities. Landscape planning only holds limited instruments to assess area consumption of these fac...

This paper explores how the quality of environmental assessment could be improved by using the concept of natural capital. The issues are examined by reference to golf course developments in the area between Freiburg, Germany and Basel, Switzerland. The paper evaluates the site-level environmental impact assessments statements that were undertaken...

The question: “What is a landscape?” is problematic. The difficulty associated with the question has its roots in the “normality” of the term “landscape”, because it is part of the colloquial speech. This situation is comparable with those we face when dealing with the words “environment” or “recreation” — everybody “knows” what the words mean but...

This article focuses on the current discussion of 'mission statements' ("Leitbild-Begriff) in the German-speaking world. Although the concept is very fashionable nowadays, its application just as widespread, two differing perspectives of the term become apparent: a purely technical perspective, based on qualified opinion and a holistic perspective,...

The practice of landscape planning uses, inter alia, results from the ecological sciences. These also provide the instruments for the recording, analysis and evaluation of parameters of landscape ecology. A survey with questionnaires conducted amongst scientists and practitioner shows, however, that these instruments are hardly known in practice an...

The rapid change of running modifications and processes simultaneously require and enable the execution of a landscape monitoring. With latest methods and geo-information data an important contribution can be made in particular to monitor and evaluate developments being carried out. The landscape monitoring dedicates itself to the check and the pro...

Die Arbeit zeigt, daß die Saugkerzenmethodik trotz viel diskutierter Probleme die derzeit einfachste und beste Möglichkeit darstellt, Bodenwasser — besonders an extremen Standorten wie der Arktis — zu gewinnen. Es wird außerdem darauf hingewiesen, daß — obwohl man sich an alle Standards zur Installation, Probenbehandlung und -auswertung gehalten ha...

The article concludes that despite the many problems associated with suction cup methodology, it is still the simplest and best method of extracting soil water, particularly in extreme locations like the arctic. Of particular interest are the unusual results obtained for soil water chemistry, despite the fact that all the standards concerning insta...

Eine der Teilaufgaben der Geographie besteht in der Bereitstellung von Grundlagendaten, die in Planungsprozesse einfließen. Diese Informationen wurden in der Regel zweckgerichtet erhoben, da sie sich an bestimmten Problemstellungen orientierten und damit nicht „wertneutral“ sind. Im Rahmen anwendungsorientierter Fragestellungen (z.B. Raumbewertunge...

In collaboration with an international and interdisciplinary geoscientific expedition to Liefdefjorden (NW Spitsbergen), numerous data concerning abiotic and biotic parameters were recorded over a period of three years and investigated in detail. Amongst other things, recurring phases were noted for diverse parameters. As a result, a statistical in...

Quaternary history, recent glacier ice distribution, geomorphological setting and current climate are intercorrelated with surface water distribution and its hydrological dynamics. The ecological parameters of these surface waters have been studied within a regional and seasonal framework, as well as in a general context.