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Geosystem services: A concept in support of sustainable development of the subsurface
Abstract
Because functions of the subsurface are hidden from view, its important role in society is often taken for granted. Underground use in cities and subsurface resource extraction rapidly increase. Ensuring sustainability of the subsurface role requires balancing between exploitation and conservation, recognizing the non-renewability of abiotic resources and the long time cycles in the subsurface.
This paper introduces the concept of geosystem services as a framework to analyze the issue of sustainable use of the subsurface in a systemic and holistic manner. Four main elements make up the framework: geosystems, services, values, and governance. Complementarity between the concepts of geosystem and ecosystems services is highlighted by classifying geosystem services in provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting services. Geosystem services are distinguished from ecosystem services by systematically reflecting on three cross-cutting themes (i.e. space, scale and time). Applying the concept of ‘geosystem services’ results in improved integration in areas where trade-offs occur between ‘geosystem services’ stemming from the subsurface and ‘ecosystem services’ at surface. The geosystem services concept helps framing a more sustainable process of urbanization, and contributes to a spatially explicit linkage of (mineral) resource production to consumption, environmental impacts on the ecosystem and (global) governance of resources and resource efficiencies.
... Most mineral deposits were formed millions or even billions of years ago. Their generation occurred through special geological processes under favorable conditions in appropriate mineral systems [30] that form a part of geosystem services [31][32][33][34]. Ecosystem services refer to biotic nature and are defined as "the conditions and processes through which natural ecosystems, and the species that make them up, sustain and fulfill human life" [35] (p. ...
... 3), when as the concept of geosystem services is related to abiotic nature, i.e., geology [31]. Geosystem services can be recognized as the goods and functions associated with geodiversity, which contribute to human well-being specifically resulting from the surface and subsurface [32,33,36]. The products of geosystem services provide society, for example, with arable land, groundwater, geothermal energy, and mineral raw materials [31][32][33][34]. ...
... Geosystem services can be recognized as the goods and functions associated with geodiversity, which contribute to human well-being specifically resulting from the surface and subsurface [32,33,36]. The products of geosystem services provide society, for example, with arable land, groundwater, geothermal energy, and mineral raw materials [31][32][33][34]. However, geosystem services have also shaped the landscapes that can be suitable, among others, for tourism, recreation, wind farms, reindeer herding, or as habitats for rare species. ...
Geosystem services produced by geological processes are the abiotic equivalents of ecosystem services. Geosystems also contribute to satisfying human needs and produce welfare in the form of, e.g., mineral deposits, landscapes for recreation and tourism, and habitats for rare species that require protection. Geosystems are inherently linked to ecosystems, which causes overlap between provided services. This overlap may in turn cause conflicts over land-use needs and interests. Such controversies can be manifested as mining and mineral exploration disputes (MMEDs). Six MMEDs from Finland were selected for a closer examination. The MMEDs are described and spatially analyzed from the geosystem services perspective. The main causes for the examined MMEDs are land-use issues, i.e., the location of a project in a sensitive context (a protected area (PA), tourism destination, reindeer herding area, or lake area with vacation homes), and/or association with uranium. There have been attempts to block some of the projects through land-use planning by expanding PAs or excluding mining from the municipality. Conversely, one of the projects is an example of the safeguarding of mineral deposits by province-level land-use planning. A more comprehensive consideration of geosystem services by land-use planning may help to accommodate and reconciliate diverse interests and alleviate disputes.
... The subsurface is not only a foundation on which all human infrastructure relies, and which offers opportunities to create a better living environment, it is also a multifunctional natural resource. Apart from physical space, the subsurface can, for example, provide and store water, energy and materials, provide habitats for ecosystems, act as support for surface life, and serve as a repository for cultural and geological heritage (de Mulder et al., 2012;van Ree and van Beukering, 2016;Volchko et al., 2020). Globally, the first-come-first-served principle often applies to accessing the resources in the subsurface (e.g. ...
... Ecosystem services are, by definition, the contributions that ecosystems make to human well-being, but services rendered by the nonliving (abiotic) parts of ecosystems, including those derived from the subsurface, are often neglected in ecosystem services classification systems (van der Meulen et al., 2016a; van Ree and van Beukering, 2016). An explanation suggested by van Ree et al (2017) for this lack of inclusion of abiotic parts of ecosystems is that ecologists and biologists constituted a predominant group of the scientists involved in the development of the ecosystem services concept and that this indirectly caused other disciplines (e.g., geology, biogeochemistry, geomorphology, and geohydrology) to be underrepresented. ...
... Other abiotic services, such as the potential to store carbon dioxide or to retain water to prevent flooding, are not usually traded in markets, suggesting that there is a risk that their value is being overlooked in decision-making processes. The omission of abiotic services in ecosystem services frameworks is particularly notable in regard to the subsurface (van der Meulen et al., 2016a; van Ree and van Beukering, 2016). ...
The subsurface is a multifunctional natural resource. However, a mindset of “out of sight, out of mind” and a first-come-first-served principle are prevalent when accessing these resources, compromising fair intergenerational and intragenerational distribution and sustainable development. As with the ecosystem services (ES) concept, which acknowledges the contribution of the living part of nature to human well-being, the concept of geosystem services (GS) has been suggested as a way to highlight abiotic services and services provided by the subsurface. The overall aim of this study was to review current definitions of GS and their categorisation, and to suggest how the concept of GS can support subsurface planning. A systematic literature review on GS was carried out following the PRISMA protocol drawing from the Scopus database. The emerging picture from the reviewed articles is that the GS concept is both one of novelty and one currently showing inconsistency, with two prominent definitions: A) GS are abiotic services that are the direct result of the planet’s geodiversity, independent of the interactions with biotic nature – there is no differentiation between suprasurface and subsurface features, and B) GS provide benefits specifically resulting from the subsurface. Thirty-one out of thirty-nine GS listed in the reviewed literature are included in the abiotic extension of the common ES framework CICES v5.1, but some essential services are omitted. A unified definition of GS is desirable to build a common framework for classifying and describing GS, potentially following the CICES structure for ES. Such a framework can support systematic inclusion of GS in planning processes and contribute to improved subsurface planning. In planning practice, there are examples of important GS that are already included under the ES umbrella because planners are aware of their importance but a comprehensive framework to handle these services is lacking.
... However, the subsurface is not only a source of space to be used in the built environment, it also has important functions and provides ecosystem and geosystem services (Fox et al., 2020;van Ree et al., 2016van Ree et al., , 2017 and should thus be more fully integrated in urban analyses (von der Tann et al., 2020;Qiao et al., 2022a, b). Over the last decades the attention to the subsurface has increased as a result of soil and groundwater contamination and its related health risks leading to soil protection strategies. ...
... To perform an integrated assessment of the allocation process both aspects need to be addressed. The concept of geosystem services provides such an opportunity as it allows to conceptualize subsurface functions and services in the urban environment beyond the mostly biotic services typically identified in the ecosystem services approach (Bobylev, 2018;Van Ree et al., 2016;. A systematic exploration of the allocation requires addressing geosystems characterized by their geodiversity, the services and values, the relevant stakeholders and institutions, and the decision-making on trade-offs. ...
... The geosystem services concept (van Ree et al., 2016(van Ree et al., , 2017 distinguishes between: -provisioning services, by which the subsurface has been the provider of earth materials as 'goods' over many millennia. An example is the supply of building materials like sand and clay as well as the use of groundwater -cultural services, which are the nonmaterial benefits to humans such as spiritual and recreational benefits. ...
The subsurface is a crucial dimension of cities’ landscapes, and its qualities and structures have direct repercussions on the urban environment above surface. However, systematic accounts of its characteristics in urban planning processes are virtually absent, rendering it an underappreciated asset because it is overlooked. When integrated in urban planning, the consideration of subsurface functions and space scarcity can improve and optimize infrastructure management and urban development. Sustainable urban development must include the subsurface as a space, and needs to account for the exploiting, preservation and occupation of that natural environment. The geosystem services approach allows for the evaluation of competing or even conflicting uses, to determine the implications for human wellbeing and sustainability.
This paper looks at the implementation of heat-distribution networks in the city of Amsterdam as part of their heat-transition plan. This plan contains an order of implementation in different neighbourhoods without looking further into detail in the subsurface consequences. The present research intends to address this knowledge gap by applying an indicator for the measurement of underground space scarcity. An analysis is performed using GIS-data and detailed data from the Dutch cadastre database on the existing urban underground infrastructure to determine an infrastructure density (Urban Underground Infrastructure Density) indicator with the assumption that this may support further prioritization to determine the order of implementation. Showing the thermal interaction between heat distribution and drinking water supply pipelines furthermore points to the subsurface heat balance as an important geosystem service to be accounted for in the onset heat-transition. Finally, a quantitative analysis investigates the relationships between this indicator and other relevant socio-demographic and geo-spatial factors. This represents an important attempt to analyse the role of the subsurface in strategic masterplans and in the planning of large urban infrastructure projects. The study reports methodological findings, highlighting the opportunities and challenges of integrating subsurface needs into urban planning, and the necessity of interdisciplinary approaches.
... Spring density. As shown in Fig. 3, Zone-1 is dominated by high spring density stretches (27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36) to medium spring density stretches (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27) in the vicinity of Vaikrita and Munsiari Thrusts, and low (9-18) to very low (0-9) springs density stretches away from said thrusts. The compartment A of Zone-2 is dominated by very high www.nature.com/scientificreports/ ...
... The compartment A of Zone-2 is dominated by very high www.nature.com/scientificreports/ (36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45) to high (27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36) to medium (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27) spring density stretches in the vicinity of Munsiari and Ramgarh Thrusts and low (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18) to very low (0-9) spring density stretches, away from the said thrust. The compartment B of Zone-2 is dominated by low (9-18) to very low (0-9) spring density stretches amid low vicinity of Ramgarh Thrust, and high (27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36) to medium (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27) spring density stretches in minority as it approaches to NAT. ...
... (36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45) to high (27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36) to medium (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27) spring density stretches in the vicinity of Munsiari and Ramgarh Thrusts and low (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18) to very low (0-9) spring density stretches, away from the said thrust. The compartment B of Zone-2 is dominated by low (9-18) to very low (0-9) spring density stretches amid low vicinity of Ramgarh Thrust, and high (27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36) to medium (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27) spring density stretches in minority as it approaches to NAT. Zone-3 accounts for the medium (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27) to low (9-18) spring density stretches in the vicinity of NAT (North Almora Thrust) and very low (0-9) spring density stretches away from NAT (Supplementary Information). ...
As a traditional water source, springs are vital for Himalayan communities and it is essential to consciously focus on springs conservation. We report oxygen isotopes (δ18O) of spring water before, within, and after the tectonically active zones of the Alaknanda Valley, Uttarakhand. Higher variation of δ18O in the spring waters is found in highly tectonically disturbed zone i.e., Zone-2 with δ18O range − 4.9‰ to − 9.0‰ compared to tectonically less disturbed zones: Zone-1 and Zone-3 with δ18O value range − 7.9‰ to − 9.9‰ and − 7.4 to − 10.2‰ respectively. We hypothesize that the highly active thrust zones (Zone-2) with increased permeability compared to other Zones, manifested as greater spring density, results in higher water recharge in Zone-2. Very high to high spring density stretches are dominant in Zone-2 compared to Zone-1 and Zone-3. Stretches in Zone-2 with high spring density formed due to its highly tectonically active nature leads to the higher isotopic variation in Zone-2. The study also identifies the geosystem services provided by thrust zones as water resources to the local people and need of conservation modalities to manage the spring water resources in the thrust zones.
