Getting into the water with the Ecosystem Services Approach: The DESSIN ESS evaluation framework

Abstract

Driven by Europe’s pressing need to overcome its water quality and water scarcity challenges, the speed of innovation in the water sector is outpacing that of science. The methodologies available to assess the impact of innovative solutions to water-related challenges remain limited and highly theoretical, which sets boundaries on their application and usefulness to water practitioners. This hampers the uptake of new technologies and innovative management practices, thus foregoing potential gains in