... A fieldwork stage in Miguel Pereira, in addition to validating the quantitative map [23], also helped to define the geodiversity units of the qualitative map, the potentialities of and limitations to the use of each unit, and its services (also referred to as "geosystem services" [56,57] or "abiotic ecosystem services" [58]), and it helped to identify potential geosites and geodiversity sites. In the Urban areas, there is a predominance of non-vegetated surfaces, including roads, pathways, and buildings. ...
... A fieldwork stage in Miguel Pereira, in addition to validating the quantitative map [23], also helped to define the geodiversity units of the qualitative map, the potentialities of and limitations to the use of each unit, and its services (also referred to as "geosystem services" [56,57] or "abiotic ecosystem services" [58]), and it helped to identify potential geosites and geodiversity sites. ...
The interest in the cartographic representation of geodiversity has grown in recent years. However, the application of geodiversity maps in nature conservation and territorial management policies is still under study, especially concerning quantitative methodologies and geodiversity indices. Aiming to contribute to this topic, a set of correlation analyses were performed between quantitative and qualitative maps, as well as correlations between these and sites of geological interest, land-use, and vegetation maps using Miguel Pereira municipality, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as a study area. A geodiversity index map (quantitative approach) was used, and a geodiversity map (qualitative approach) was produced based on GIS procedures and tools through a counting technique and the association between landforms and, geology, soils, and hydrology, respectively. The geodiversity map showed a better correlation between geodiversity and the other nature and anthropic elements, while the quantitative assessment, although having a positive correlation with those elements, showed a weak or very weak correlation. The cartographic outputs in geodiversity units (qualitative approach) best supported this correlative analysis highlighting its use in land-use and nature conservation management. In contrast, the geodiversity index map showed complementary information and could be combined with the qualitative approach for more sustained results.
... Such services are distinctive from ecosystem services, which are provided by biomes and marine ecosystems. The concept was originally created to address the subsurface and its contributions to human welfare [32,33] and to the conservation of geodiversity [34]. ...
... UUS services (after[23,30,32]) ...
The utilization of urban underground space (UUS) offers an effective solution to urban problems but may also negatively affect urban development. Therefore, UUS development needs better concerted guidelines to coordinate various urban systems and the multiple components of the underground world. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which should be viewed as important yardsticks for UUS development, do not explicitly mention urban underground space, although many of them are affected by both the positive and negative consequences of its development. To fill this gap, this review lays the foundations of relevant UUS concepts and uses exemplary cases to reveal that 11 out of 17 SDGs can be linked with UUS uses. These linkages also manifest that land administration, integrated planning, architectural design, and construction technology are critical dimensions for increasing the contributions of UUS to the realization of SDGs. To achieve multidisciplinary synergies among these four critical dimensions, a collaborative approach framework based on spatial data infrastructure is required. Thus, this work provides academics and practitioners with a holistic view of sustainable UUS development.
... De Groot et al. [69] distinguish the use of biotic resources (i.e., products from living plants and animals) and abiotic resources (mainly sub-surface minerals). The biotic resources have always been considered and rather emphasized, but in the recent years, the importance of abiotic resources is also recognized [70][71][72]. Regulating services are the benefits obtained from the regulation of ecosystem processes, e.g., climate regulation, water regulation, pests and disease regulation [48]. According to de Groot et al. [69] these services are essential to human existence on the Earth. ...
... Generally, the cultural ecosystem services can be defined as nonmaterial benefits people obtain from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, recreation, and aesthetic experiences [48]. The conceptual and methodological aspects of cultural ecosystem services were discussed in numerous papers [69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80]. ...
The communication presents the pieces of information of the ecosystem services estimation of the four research localities transformed from an arable land to vegetation features—bosks. These bosks should dispose several ecological functions, primarily anti-erosion measures, additionally the local biodiversity increase, unfavorable microclimate mitigation, shelter provision for small game, birds and insects, or wood and fruit production, etc. One of these benefits, the biodiversity increase, can be evaluated using the Habitat Valuation Method (HVM) and expressed by the financial value obtained on the basis of a combination of expert valuation and cost replacement method. The various combinations of local woody plants and bushes within the project Multifunction anti-erosion measures as a part of adaptable landscape were planted or sown at the project localities (South Moravia and Žďárské vrchy, Czech Republic) in March 2019. Ecosystem services evaluation was one of the fundamental outcomes of the project. The most important result was the calculated value increase of the service termed “environment for the species life providing and genetic diversity conserving”. The increase means the difference between the state prior to planting and the expected target state after 30 years as specified in HVM. In total, the increase of this ecosystem service of the four bosks was valued at 2,633,809.64 CZK (97,206.48 EUR/114,399.06 USD).
... A reflection on geodiversity-culture relationships within the concept of abiotic ecosystem services Abiotic ecosystem services or geosystem services have been previously addressed and classified in several works (Gray 2013(Gray , 2018(Gray , 2021van Ree and van Beukering 2016;van Ree et al. 2017;Haines-Young and Potschin 2018;Fox et al. 2020). The classification of abiotic ecosystem services usually follows the traditional scheme of ecosystem services (ES) as provided in the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment (Reid et al. 2005): supporting, regulating, provisioning and cultural services. ...
Geodiversity and geoheritage studies are multidisciplinary, drawing from all sides of geosciences and extending them into the humanities, geoarchaeology, spatial planning, territorial and risk management, economics, tourism, or culture using integrated and interdisciplinary research approaches. During the last three decades, geodiversity and geoheritage research experienced a considerable growth that confirm both scientific and public relevance of these topics. In this introductory text, a brief review of current literature is presented and the importance of geodiversity and geoheritage for sustainable development, geohazard resilience and associated themes is discussed. Last, but not least, the aims and structure of this volume are outlined.
... Thus, geoconservation can be understood both in strict sense as a protection of particular geoheritage and geodiversity sites (Brilha, 2016), and in broader sense, where the geodiversity is protected to ensure the functioning of healthy ecosystems and the services they provide (Gordon and Barron, 2012;Gray, 2013Gray, , 2018Gray, , 2021Van Ree and Van Beukering, 2016;Van Ree et al., 2017;Brilha et al., 2018;García, 2019;Volchko et al., 2020;Kubalíková, 2020;Reverte et al., 2020;Fox et al., 2020). Moreover, there is a specific concept of "geomorphological landscape" (Reynard, 2005;Reynard and Giusti, 2018;Bussard and Reynard, 2022) that constitute the category of geomorphosites that have the largest scale. ...
... However, the geosystem approach considers all elements of the karst system and focuses on the interactions between them. Van Ree et al. (2016) argue that making geosystem services explicit in ecosystem services assessments provides a more integrative and inclusive description of the ecosystem and specifies the impact that mankind has on nature's shape and functioning. Thus, the monitoring in the karst areas should be organized by following the geosystem approach. ...
Karst is a widely spread natural phenomenon which provides essential benefits to human society, such as drinking water. The water cycle in the karst geosystems is the main factor for their formation and at the same time one of the main drivers for ecosystem services (ES) provision. The monitoring of the water cycle can provide valuable information regarding its functioning and ensure data for ES assessment. This paper aims to present an overview of the monitoring of the water cycle in the karst geosystems and the opportunities to integrate the monitoring data into the water regulation ES assessment. The monitoring of the water cycle is based on the methodological framework ProKARSTerra. It is applied in model karst geosystems, which are representative of the main karst types in Bulgaria. One of them is the Brestnitsa karst geosystem, which is the case study of this work. The monitoring ensures data for analyses of the water cycle which can be used in the assessment of water-related ecosystem services. The results from the analyses of the data requirements and availability show that some services such as water flow regulation and regulation of chemical condition of freshwaters can be easily provided through data for quantification, while for others further studies are needed. The results of the long-term integrated monitoring in Brestnitsa karst geosystem provide the foundation for important conclusions and models for the karst genesis and function under global changes and active anthropogenic pressure. Their integration into the assessment framework and mapping of ecosystem services is an essential step towards the development of models for sustainable use of natural resources in the karst areas.
... Maintaining healthy and stable natural ecosystems and preventing and mitigating ecosystem degradation requires the conservation and management of biodiversity and geodiversity. Humboldt's "unity of nature" [11][12][13][14], a sustainability theory, underlies how geodiversity affects ecosystem service provision. More scholars now recognize that geodiversity is an essential root of ecosystem conservation for sustainable development [12,[15][16][17]. ...
This paper demonstrates how geodiversity interconnects with the particular ecosystems and practices within China. As an essential component of natural diversity, geodiversity can provide the necessary services and products to ecosystems and humans. In current Chinese research, theories and methods of geodiversity in China are relatively lacking. We use the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment classification as a basis for four categories: provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services. In so doing we present the products and services associated with geodiversity in China. In practice, we found that China, especially in light of its geological survey, already has a working basis for maintaining and enhancing the quality of its geodiversity and geosystem. To better advance the theory and practice of geodiversity in China, we suggest making geodiversity and biodiversity the object of geological surveys to understand its natural processes and distribution. This will ensure that nature as a whole can be appropriately managed and protected, that geodiversity indicators in ecosystem assessments can be clarified, and that equally essential elements of nature policy to promote geodiversity and biodiversity can be added.
... A reflection on geodiversity-culture relationships within the concept of abiotic ecosystem services Abiotic ecosystem services or geosystem services have been previously addressed and classified in several works (Gray 2013(Gray , 2018(Gray , 2021van Ree and van Beukering 2016;van Ree et al. 2017;Haines-Young and Potschin 2018;Fox et al. 2020). The classification of abiotic ecosystem services usually follows the traditional scheme of ecosystem services (ES) as provided in the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment (Reid et al. 2005): supporting, regulating, provisioning and cultural services. ...
The book presents both thematic and geographical variety of approaches to geodiversity and geoheritage research. Besides the conceptual chapters focused on geodiversity and geoheritage's links to biodiversity, culture or sustainable tourism and development, the volume includes case studies that reflect an integrated view on heritage, conservation or management aspects.
... Its importance lies in the benefits it brings to humanity in a context of environmental sustainability, composed of the ecosystem and geosystem services [8,9]. These include adaptation to climate change, energy, food, water, air, and pandemic prevention, among others [10,11]. On the other hand, climate change is the change in weather patterns [12], caused by the excessive emission of greenhouse gases from various industrial activities [13,14]. ...
Natural heritage is the composition between biodiversity and geodiversity; therefore, it is also a primary source of ecosystem and geosystem services that have multiple benefits such as adaptation to climate change. However, it is mainly found in natural environments. On the other hand, due to climate change, there are cities around the world with extreme conditions such as heat or cold waves. The aim of this article is to analyse the implications of climate change in urban areas through a bibliometric mapping of ecosystem and geosystem services in urban planning of cities for the use of natural heritage as control and development of cities. The methods are indicated in a) selection of the topic, keywords and scientific databases; b) pre-processing, merging of databases, and data processing using Bibliometrix-RStudio; and c) analysis and interpretation of results. A total of 1425 records were found in Scopus and 1839 in the Web of Science, and the countries contributing to the subject are the United States (54%), China (52.2%), Germany (18.4%), the United Kingdom (17.8%), and Italy (15.8%). In addition, the processing of the unified database made it possible to recognize i) conceptual and intellectual structure, research trends over time. Finally, geosystem services and ecosystem services help mitigate climate change through green infrastructure, blue infrastructure, and their adaptability to gray infrastructure, contributing to sustainable development goals: sustainable cities and communities and climate action.
... A reflection on geodiversity-culture relationships within the concept of abiotic ecosystem services Abiotic ecosystem services or geosystem services have been previously addressed and classified in several works (Gray 2013(Gray , 2018(Gray , 2021van Ree and van Beukering 2016;van Ree et al. 2017;Haines-Young and Potschin 2018;Fox et al. 2020). The classification of abiotic ecosystem services usually follows the traditional scheme of ecosystem services (ES) as provided in the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment (Reid et al. 2005): supporting, regulating, provisioning and cultural services. ...
Relationships between geodiversity and culture are very close and frequent and they are reflected in numerous and different areas, situations, or levels. The purpose of this chapter is not to give an exhaustive overview of how geodiversity influence culture and vice-versa (as this topic has been already thoroughly explored in numerous works), but it aims to analyse the relationship geodiversity - culture within the concept of abiotic ecosystem services (or geosystem services). This relationship is best visible and recognisable within the cultural and eventually knowledge services, however, other types of services (provisioning, supporting) are relevant too. Moreover, the relationship geodiversity - culture is reflected in every day's life and language, thus a quick insight into these topics is also presented. Anchoring the geodiversity - culture relationships within the concept of abiotic ecosystem services may provide a framework for future interdisciplinary studies and may contribute to the better understanding of protection, conservation and sustainable use not only of geoheritage, but entire geodiversity.
... A further development in the geoheritage field is the evolution of the concept of geosystem services (Gray, 2011) and its placement into the geoconservation and land management practices (van Ree and van Beukering, 2016;Németh et al., 2021aNémeth et al., , 2021b. Geosystem services can be defined as the abiotic (geologic) component of the ecosystem services which in turn are defined as the goods, functions, and processes of ecosystems that support human life and needs and that finally benefit the society (Gray, 2011;Gray, 2018). ...
The south-western Sardinian coast (Italy), in the sector between the small village of Chia (Domus de Maria) and the Piscinnì locality (Teulada), is one of the most interesting of the island, being characterized by a wide geodiversity, a complex history testified by several archaeological sites, rich ecosystems, and beautiful landscapes. This area is already famous as a seaside resort, but its rich geological heritage is totally unrecognized and the educational and touristic potential of its archaeological sites is widely undervalued. In this paper, we propose an itinerary in seven stages, each of which selected considering mainly its geology (geodiversity, scientific relevance of the geological features, and educational potential), and also the additional values as the presence of archaeological sites and/or of ecological diversity and/or touristic attractions. The aim of this work is to propose the study area as a geotrail since it represents a valuable geological (and not only) heritage to be protected, preserved, and valorized in the broadest meaning of the word. The following sites have been selected: Chia tower hill, showing interesting geological features and the Punic-Roman archaeological site of Bithia; Campana and Su Giudeu beaches with their dune system and the adjacent wetlands; Settiballas, near to the Chia-Laguna resort displaying a significant geological contact; Capo Spartivento rias and cliffs; Tuerredda beach and sand dunes; Capo Malfatano, a panoramic promontory made up of 460 million years old metamorphic rocks; and Piscinnì area, where a beautiful beach and a wide Punic/Roman sandstone quarry can be observed. In addition, the most panoramic points are overlooked by Spanish towers built during the 16th to 17th century. The study area is described from geological and archaeological points of view, after a detailed field survey, the petrographic characterization of the main rocks, and an overview of the scientific literature. The quantitative assessment of the geosite values has been also performed, revealing the high potential for scientific, educational, and touristic purposes. The main concerns related to the preservation and valorization of this geosite are also addressed. Finally, a discussion on the geosite assessment methods is proposed to contribute to the scientific literature on the geoheritage. The site-by-site description is reported at the end of the paper to be used as a field guide.
... A geodiversidade confere muitos benefícios nas mais variadas categorias de aprovisionamento, regulação, cultura e apoio a serviços ecossistêmicos, incluindo, por exemplo, fornecimento de água doce, qualidade do ar e regulação da água, prevenção de desastres naturais, inspiração para literatura e arte, oportunidades para recreação e geoturismo e suporte a habitats e espécies (Gordon & Barron, 2012;Gray, 2013). No entanto, a geodiversidade tem sido sub--representada ou negligenciada na valorização do capital natural, e ainda há apenas uma exploração limitada de serviços ecossistêmicos no contexto da geoconservação (Gray, 2013;Gray et al., 2013;Van Der Meulen et al. 2016;Van Ree, 2016;Van Beukeri, 2016). ...
O projeto visa analisar os processos e resultados de uma experiência educativa desenvolvida na proposta do Geoparque Ciclo do Ouro, em Guarulhos (SP), objetivando promover a integração da geodiversidade em políticas públicas e governança ambiental. Envolveu diferentes atores sociais, sendo estes professores da educação básica, comunidade, gestores públicos e pesquisadores acadêmicos. O processo de aprendizagem social e educação para geoconservação e sustentabilidade procurou melhorar a compreensão da geodiversidade e das lacunas de conhecimento dos atores participantes, por meio de metodologias participativas focadas no (re)conhecimento do lugar/ambiente associadas ao ensino em Geociências, com referência em proposta inédita de formação de professores. Buscou promover a gestão da geodiversidade em regiões com alta densidade populacional e conflitos socioambientais e desvelar a consciência do valor da geodiversidade, consideramos que os processos de aprendizagem social e educação para a geoconservação podem indicar caminhos relevantes na proteção futura dos serviços ecossistêmicos, particularmente no contexto das mudanças climáticas.
... Like ecosystems, the subsurface can be considered as a geosystem, a complex, interlinked system, providing life supporting, regulating, cultural, and provisioning services and a variety of activities are being explored and developed at varying depths (Van Ree & Van Beukering, 2016). However, the subsurface space suitable for these activities is limited and therefore overexploitation as well as competition between its usages is already taking place. ...
The subsurface provides multiple resources of which the exploitation has a lasting impact on future potential provision. Establishing sustainability in terms of fundamental principles, and fitting these principles into a practical framework, is an ongoing endeavour focused mainly on surface activities. The principles of ecological economics lead to six challenges that summarize the current limitations of implementing science-based sustainable management of geological resources in the medium to deep subsurface: integrating value pluralism, defining sustainable scale, evaluating interferences in the subsurface, guaranteeing environmental justice, optimising environmental and economic efficiency, and handling uncertainties. Assessing and managing geological reservoirs is particularly intriguing because of slow resource regeneration, complex spatial and temporal interactions, concealment, and naturally dictated opportunities. In answer to the challenges, visions are proposed that outline how an indicator framework is needed for guidance, how indicators require reservoir models with extended spatial and temporal scope, how environmental inequity of social values are to be considered, and how real option games combined with life cycle assessment can be used for optimising efficiency. These individual solutions are different facets of the same problem, and can be integrated into one overarching solution that takes the form of dynamic multi-criteria decision analysis.
... Geosystem services are constituted by geodiversity (natural abiotic factors), i.e. GS have low biological activity [14]. In comparison, ES refers to natural biological factors that include biotic and abiotic nature and their interaction [15]. ...
... Geoconservation terminology, as well as its definition and importance for nature conservation and society, are clearly explained in this 4 publication. Moreover, given the UGGp definition, an approach that considers geodiversity as an integral part of nature as supporting biodiversity and providing ecosystem services (Gray, 2011;Van Ree & Van Beukering, 2016;Brilha et al., 2018) is necessary for any methodological design within a geopark project. The key guiding principles for geoconservation in conserved areas management followed during this dissertation are shown in table 1. Table 1. ...
The Alto Ricaurte region, located in north-eastern Colombia, 160 km from the capital, includes the municipalities of Sáchica, Santa Sofía, Sutamarchán and Villa de Leyva. This territory, a cradle of Colombia's archaeological, historical-architectural, cultural, natural and geological heritage, possesses the necessary components to become a UNESCO Global Geopark. In the region, for example, there are examples of appropriation of geoscientific knowledge by local institutions and social actors, geo-education initiatives, geo-products, examples of successful museum management, ecotourism activities, among others. The area is also an exceptional place to study the relationship between geology and society through the approach of geodiversity values, with remarkable cultural, spiritual and economic values. The work methodology included a literature review, the definition of a conceptual and philosophical model to structure the geoconservation strategy, conversations and interviews with social actors and experts, fieldwork, surveys through the use of geoconservation forms, and analysis of the information. After an assessment based on the recognition of the different services provided by geodiversity to society, as well as the value and usefulness of the local knowledge, it was possible to accomplish a diagnosis of the state of conservation of geodiversity, and to propose a geoconservation strategy. The analysis revealed that the main threats to geodiversity in the area are the private character of the land, territorial expansion, quarrying, tourism pressure and lack of awareness. The proposed geoconservation strategy consists of six key steps: 1. Defining the scope and purpose; 2. Understanding geodiversity and geoheritage; 3. Inventory, assessment and selection of sites; 4. Geoconservation diagnosis; 5. Strategic action plan on geoconservation; 6. Application and monitoring of the strategy. It is hoped that this master thesis will contribute to the comprehension of the geodiversity of the Alto Ricaurte, in addition to territorial planning and geoconservation policies and actions in the area, especially in the context of a possible UNESCO Global Geopark application.
... La terminología específica sobre la geoconservación y conceptos relacionados, así como su definición e importancia para la conservación de la naturaleza y la sociedad, se explican claramente en esta publicación. Además, dada la definición de UGGp, un enfoque que considere la geodiversidad como una parte integral de la naturaleza como soporte para la biodiversidad y como proveedor de servicios ecosistémicos (Gray, 2011;Van Ree & Van Beukering, 2016;Brilha et al., 2018) es necesario para definir el marco metodológico dentro de un proyecto de geoparque. ...
Al noreste de Colombia, a 160 km de la capital del país, se encuentra la región del Alto Ricaurte, y en ella, los municipios de Sáchica, Santa Sofía, Sutamarchán y Villa de Leyva. Este territorio, cuna del patrimonio arqueológico, histórico-arquitectónico, cultural, natural y geológico de Colombia, posee todos los ingredientes necesarios para convertirse en un Geoparque Mundial de la UNESCO. En la región, por ejemplo, se encuentran ejemplos de apropiación del patrimonio geocientífico por parte de instituciones locales y actores sociales, iniciativas de geo-educación, geo-productos, ejemplos de gestión museológica, ecoturismo, entre otros. Además, es un lugar excepcional para estudiar las relaciones entre geología y sociedad a través del enfoque de los valores del a geodiversidad, siendo
notable los valores cultural, espiritual y económico. La metodología de trabajo incluyó revisión literaria, definición de un modelo conceptual y filosófico para estructurar la estrategia de geoconservación, encuestas, conversaciones y entrevistas con actores sociales y expertos, trabajo de campo, uso de fichas de geoconservación y análisis de la información. Tras una evaluación que se basó en el reconocimiento de los diversos servicios de la geodiversidad a la sociedad, así como del valor y utilidad del conocimiento de los locales, se logró un diagnóstico del estado de conservación de la geodiversidad
de la zona, así como proponer una estrategia de geoconservación. El análisis permitió concluir que las principales amenazas a la geodiversidad de la zona son el carácter privado de los terrenos, la expansión territorial, las canteras, la presión turística y la falta de concientización. La estrategia de geoconservación propuesta comprende seis pasos fundamentales: 1. Definición del alcance y el propósito; 2. Conocimiento de la geodiversidad y el geopatrimonio; 3. Inventario, evaluación y selección de sitios geológicos; 4. Diagnóstico de la geoconservación; 5. Plan de acción estratégico para la geoconservación; 6. Aplicación y monitoreo de la estrategia. Se espera que esta tesis de maestría contribuya al conocimiento de la geodiversidad del Alto Ricaurte, así como al planeamiento territorial y a las políticas y acciones de geoconservación en la zona, en especial en el marco de una posible candidatura como Geoparque Mundial de la UNESCO.
... The geodiversity of the ocean floor, which makes up more than seventy percent of the Earth's geodiversity, remains largely unexplored. It is widely recognized that geodiversity provides key geosystem services [1,2], has a well-defined role in establishing UNESCO Global Geoparks [3], contains crucial elements for preserving cultural heritage [1], has great educational potential [4], and has proven relations to biodiversity and habitats in a variety of environments [5,6]. Geodiversity contributes to natural capital and provides benefits to many (provisional) ecosystem services, among other extractable natural resources, and can thus contribute to responsible resource management [7]. ...
The future extraction of mineral resources may irreversibly damage ocean floor geodiversity in the Southwest Pacific Ocean. Therefore, understanding of the spatial distribution of ocean floor geodiversity in relation to mineral resources is important. For that purpose, we first developed a geodiversity index map of the western Pacific Ocean including spatial information of openly available digital layers of four components: seafloor geomorphology, sediment thickness, bathymetry and seafloor roughness. Second, we analysed how these components contributed to the geodiversity index. Finally, correlations between three mineral resources (seafloor massive sulphides, polymetallic nodules and cobalt-rich crusts) and the geodiversity index, its components, and the ocean floor age were calculated. The results showed that the ocean floor environment and the time necessary for the formation of the three mineral resources were predominantly related to the bathymetry component and the age of the ocean floor, and to a lesser extent to the seafloor roughness, geomorphology and sediment thickness components. We conclude that the ocean floor geodiversity index and its components contribute to an improved understanding of the spatial distribution of abiotic seafloor diversity and can be optimized by using higher resolution data. We suggest that ocean floor geodiversity could be considered in future resource extraction to support responsible mining and help limit environmental damage.
... This is most typical for the rivers of arid regions with unfavorable climates, which include the Valley of Syr Darya River within the Kyzylorda region of Kazakhstan. Here, in the considered geosystem [16], natural factors (climate, geological, and geomorphological conditions, natural waters, soil and vegetation cover and wildlife) are subject to anthropogenic impact in the form of social-economic (residential, agricultural, industrial, transport, and recreational) and cultural-historical factors. As a result of the interaction, a complex natural-anthropogenic system was formed, characterized by varying degrees of transformation and ecological condition, complex combination of different, often mutually exclusive interests of nature users. ...
The article presents the results of the functional zoning of the delta of transboundary river Syr Darya, which is located in an ecological disaster zone and is the only watercourse in modern conditions that supplies the remained part of Aral Sea. Under the conditions of global climate change, the territories of river deltas in arid regions are subject to active degradation processes, which are associated both with decrease of their water content and increase of anthropogenic impact. To determine the current condition of Syr Darya river delta landscapes, a component-by-component analysis of its main components was carried out. Based on the assessment of use of delta natural resource potential, the degradation processes associated with the types and intensity of anthropogenic impact in the conditions of arid climate were identified. The conducted studies formed the basis for the functional zoning of the territory of Syr Darya river delta, which is a spatial planning of sustainable land use and landscapes preservation. The developed scheme of functional zoning of Syr Darya River delta allowed to propose a number of measures with allocation of landscapes recommended for conservation, restoration, or sustainable use by the certain type of land use with the minimization of degradation processes.
... At a more personal and individual visitor level, hints towards connection with geodiversity may be drawn from emerging scholarship on issues such as 'geophilia' (i.e., the affective connection with the lithic, ancient, abiotic earth) and appreciation of different types of stones and minerals as representations of geological time (i.e., not seeing them as merely extractable resources but as vital connections between humans and an ancient earth) [109,110]. In addition, there are studies that call for understanding and protecting 'geosystem services', i.e., the geological base of ecosystem services [111,112]. This is equally important and could be implemented in tourist destinations regardless of their status as protected areas or otherwise, as perhaps all tourist destinations depend on geodiversity/geosystem services such as water, clean air, and surrounding landscapes to an extent. ...
Geodiversity has recently emerged as a key idea for recognizing the value of abiotic nature. The concept has vital implications for informing tourism sustainability research; however, to date, tourism scholarship has not shown adequate engagement with this concept. The issue also assumes further significance in the Anthropocene, where our species has become a geological force. Here, through a review of key works related to geodiversity and Anthropocene, their interface is analyzed, and implications for tourism sustainability are presented. It is argued that, in the Anthropocene, it is no longer enough for tourism sustainability research to remain preoccupied with the human predicament in the Anthropocene or the decline of biotic nature at some prominent tourism destinations, and it is imperative that tourism scholars embrace the concern for abiotic diversity and dynamic earth processes that provide vital resources and services for tourism planetwide.
... The modern approach to this idea has been expressed by the concept of natural capital that delivers geosystem services (abiotic ecosystem services) (Gray 2011), as a significant elements of ecosystem services (understood as benefits to humans provided by the natural environment and from ecosystems evaluation and selection), that are factors and resources regulating, supporting, and provisioning biodiversity, human life, and economy as well as culture, including science, education, and art. In other words -abiotic part of natural capital has been intensively used by people since the beginning of humankind (Gray 2013, p. 77, 81-146;Gray et al. 2013;Van Ree and van Beukering 2016;Brilha 2018, p. 70;Brilha et al. 2018;Crofts et al. 2020). ...
The definition of geoheritage recognizes scientific features that allow us to understand the history of the Earth and the processes forming and changing it. Some definitions also include intrinsic values as well as aesthetic and cultural importance of the geosites. Nevertheless, there is still a crucial aspect of human-geoscience (human-Earth) interrelations not clearly expressed in these definitions, which can justify the promotion of geoheritage and geoconservation, namely, the importance of the Earth, its structures, and processes in the development of human civilization and the importance of geosciences in the interpretation of human history and the present-day situation. In this paper, several examples of such geosites and categories of geosites are given: geological structures that conditioned human history, caves as a birthplace of human culture, springs as symbolic and real sources of water necessary for life and economy, mass movements as both destructive and constructive phenomena, and exploitation of mineral resources as a factor that has boosted the progress of civilization. Consequently, we postulate the inclusion in the meaning (definition) of geoheritage, sites, and categories of sites, that convince public and policy makers, that Earth’s elements and processes are ecosystem services of crucial importance. They are important not only for geoscientists, but in the development of human civilization, history, and the present state of human affairs.
... The insertion of geodiversity as a provider of ES occurred recently Gordon and Barron 2013;Gray 2013;Gray et al. 2013). Several authors (Gray 2011(Gray , 2013(Gray , 2019Van Ree and van Beukering 2016;van Ree et al. 2017) used the term geosystemic services to refer to services provided by geodiversity. Other authors preferred to use the term abiotic ecosystem services Gray et al. 2013) or abiotic services (Lawson et al. 2018). ...
Ecosystems are maintained due to interactions between biotic and abiotic elements of nature, generating ecosystem services (ES), which are the goods and services enjoyed by society. The term ES has been used in relation to biodiversity; however, many services occur through the interaction between biotic and abiotic elements. Thus, this article aimed to verify how geodiversity was addressed in ES research, and also, to identify which monetary valuation methods can be used for geodiversity. To facilitate selection, essential geodiversity variables (EGV) were used to determine the keywords for the abiotic elements of nature. This study analyzed 468 articles, of which 226 regard abiotic elements. So, even when not nominally cited, geodiversity is hidden in traditional approaches in ES. Monetary valuation is an important tool to highlight the contributions of ES to society. Although there are not specific methods of monetary valuation of ES provided by geodiversity, this survey shows 16 articles already valuing the abiotic part of nature. These methods can be categorized into water, atmosphere, and other elements of geodiversity, and this categorization can help future methods be chosen that better suit research related to the monetary valuation of ecosystem services with a focus on geodiversity.
... construction materials and rare-earth metals), regulating services (e.g. the regulation of thermal flows) and cultural services (e.g. religious sites and recreational activities) (Gray 2011;Van Ree and van Beukering 2016;van Ree et al. 2017;Fox et al. 2020b). ...
Geodiversity is under threat from both anthropogenic activities and environmental change which therefore requires active management in the form of geoconservation to minimise future damage. As research on the role of geodiversity on ecosystem service (ES) provision has been limited, there is a need to improve our understanding of which aspects are most important to providing ES to better inform approaches to its conservation. Here, we focus on the cultural ES of hiking in Wales, UK. Harnessing big data from the social media website Flickr, we used the locations of geotagged images of hiking and a range of spatial layers representing geodiversity, biodiversity and anthropogenic predictor variables in habitat suitability models. To gain a deeper understanding of the role of geodiversity in driving the distribution of this cultural service, we estimated the strength and nature of the relationship of each geodiversity, biodiversity and anthropogenic indicator with hiking. Our models show that three geodiversity (distance from coast, range in slope and range in elevation) and two anthropogenic (distance from greenspace access point and distance from road) variables were the most important drivers of hiking. Furthermore, we assessed the content of the images to understand which features of geodiversity people interact with while hiking. We found that people generally take images of geomorphological and hydrological features, such as mountains and lakes. Through understanding the geodiversity, biodiversity and anthropogenic drivers of hiking in Wales, as well as identifying the geodiversity features people interact with while hiking, this analysis can help to inform future geoconservation methods by focusing efforts on these important features.
... Engineering geologists can influence environmental planning by promoting the role of geodiversity alongside biodiversity in providing ecosystem services (Schrodt et al. 2019). New initiatives for considering net biodiversity gain during the planning process, such as those being integrated into development projects in the UK (DEFRA 2019), present an opportunity for engineering geologists to work with ecologists to integrate geocapital in natural capital accounting frameworks and to contribute to strategies to achieve a net gain in natural capital through the project life cycle (Gordon and Barron 2013;Van Ree and Beukering 2016;Fox et al. 2020). ...
Engineering Geology has an important role to play in sustainable development. This is due to the unique perspective that Engineering Geologists have of the interfaces between: science and engineering; the natural and built environments; the past, present and future. This paper examines the role of Engineering Geology in delivering the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and demonstrates that there is a strong link between the knowledge, skills and activities of Engineering Geologists and the delivery of all 17 goals. The study includes a detailed evaluation of all 169 SDG targets and highlights the key impact areas where Engineering Geologists already contribute to sustainable development, as well as identifying opportunities for contributions to be strengthened. It is hoped that this paper will empower Engineering Geologists to confidently communicate the value of their role, act responsibly, and exert their influence to drive positive outcomes in terms of sustainable development in everything that they do.
Thematic collection: This article is part of the Sustainability in Engineering Geology & Hydrogeology collection available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/sustainability-in-engineering-geology-and-hydrogeology
Supplementary material: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5778817
... Downstream of the Mining Environmental Zoning, even if the extraction companies were still incipient, the low ES scores are associated with companies that, although active, are embargoed for not complying with the environmental recovery or have not been granted an operating license, because they are unable to execute the proposed environmental recovery schedule. This final scenario fits well into the framework of the geoecho service cascade model (Fox et al., 2020) which incorporates biophysical structures of the original cascading model with geodiversity and geosystem services (Van Ree and van Beukering, 2016). This model also provides an organizational structure that highlights the role of geodiversity (Quaternary belt Geodiversity Reserve) in the production of ES and geosystem services (such as provisioning water and habitat for wildlife, cultural recreation, regulating terrestrial erosion control processes) in a joint structure of integrated services. ...
Geodiversity is a determinant of mining patterns, because its nature defines the interaction with humans, type of exploitation, and, consequently, ecosystem services (ES) of the final landscape. The environmental recovery obligations defined in the legislation serve as a good guidance, but sand mining companies are not always able to finalize their activity entirely and to comply with the laws. To take this into account, the present study was developed with an objective of analyzing the changes observed in the ES after 70 years of sand exploitation in the Paraíba do Sul River Valley, Brazil. The services of the floodplain soil formation and associated components, such as the quality and quantity of water and refuges provided by the riparian forest, are highlighted in this study. To evaluate the different ESs modified by mining, socio-environmental variables were studied, and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method was applied to assign significance to each variable in the phase of closing activities, thus creating a compound index for ES evaluation at mine closure. The closure conditions were analyzed against the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 6, 8, 9, and 11. The results showed that the companies are small, that they met the legislation in equal criteria of environmental rehabilitation, and that they were induced to a closure standard, reflecting the reforestation with native forest variable, related to the ES of provisioning of habitat to wild fauna. However, the mine facilities variable, associated with the cultural ES of recreation, predominated, because the buildings and access roads were preserved, even though the movable assets were demobilized quickly. It was concluded from the analysis that the scenario of the ES at mine closure is generally linked to geodiversity, company size, and compliance with legal duties.
... construction materials and rare-earth metals), regulating services (e.g. the regulation of thermal flows) and cultural services (e.g. religious sites and recreational activities) (Gray 2011;Van Ree and van Beukering 2016;van Ree et al. 2017;Fox et al. 2020b). ...
To provide a more holistic approach to the conservation of ecosystem services (ES) there is a need to further develop our understanding of how features of biotic and abiotic nature, as well as people and society, interact to provide them. However, the role of geodiversity – the diversity of geology, geomorphology, sediments and soils and hydrology – is overlooked in ES literature and frameworks. Furthermore, geosystem services (GS) – the services that geodiversity provides in isolation of interactions with biotic nature – are also currently underrepresented in ES science.
This thesis will focus on the role of geodiversity in providing cultural ecosystem services (CES), in particular how we interact with geodiversity when undertaking recreational actives. Here, social media datasets from the website Flickr and, for the first time in the field of CES, Reddit are used to assess human-nature interactions through a range of analytical methods including image content analysis, textual sentiment analysis and distribution modelling. The results of these methods contribute to our understanding of both the complex relationship between geodiversity and CES and to the applications of social media data to CES studies.
First, the empirical methods highlight that geodiversity is important at driving both the distribution of CES as well as the positive experience of the activity undertaken. It is demonstrated that geomorphological features, such as topography, and hydrological features, such as coastal waters and lakes, play an important role in determining the distribution and experience of the recreational activity of hiking. The results also highlight the complex relationships between geodiversity and biodiversity features, such as trees and plants, as well as between geodiversity and human-made features, such as trails and roads, in providing CES. The results of these studies can help inform future geoconservation management with the aim of promoting the sustainable use of geodiversity to ensure the future of the ES it provides.
Second, this work advances current uses of social media data by providing novel methods of obtaining data through an accessible R package, photosearcher, as well as informing on the best practice for enriching social media datasets. Furthermore, we investigate Reddit as a novel source of data for CES and demonstrate its usefulness in assessing a range of CES.
It is suggested that future work continues to investigate the role of geodiversity on ES, using both social media data and other analytical methods, to better inform the holistic conservation of ES for now and for future generations.
... Geoparks also function as important structures providing ecosystem services -more precisely geosystem services -where identified geoheritage sites serve human socio-economic needs. This in turn has a direct effect on the well-being of the community, driving cultural evolution and strengthening integrity of human communities (Ali et al. 2015;Gray 2011Gray , 2012Gray , 2018avan Ree and van Beukering 2016;van Ree et al. 2017). Within the geopark framework, geodiversity is commonly observed as a precious national resource that can be used for various levels of geoeducation, demonstrating utilization of and learning to live with the resources in a sustainable way (Galas et al. 2018;Han et al. 2018;Ruban 2017). ...
Both Savai’i Island and Upolu Island of Samoa are home to numerous potential geosites that could form the basis of geopark projects at a range of scales from local, regional, or global. During the Samoa Geoparks Project Phase 1, intensive research identified Samoa’s geoheritage values, resulting in the selection of the island of Savai’i as a location for development of geosite inventories, using a first-order approach to create a scientific basis for future geoheritage, geoconservation, and geotourism ventures. The rationale behind this decision was based on the size of the island; the geodiverse and largely untouched landscapes with high geodiversity values; and superbly exposed young volcanic features that are relatively accessible. Most of these volcanic features derived from Holocene and even historical volcanic activity. Within the potential areas of geosites, volcanic features currently utilized as tourist attractions (mataaga in Samoan) are mostly associated with living cultural activities in terms of traditional stories, myth, and place names. These geoheritage components are a very significant part of the Samoa Geoparks Project in general. Workshop and training for further development of the Samoa Geoparks Project are recommended in this study to co-design and co-develop the geopark concept with local communities working in collaboration with geoscience experts. The role of external geoscientists has been redefined as facilitators of participatory methods using iterative, step-by-step processes, where each facet of the geopark is co-produced through truly inclusive methods and frameworks.
... Others may be more exclusively categorised as 'geosystem services' (e.g. provision of minerals) (Gray, 2011(Gray, , 2019Van Ree & van Beukering, 2016). These services are now well documented in qualitative terms (Gray, 2012(Gray, , 2018(Gray, , 2019Gordon & Barron 2013;Gray et al., 2013;Chakraborty & Gray, 2020;Gray & Gordon, 2020), including in regional and thematic reviews covering, for example, mountains (Gordon, 2018a), coasts (Garcia, 2019) and urban areas (Reverte et al., 2020), and specific categories of service such as cultural services (Gordon, 2018b;Kubaliková, 2020). ...
Geoconservation is an integral part of nature conservation. It protects our diverse and valued geoheritage, contributes to the sustainable management of ecosystems, provides a range of economic, cultural and social benefits, and connects people, landscapes and their cultures. Geoconservation has a vital part to play in managing the natural environment and helping society to address global challenges, such as biodiversity loss, adaptations to climate change and sea-level rise, and sustainable development. The IUCN Guidelines for Geoconservation in Protected and Conserved Areas, published in 2020, outline the key principles of geoconservation and demonstrate their application across the full range of IUCN protected area management categories and other conserved areas. Protected and conserved areas, including geoparks, have a vital educational role in promoting better understanding and awareness of geoconservation and the values and benefits of geodiversity and geoheritage for nature and society. Integrating geoconservation into the management of all categories of protected and conserved areas would benefit not only the conservation of geoheritage, but also all of nature and contribute to a sustainable future.
... Other aspects of the natural environment contribute indirectly to economic activity through ecosystem and geosystem services, for example, helping to sequester carbon or cycle nutrients (Everett et al. 2010;Van Ree and van Beukering 2016). A good understanding and sound assessment of geohazards are essential to take measures of risk reduction to create a more resilient economic system. ...
Harrat Khaybar is an active monogenetic volcanic field in western Saudi Arabia that hosts spectacular monogenetic volcanoes and a Holocene volcanic cone with extensive lava fields. The volcanic region is a subject of intensive land use development, especially along tourism ventures, where the volcanic features are the key elements to utilize for increasing visitation rates to the region. The youngest eruption is suspected to be Holocene and occurred fewer than 5000 years ago based on the cross-cutting relationship between the youngest lava flows and archaeological sites. Lava flows are typical, from pāhoehoe to ‘a‘ā types with great diversity of transitional textural forms. Here, we recorded typical transitional lava flow surface textures from the youngest flows identified by digital-elevation-model-based terrain analysis, satellite imagery, and direct field observations. We performed lava flow simulations using the Q-LavHA plug-in within the QGIS environment. Lava flow simulations yielded satisfactory results if we applied eruptions along fissures, long simulation distances, and ~5 m lava flow thickness. In these simulations, the upper flow regimes were reconstructed well, but long individual lava flows were not possible to simulate, suggesting that morphological steps likely promoted lava ponding, inflation, and sudden deflation by releasing melts further along shallow syneruptive valley networks.
Tydliga mål och förutsättningar för progression är avgörande för studenters lärande. För att stödja studenters lärandeprogression och måluppfyllelse har vi inom de naturvetenskapliga utbildningarna i Lund utvecklat så kallade progressionsplaner. Progressionsplanen konkretiserar varje examensmål i etappmål med gradvis stegrade krav. Utifrån etappmålen formuleras sedan kursmål, som tillsammans banar väg för progression mot examensmålen. Arbetet med progressionsplaner påbörjades 2017 och har lett till att 300 av fakultetens 400 kursplaner har reviderats fram till 2022.
I denna rapport undersöker jag hur den förväntade progressionen i studenters lärande avspeglas i kursmålen inom kandidatutbildningens åtta huvudområden och sjukhusfysikerutbildningen. Syftet är att jämföra den förväntade progressionen 2017 och 2022 inom respektive område. För detta syfte inventerade och analyserade jag vid dessa båda tidpunkter områdenas obligatoriska kursmål och delade in dessa i tre etapper per examensmål. Sammantaget visar analyserna att examensmålen täcktes in i fler etapper 2022 än 2017. De visar också att sju av examensmålen, med enstaka undantag, representerades av kursmål i tre etapper 2022. Jämförelserna avspeglar därmed att den förväntade progressionen mot dessa mål hade stärkts mellan 2017 och 2022. När det gäller det åttonde, metakognitiva målet var den förväntade progressionen fortfarande svag inom flertalet områden.
Min huvudsakliga slutsats är att arbetet med progressionsplaner över lag har skapat goda förutsättningar för lärandeprogression. Samtidigt har vi uppmärksammats på inom vilka delar av lärandet progressionen fortfarande behöver stärkas. I rapportens avslutande del diskuterar och föreslår jag åtgärder för hur detta kan gå till.
Geodiversity and biodiversity are the two fundamental components of Nature that must be analyzed simultaneously for good management of the natural environment. Geodiversity, including geomorphodiversity, has values that make it possible to define the geosystem services on the basis of which it is possible to establish protocols for the sustainable development of the territory analyzed. Both the values of geodiversity and the geosystem services they provide are key elements for the definition of Natural Protected Areas (NPAs). Furthermore, it is also necessary to consider the assessment of the geodiversity and geomorphodiversity of the territory under consideration, so that a zoning can be established in terms of the geodiversity index (geodiversity/geomorphodiversity gradient) that favors the establishment of specific geoconservation protocols according to the value of these indices. In addition, NPAs should be considered as elements belonging to a network in which the different natural systems of the territory in which the network is defined are represented. In the case of geodiversity or geomorphodiversity, the network must be supported by the definition of geological contexts, representative of the major geological units that are observable in the territory.
The objective of this report is to encourage each GEO community to share, improve or start their developments on EVs and to adopt a coherent common framework. Experts from every GEO Societal Benefit Areas (SBAs) describe the level of development of EVs in their field. The relationship with transversal policy needs is analyzed from different angles. Data and research gaps are discussed and ways forward are suggested. A common set of criterias to define EVs is put forward. A recommendation is made for a better alignment of EVs with the GEO Data Sharing Principles as well as the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable). In this respect, solutions to make EVs more visible on the GEO platform are proposed. The target readership of this report is therefore all members of GEO and the Earth Observation (EO) community more generally.
Little or no Earth Science literacy is expressed in ignorance about the close relationships between geodiversity, life, well-being, and death. However, given the environmental changes, the exponential population growth, and the predatory exploitation of natural resources, it is necessary to make society aware of the importance of good management of the set of geosystem services that benefit humanity, as well as the conservation of the natural resources and processes that produce these recourses. How to make society aware of the importance of Earth Sciences, geodiversity, and the services they provide? The ordering of geosystem services, following the ecosystem services model, was an important step towards launching new approaches in the teaching and popularization of geosciences. Earlier, the Big Ideas, developed under the Earth Science Literacy Initiative (ESLI), were also an important milestone to follow in the processes of teaching and popularization. Throughout this paper, topics and examples of renewable and non-renewable geologic resources and geologic processes recognized by all, but rarely understood, are suggested. Natural disasters and topics that relate to human well-being are highlighted. It is also proposed to use together the values of geodiversity identified in the scope of geosystem services and ESLI Big Ideas.
Geoparks can provide socio-economical benefits to local communities, but their relative importance to developed and developing countries is yet to be fully realized. The present study aims at analyzing the correspondence of the UNSECO Global Geopark network to countries with different level of human development. The information about the geographical extent of this network and the human developed index is taken into account. Its analysis implies that global geoparks have strong presence in the countries with very high and high human development, but they are relatively rare in the countries with moderate and low human development. <10% of global geoparks exist in the countries with the human development index below its median value. Examination of how social issues are stated in the official descriptions of these geoparks and on their web-pages indicates on its insufficient explanation in some cases. It is proposed to facilitate international mechanisms supporting geopark creation in developing countries.
This review paper briefly summarizes the research results of the majority (∼70%) women team of the Hydrogeology Research Group of Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary, led by Judit Mádl-Szőnyi. The group had originally focused on basin-scale groundwater flow systems and the related processes and phenomena but extended its research activity to other geofluids in answer to global challenges such as the water crisis, climate change, and energy transition. However, the core concept of these studies remained the basin-scale system approach of groundwater flow, as these flow systems interact with the rock framework and all other geofluids resulting in a systematic distribution of the related environmental and geological processes and phenomena. The presented methodological developments and mostly general results have been and can be utilized in the future in any sedimentary basins. These cover the following fields of hydrogeology and geofluid research: carbonate and karst hydrogeology, asymmetric basin and flow pattern, geothermal and petroleum hydrogeology, radioactivity of groundwater, groundwater and surface water interaction, groundwater-dependent ecosystems, effects of climate change on groundwater flow systems, managed aquifer recharge.
Geodiversity first emerged nearly 30 years ago in the wake of the Convention on Biological Diversity when geoscientists realised that they too study diverse natural phenomena that are also often threatened with loss or degradation resulting from human activities. Since then, geodiversity has emerged as an important geoscientific paradigm with a central position in the relationships between the geoscientific ‘Gs'. It has spawned much discussion on how geodiversity can be classified and measured, it is often used as the basis for selecting geoheritage sites for geoconservation, including the development of the World Heritage List, it is often used by geoparks to publicise their range of geofeatures, and it is the basis for many ‘geosystem services’ essential to our modern societies. But despite this importance, it is a poorly understood and poorly integrated into nature conservation policy and practice. The result is that the value of the whole of nature is underestimated and the policy and practice for the management of nature lacks integration.
Lefo and Santa-Mbu calderas are located on the Bamenda Mountains. They are two geological structures that accompanied the construction of the Bamenda Mountains. The geological processes that accompanied their collapse gave them a number of features. These elements, known as geodiversity, constitute real assets for ecosystem services in these more or less populated volcanic environments. The present work aims to highlight the ecosystem services of these two calderas in relation to the socio-economic activities they govern. To this end, field and laboratory work was carried out. They revealed that the ecosystem services of the two calderas are (1) Regulation Services because the calderas are covered in places by forest reserves, notably that of Bali Ngemba and Bafut Ngemba, and by a grassland with trees that play a crucial role in climate regulation. In addition, these areas are subject to natural hazards such as mass movements and volcanic eruptions; (2) Supporting Services as they provide a base for human activities, a habitat for wildlife species. (3) Provisioning services because the calderas have fairly fertile soils that favour a fairly diversified agricultural activity, making the floor of the Lefo caldera a coffee growing area. These calderas are covered by a herbaceous grassland that favours pastoral activity in the region. In addition, the rocks of these calderas are used in construction, especially in the foundations and walls of houses; (4) Cultural services as they provide a setting for traditional ritual practices and plants with therapeutic properties. In addition, it has several geomorphosites whose scientific and additional values favour the implementation of geotourism and offer geological features that are indispensable in understanding the functioning of the Volcanic Line of Cameroon. These calderas are undeniable assets for the balance of the ecosystem.
Globally, geodiversity and the associated ecosystem services it provides, are both under threat from anthropogenic pressures and environmental changes. The UNESCO Global Geoparks Programme was established to create protected areas that not only preserve geodiversity but enhance human wellbeing and cultural heritage. Understanding the role geodiversity plays in providing such ecosystem services is necessary for providing holistic conservation priorities that ensure their sustainable use. Studies have extensively used social media data to assess cultural ecosystem services, however, the photographic viewable area, which demonstrates scenic or areas of interest, has been scarcely evaluated. Studies often take crude measurements of viewsheds rather than isolating viewed content. Here, we gather georeferenced images taken inside geopark boundaries from the social media website Flickr as a proxy for aesthetically pleasing viewpoints. To understand what landscape characteristics are visible from these viewpoints we calculate viewshed analysis following the novel visual magnitude approach. The use of magnitude viewshed provides a metric for visual relevancy compared to traditional viewshed approaches that only provide a binary metric representing visible or non-visible. Here, we find that the use of the visual magnitude methodology provides richer information about what is visible than from traditional viewshed analysis. We find that aesthetically appreciated views as inferred by social media within the Troodos Geopark, Cyprus, do not only include natural features such as forest and water but are often related to geodiversity and anthropogenically altered landscapes such as mineral extraction sites and vineyards, for which the geopark is known. These results can help to inform geoconservation practices with the goal of sustainable access and enjoyment of aesthetic services.
The paper considers the emerging concept of geosystem services (GS), highlights its importance for sustainable urbanization, and the use of urban underground space specifically. A theoretical framework to enable the incorporation of GS into urban planning has been suggested. GS complement ecosystem services (ES) by focusing on abiotic components and services of the environment. Clearly, sustainable urban development is one of the major challenges facing humanity today. In this study we explore how the concept of GS can help address the challenge of a sustainable urbanization via planning instruments. The paper reviews classifications of GS, planning approaches towards urban underground space, and experiences in inclusion of GS and ES in urban planning. Next, the paper elaborates a theoretical framework for the incorporation of GS in urban planning. The framework integrates knowledge on GS, man-made subsurface infrastructure, cultural assets, and traditional planning issues like land use, social and economic considerations. The paper further discusses various particularities, which urban planners may come across considering GS: (1) planning scales, (2) planning time frame, (3) GS inventory, (4) supply and demand for GS, (5) risks, vulnerabilities and disservices, (6) interplay between geosystem and infrastructure services, (7) planning documentation, (8) visualization and planning tools. Our research shows that the concept of GS has not yet been fully integrated into planning processes, despite the increasing need for its inclusion under the emerging development agenda of geothermal energy, hydrological and hydrogeological cycles management, and the rational use of urban underground space. The inclusion of GS into urban planning would constitute an important step forward to sustainable urbanization.
As operational concept, geodiversity implies a measurement and its application narrowed to a given spatial area, allowing the identification of clusters for prioritization and planning purposes. This study proposes a first geodiversity index assessment for French Guiana, a French Oversea territory located within the Guiana Shield (South America). Almost entirely covered by the Amazon rainforest associated with an exceptional biodiversity, French Guiana appears as an international conservation and land planning challenge facing multiple issues (e.g., urban, agricultural and industrial growth, forest management, mining planning). Geodiversity assessment is performed through a grid-based approach. A geodiversity index is calculated as the sum of four sub-indices (lithodiversity and unlithified diversity, mineral diversity, hydrodiversity, geomorphodiversity). The index calculation is based on the number of entities within each grid-cell. Spatial correlation is used to identify geodiversity clusters and finally the index is aggregated at different spatial units relevant for land planning (e.g., municipalities, hydrographic sectors, areas of ecological interest, the Guiana Amazonian Park, and the Departmental Mining Plan). The results show that the geodiversity index is mainly controlled by lithodiversity and that high geodiversity clusters are located along the gold-bearing greenstone belts crossing the territory. However, spatialized data concerning geodiversity are still inadequate or unavailable to perform proper operational assessments in French Guiana. Furthermore, based on qualitative examples, we discuss that the assessment of diversity alone might not be always enough for geoconservation nor land planning perspectives. It is pivotal to account for the geonfunctionality—i.e., the contribution of geodiversity to the functioning of socio-ecological systems—and its interaction with anthropic activities.
Urban underground space (UUS) use is indispensable to urbanization, thereby deserving a delicate disposal as a critical component of urban land administration. Considered an important instrument for modern land administration, however, the existing underground land value appraisal and land pricing approaches lack deliberations in the external socio-environmental effects of underground land development, thus are likely to fail to guarantee urban sustainability. With the objective of addressing such deficiencies, this paper expands the understanding of underground space into the scope of resource assets, presents some deeper reflections on underground land value and land pricing from the urban sustainability perspective, and ultimately sets up a sustainability oriented underground land pricing mechanism that incorporates external benefits, external costs and business revenues. Based on the authors’ previous works on the visualization and spatial analysis of socio-environmental externalities of UUS uses, a GIS aided case study is employed to illustrate the applicability of the proposed underground land pricing mechanism. It is hoped that the findings of this study will assist underground land administration in improving the stakeholders’ perceptions toward the value of underground land and in facilitating more reasonable underground land governing policies and pricing instruments in favor of urban sustainability.
This paper presents the second part of the two-piece work for the visualization and spatial analysis of socio-environmental externalities of UUS uses. Since the positive socio-environmental externalities of urban underground space (UUS) use have been articulated in Part 1, this Part 2 paper will be devoted to evaluate the negative aspects of UUS development, i.e., the potential threats posed by UUS use to urban sustainability, which requires methodologically distinctive datasets and analyzing approaches compared with Part 1. Findings from this paper will enable a thorough picture of UUS’s role in urban development, both quantitatively and geographically. Consistent with Part 1, Part 2 presented in this paper also builds on the service replacement cost method (SRCM) framework, under which the compromised services of underground assets, namely geothermal energy, groundwater, geomaterials, historical heritage, space continuum and underground organisms, are identified as the monetarized negative externalities derived from UUS uses. The visualization process requires multi-sourced spatial data such as UUS planning data, construction approach data and geological data. Valuation results of the case study showed that the annual average of the aggregated socio-environmental costs of planned UUS uses amounted to approximately 3.2% of the external benefits. Among the calculated items, geothermal energy losses were proved to be the major source of negative socio-environmental externalities in terms of both quantity and spatial distribution. This study facilitates a holistic cost benefit analysis that incorporates socio-environmental benefits, socio-environmental costs and construction costs. Results of the case study proved that most of the planned UUS uses could yield positive net benefits, hence contributing to urban sustainability.
The subsurface can be used for a variety of purposes in the urban environment and the subsurface should ultimately be seen as a multifunctional resource, offering a multitude of benefits to humans and the society. Underground construction is commonly planned according to the first come, first served principle and later claims on other resources in the subsurface will have to adapt, often at high costs, or are made impossible. This pilot study is a first step in developing a method aiming to investigate a procedure for mapping an area’s subsurface resources, having the multifunctionality of the subsurface in mind, and integrating this information into urban planning processes. A mapping of the existing resources (supporting, provisioning, regulating, cultural) used at present and their future potential is presented, and an analysis, using an interaction matrix, of how the different subsurface resources can influence each other (conflicts and synergies) if the use(s) changes. Conclusions are that: 1) the concept of geosystem services can strongly support the communication about the subsurface between civil/geotechnical engineers and planners; 2) there is a need at the municipality or city level for systematised and digital 3D archives for easy access to information in relevant format; 3) planning based on the perspective that the subsurface has multiple resources, makes subsurface planning not only a metropolitan issue but also relevant for smaller municipalities. Further work is suggested to: i) explore the concept of geosystem services in a planning context; ii) suggest at which planning level different geosystem services can be optimally managed; and iii) develop tools to support planners for handling subsurface conflicts and acknowledge synergies.
The current scale and intensity of urban underground resources (UUR) are greater than ever, and the integrated development of UUR is of considerable significance for urban sustainable development. However, insights on the characteristics of UUR interactions are limited, and thus a quantitative evaluation method is lacking. In this study, we determined UUR interactions to have the following characteristics: spatiotemporal dynamics; multiple influencing factors; chain reactions and synergetic and conflicting coexistence. Based on these characteristics, the system dynamics (SD) method was presented as a new approach to evaluate UUR interactions. Compared with existing methods, SD is not only highly consistent with the interaction characteristics of UUR, but can also quantitatively analyze UUR. Furthermore, by taking the integrated development of geomaterial and urban underground space as a case study, the integrated development impacts were quantitatively evaluated via an integrated two-stage dynamic SD model through Vensim®. The simulation results demonstrate that the GM production of the newly built Beijing subway (991 km, 531 stations) during 2018–2023 can be reduced from 2.07 × 10⁷m³ to 1.33 × 10⁷m³ by integrated development. Moreover, the integrated development achieved favourable environmental impacts, including reductions in the energy consumption from 4.07 × 10⁷kgce to 2.62 × 10⁷ kgce; greenhouse gas emissions from 3.59 × 10⁷kg to 2.31 × 10⁷kg; and landfill space occupation from 9.24 × 10⁶ m³ to 5.95 × 10⁶ m³. This study provides an SD tool for planners interested in the integrated development of UUR and acts as a reference for the assessment of the integrated development impacts.
What are the reasons to protect the geologic resources? Are there any ethical arguments to prevent extraction and support the “in situ” preservation of ordinary geological goods that are not covered by other legal protection regimes? And what about the geological goods which do not even have a market value because they are not economically interesting or because they are not in the market? Are not there any ethical arguments for “in situ” protection of these geological goods against development plans, programs, or projects? The legal rationale for the protection of geological goods—both with and without economic relevance—will be based on their relational value. The relational value is key to understand the fundamental reasons why people want to protect geological goods despite their non-biotic nature and regardless of their direct utility, economic value. The big question here is: how is it possible to know if and how much people care about certain geological objects or sites? The answer lays in cultural geo-ecosystem services. Recognizing the relational value of geological goods by using the ecosystem services language can help prevent conflicts and promote socially and environmentally sustainable development.
Although ecosystems comprise both biotic and abiotic structures and processes, the role of abiotic output receives less attention and is addressed inconsistently in ecosystem services (ES) classification systems. The authors explore the nature and position of abiotic ecosystem output from: 1) a theoretical perspective on ecosystems, ecosystems services and natural capital; 2) a practical perspective on applying the ES concept in environmental policy, spatial planning and ecosystem management. From a theoretical point of view, excluding abiotic flows in ES frameworks such as CICES is inconsistent with the principles of the ES concept. Consequently, abiotic flows with (high) societal relevance may in practice be neglected or selectively addressed; many of them are related to sediment and the subsurface part of ecosystems. This impedes the integration strength of the ES concept. Given the large contributions to the economy and the societal costs of non-sustainable use of abiotic flows, it also impedes holistic, consistent and transparent information provision to decision makers. The authors urge to include abiotic flows as inherent part in ecosystem services classification systems such as CICES. This makes the application of the ES concept more holistic and consistent and will optimize it's integration power for practical planning and decision making.
Significance
Our quantification of energy and material flows for the world’s 27 megacities is a major undertaking, not previously achieved. The sheer magnitude of these flows (e.g., 9% of global electricity, 10% of gasoline; 13% of solid waste) shows the importance of megacities in addressing global environmental challenges. In aggregate the resource flows through megacities are consistent with scaling laws for cities. Statistical relations are established for electricity use, heating/industrial fuels, ground transportation, water consumption, waste generation, and steel production in terms of heating-degree days, urban form, economic activity, and population growth. Analysis at the microscale shows that electricity use is strongly correlated with building floor area, explaining the macroscale correlation between per capita electricity use and urbanized area per capita.
This report presents an analysis of the trends in the spatial extent of ecosystems and in the supply and use of ecosystem services at the European scale between 2000 and 2010. In the EU urban land and forests increased while cropland, grassland and heathland decreased. Other ecosystem types underwent smaller changes. The main trends in provisioning, regulating and maintenance, and cultural ecosystem services were assessed using a set of 30 indicators assorted according to the CICES classification. More crops for food, feed and energy were produced in the EU on less arable land. More organic food was grown. Textile crop production and the total number of grazing livestock decreased. Water use relative to water availability remained stable. Timber removals increased but so, too, did the total timber stock. There was an increase in net ecosystem productivity (growing biomass). Several regulating services, but in particular those which are related to the presence of trees, woodland or forests, increased slightly. This was the case for water retention, forest carbon potential, erosion control, and air quality regulation. Pollination potential and habitat quality showed a negative trend. There was a positive trend in the opportunity for citizens to have access to land with a high recreation potential.
In the sixties, the development of the science theory has caused an appearance of new ideas in physical geography. These ideas were concerned with the system
approach. In the year of 1963 V.B.Sochava introduced the term "geosystem", and in
1978 had published the monography "Introduction into doctrine of geosystems". The
system paradigm had given possibility to revise the logic bases of the doctrine of
landscape sphere, and to differentiate accurately the problems of physical geography
and branch geographical disciplines. On the basis of combined use of doctrine of
geosystems and primary postulates of landscape geochemistry, the employees of the
Institute of geography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science
have revealed many aspects of differentiation, integration and development of natural
objects by means of studying of differentiation and migration of their material
component.
The ‘ecosystem services’ approach is being used throughout the world to assess the value that society derives from the natural world. Many of these values have been difficult to describe and/or quantify, and this approach has therefore been adopted in an attempt to assess the qualitative and quantitative value of nature. Both the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA 2005) and the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (UKNEA 2011) classified these services into Regulating, Supporting, Provisioning and Cultural Services. But both the MA and the NEA only include services that involve ecosystem processes or functional interactions between the biotic and abiotic worlds. Consequently they exclude services that are purely abiotic, and therefore grossly underestimate the value of nature. This paper outlines the goods and services that society derives from the geodiversity of planet Earth. These may be termed ‘abiotic ecosystem services’ or ‘geosystem services’, but a more holistic term for all goods and services derived from the natural world would be ‘natural services’.
In 2013, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of V. B. Sochava’s first paper in which he offered the definition of the term “geosystem”. His paper entitled “The definition of some notions and terms in physical geography” remains one of the most frequently cited articles in the national geographical literature. The concept of the geosystem was included in encyclopedias. The geosystem ideology is used in training of specialists in the field of geography.
The ecosystem services approach endeavours to incorporate the economic value of ecosystems into decision making. This is because many natural resources are subject to market failure. As a result many economic decisions omit the impact that natural resource use has on the earth’s resources and the life support system it provides. Hence, one of the objectives of the ecosystem services approach is to employ economic valuation of natural resources in micro- and macro-economic policy design, implementation and evaluation. In this article we examine valuation concepts, and ask why we might attempt to economically value the contribution of soils to the provision of ecosystem services? We go on to examine economic valuation methods, and review economic valuation of soils. By surveying prices of soils on the web we are able to make a first, limited, global assessment of direct market value of topsoil prices. We then consider other research efforts to value soil. Finally, we consider how the valuation of soil can meaningfully be used in the introduction of improved resource management mechanisms such as decision support tools on which valuation can be based, within the UN’s System of Environmental and Economic Accounts (SEEA), and policy mechanisms like Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES).
We describe and reflect on seven recurring critiques of the concept of ecosystem services and respective counter-arguments. First, the concept is criticized for being anthropocentric while others argue that it goes beyond instrumental values. Second, some argue that the concept promotes an exploitative human-nature relationship, while others state that it re-connects society to ecosystems, emphasizing humanity's dependence on nature. Third, concerns exist that the concept may conflict with biodiversity conservation objectives while others emphasize complementarity. Fourth, the concept is questioned because of its supposed focus on economic valuation, while others argue that ecosystem services science includes many values. Fifth, the concept is criticized for promoting commodification of nature, while others point out that most ecosystem services are not connected to market-based instruments. Sixth, vagueness of definitions and classifications are stated to be a weakness, while others argue that vagueness enhances transdisciplinary collaboration. Seventh, some criticize the normative nature of the concept implying that all outcomes of ecosystem processes are desirable. The normative nature is indeed typical for the concept, but should not be problematic when acknowledged. By disentangling and contrasting different arguments we hope to contribute to a more structured debate between opponents and proponents of the ecosystem services concept.
The Ecosystem Services Journal starts in 2012 with a formidable basis in the reports and books from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and TEEB projects. Following a half-century history of growing awareness and associated scientific based policy development a bridging concept with natural and social science notions was developed and coined “ecosystem services”. The agenda for the journal Ecosystem Services, presented in this introductory paper to the Journal Ecosystem Services is aimed at scientists and policy analysts who consider contributing to better knowledge and better use of that knowledge about ecosystem services. This should include knowledge of the ecological systems that provide the services, the economic systems that benefit from them, and the institutions that need to develop effective codes for a sustainable use. The agenda is derived from the experience of the authors in science and policy analysis and extended with some of the recommendations from the TEEB book for national and international policy making emphasising the science—policy—practice linkage, which is the philosophy of the Journal.
Economics – specifically, monetary valuation – has been given a pivotal role in ecosystem conservation. This is a retrogressive step, undoing important sustainability principles and practices that should have been embedded in environmental policy and management action. The concept of ecosystem services is a useful framework for understanding the dependency of human society on its natural environment, but it needs to be part of a larger solution that recognizes the complexity of the socio-ecological system, and the issues of equity and justice that pertain to sustainable responses to global environmental change. There have been a few recent critical analyses of the ecosystem services concept and its global application that address these issues. This paper summarizes the perspectives and arguments made in those articles, and argues for more reflexive policy and research.
As reflected in the ecosystem approach, conservation strategies for the natural environment are responding to society's needs and the changing climate. Ecosystem assessments, particularly the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and the UK National Ecosystem Assessment, have reviewed the benefits that society gains from the natural environment, but they under-represent and undervalue the contribution of geodiversity. Geodiversity underpins and delivers many vital ecosystem services, informs their management and is an important element of natural capital. This includes the application of knowledge of physical processes and evidence from Quaternary archives of recent environmental change to help future-proof ecosystems and their services. Key principles include working with natural processes, based on understanding their spatial and temporal dynamics, and adopting where possible soft engineering practices to enable multiple benefits for nature and society. The ecosystem approach and the need for climate change adaptation require more integrated approaches to geodiversity, biodiversity and landscape conservation and management to enable a more sustainable future. Engaging with these issues will also demonstrate the wider relevance today of geodiversity and geoconservation. Contributing successfully in these critical areas requires closer partnership working, both across the geoscience and geoconservation communities, and with other sectors of nature conservation, policy makers, planners and communities, as well as other disciplines. Geoscience has an essential contribution to make in addressing knowledge gaps recognised in ecosystem assessment and in implementing robust solutions to broader environmental, economic and social issues.
Land use and land-use change play an important role in global integrated assessments. However, there are still many uncertainties in the role of current and historical land use in the global carbon cycle as well as in other dimensions of global environmental change. Although databases of historical land use are frequently used in integrated assessments and climate studies, they are subject to considerable uncertainties that often are ignored. This paper examines a number of the most important uncertainties related to the process of reconstructing historical land use. We discuss the origins of different types of uncertainty and the sensitivity of land-use reconstructions to these uncertainties.
The results indicate that uncertainties not only arise as result of the large temporal and spatial variation in historical population data, but also relate to assumptions on the relationship between population and land use used in the reconstructions. Improving empirical data to better specify and validate the assumptions about the relationship between population and land use, while accounting for the spatial and temporal variation, could reduce uncertainties in the reconstructions. Such empirical evidence could be derived from local case studies, such as those conducted in landscape ecology, environmental history, archeology and paleoecology.
The concepts of biodiversity and ecosystem services have become widely established and adopted within and beyond nature conservation circles. But biotic nature is only part of nature. The existence and importance of abiotic nature often goes unrecognized and is certainly undervalued. This Comment tries to redress the balance by outlining some recent developments in valuing and conserving abiotic nature, particularly the important concepts of geodiversity and geosystem services.
The ecosystem services and natural capital of soils are often not recognised and generally not well understood. This paper addresses this issue by drawing on scientific understanding of soil formation, functioning and classification systems and building on current thinking on ecosystem services to develop a framework to classify and quantify soil natural capital and ecosystem services. The framework consists of five main interconnected components: (1) soil natural capital, characterised by standard soil properties well known to soil scientists; (2) the processes behind soil natural capital formation, maintenance and degradation; (3) drivers (anthropogenic and natural) of soil processes; (4) provisioning, regulating and cultural ecosystem services; and (5) human needs fulfilled by soil ecosystem services.
What started as a humble metaphor to help us think about our relation to nature has become integral to how we are addressing the future of humanity and the course of biological evolution. The metaphor of nature as a stock that provides a flow of services is insufficient for the difficulties we are in or the task ahead. Indeed, combined with the mistaken presumption that we can analyze a global problem within a partial equilibrium economic framework and reach a new economy project-by-project without major institutional change, the simplicity of the stock-flow framework blinds us to the complexity of the human predicament. The ecosystem services approach can be a part of a larger solution, but its dominance in our characterization of our situation and the solution is blinding us to the ecological, economic, and political complexities of the challenges we actually face.
Linking biophysical aspects of ecosystems with human benefits through the notion of ecosystem services is essential to assess the trade-offs (ecological, socio-cultural, economic and monetary) involved in the loss of ecosystems and biodiversity in a clear and consistent manner. Any ecosystem assessment should be spatially and temporally explicit at scales meaningful for policy formation or interventions, inherently acknowledging that both ecological functioning and economic values are context, space and time specific. Any ecosystem assessment should first aim to determine the service delivery in biophysical terms, to provide solid ecological underpinning to the economic valuation or measurement with alternative metrics. Clearly delineating between functions, services and benefits is important to make ecosystem assessments more accessible to economic valuation, although no consensus has yet been reached on the classification. Ecosystem assessments should be set within the context of contrasting scenarios - recognising that both the values of ecosystem services and the costs of actions can be best measured as a function of changes between alternative options. In assessing trade-offs between alternative uses of ecosystems, the total bundle of ecosystem services provided by different conversion and management states should be included. Any valuation study should be fully aware of the „cost‟ side of the equation, as focus on benefits only ignores important societal costs like missed opportunities of alternative uses; this also allows for a more extensive range of societal values to be considered. Ecosystem assessments should integrate an analysis of risks and uncertainties, acknowledging the limitations of knowledge on the impacts of human actions on ecosystems and their services and on their importance to human well-being. In order to improve incentive structures and institutions, the different stakeholders - i.e. the beneficiaries of ecosystem services, those who are providing the services, those involved in or affected by the use, and the actors involved at different levels of decision-making - should be clearly identified, and decision making processes need to be transparent
A group of physical geographers of the Institute of Geography in Moscow, the principal academic research institution in geography, published an article in 1974 seeking to define and categorize terms and concepts now being used in Soviet geography. The article said the term geosystem (geographical system) applied equally to physical-geographical and socio-economic entities, and the term “geographical environment”, in actual research practice, referred not only to the physical setting of human activities, but also to engineering elements and social conditions. The present writer contends that such a definition of the geographical environment, incorporating both natural and social elements, smacks of a unified geography, and that geosystems, as originally defined, refer only to natural terrestrial systems, excluding man.
Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) is increasingly recognised as a policy approach that can make a key contribution to green growth and the challenges that are posed by sustained global economic and demogarphic growth. One of the key challenges of the SMM approach is to effectively address the environmental impacts that can occur along the life-cycle of materials, which frequently extends across borders and involves a multitude of different economic actors. This book outlines a series of policy principles for SMM, examines how to set and use targets for SMM, and explores various policy instruments for SMM. In addition it provides examples of policy action plans from the UK and the Netherlands, before presenting a series of conclusions and recommendations.
Groundwater is the only water resource across the “hyper” arid Eastern Sahara. Management of this resource is imperative for the sustainable development approaches. A 3D GIS-based groundwater flow model for the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System (NSAS) was developed to simulate the groundwater management options for the different development areas/oases within the aquifer, and to predict the environmental impact of the present and future groundwater extraction schemes on the whole system. Based on the actual and planned extraction rates of the NSAS, five extraction scenarios were suggested to investigate the most feasible groundwater management option in terms of the economic lifting depth until year 2100. The model was calibrated and validated under the transient conditions. The calibrated model was then used for the prediction simulations. The results of simulating the present extraction rates of the NSAS until 2100 showed that the free flowing phenomenon will disappear all over the modeled area. At this simulation time, a groundwater volume of 354 km3 will be extracted from the aquifer storage. Scenario 3 was found to be the optimal groundwater management option that meets the development ambitions and at the same time keeps the safe economic lifting depth as well.
Action 5 of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 calls Member States to map and assess the state of ecosystems and their services in their national territory with the assistance of the European Commission. The objective of this discussion paper is to support the development of a coherent analytical framework to be applied by the EU and its Member States in order to ensure consistent approaches are used. In line with the Millennium Ecosystem assessment, the objective of the EU assessment is to provide a critical evaluation of the best available information for guiding decisions on complex public issues. It is therefore framed by a broad set of key policy questions. It is structured around a conceptual framework that links human societies and their well-being with the environment. More specifically, the paper proposes a typology of ecosystems to be assessed and mapped and the use of the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) developed for environmental accounting purposes.
State Key Laboratory for GeoMechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, Deep-Lab for short, has been committed to the study of rock burst. Deep-Lab accumulated a large number of rock-burst data. With the deepening of the research progress, massive-data dilemma, artificial-management-data dilemma and experimental-data-analysis dilemma have become three big problems of rock burst. These dilemmas restrict the development of rock burst research technologies. This article takes big data in rock burst experiment as research objects and innovatively introduces big data technology into rock burst. Digital features of rock-burst experimental data were extracted. On this basis, a big data based data storage systems for rock burst experiment, BDSS for short, was designed and built. Then an integrated rock burst experimental platform was constructed. Experiments show that, BDSS solves three dilemmas of rock burst, and realises the distributed storage system of data. BDSS also realises dynamic and efficient load of rock-burst big data, and its efficient query under complication conditions.
The subsurface is often perceived as a mysterious, perhaps even threatening, realm. But it has always played a key role in fulfilling the needs of societies and in sustaining ecosystems, even though the public is mostly unaware of this. As affordable and sustainable options diminish for a growing, and increasingly urban, population the subsurface may provide challenging solutions to future generations.
The focus of this book is the shallow subsurface, i.e. the first 250 metres below the Earth’s surface. This book is aimed at engineers, urban developers, lawyers, policy makers, insurance professionals, geoscientists and others involved with subsurface construction; it provides an overview of technical aspects and also of legal, governmental and policy-making issues. It also aims to raise awareness of assets and threats of the last frontier for human development on the solid Earth, and to shed light on the sustainable use of the subsurface in the past, present and future.
Very little work has been done to identify and characterise the goods and services of the sea, and even less for the deep sea. We present a first categorisation and synthesis of deep-sea ecosystem goods and services, and review the current state of human knowledge about these services, the possible methods of their valuation, and possible steps forward in its implementation. Our conclusions highlight the nature and extent of research that is needed to overcome the gaps in knowledge that have been identified, and which have so far prevented the valuation of most deep-sea ecosystem goods and
services.
In order to reconcile landscape conservation with changing demands on land use and natural resources, it is essential that the ecological, socio-cultural and economic values of the landscape be fully taken into account in planning and decision-making.This paper presents a comprehensive framework for integrated assessment of ecological services and socio-economic benefits of natural and semi-natural ecosystems and landscapes. The framework can be applied at different scale levels to different ecosystems or landscape-units and basically consists of three steps: (1) Function-analysis: translates ecological complexity into a limited number of ecosystem (or landscape) functions, which, in turn, provide a range of goods and services; (2) Function valuation: includes ecological, socio-cultural and economic valuation methods; and (3) Conflict analysis: to facilitate the application of function-analysis and valuation at different scale levels, it is important to integrate analytical valuation methods with stakeholder participation techniques.The framework presented in this paper facilitates the structured assessment of the (total) value of the goods and services provided by a specific area (landscape) and to analyze the costs and benefits involved in trade-offs between various land use options. The last section of this paper gives some conclusions and recommendations for application-possibilities of function-analysis and valuation to achieve more sustainable landscape use and maintenance of our “natural capital”.
Over the past decade, efforts to value and protect ecosystem services have been promoted by many as the last, best hope for making conservation mainstream - attractive and commonplace worldwide. In theory, if we can help individuals and institutions to recognize the value of nature, then this should greatly increase investments in conservation, while at the same time fostering human well-being. In practice, however, we have not yet developed the scientific basis, nor the policy and finance mechanisms, for incorporating natural capital into resource- and land-use decisions on a large scale. Here, we propose a conceptual framework and sketch out a strategic plan for delivering on the promise of ecosystem services, drawing on emerging examples from Hawai‘i. We describe key advances in the science and practice of accounting for natural capital in the decisions of individuals, communities, corporations, and governments.
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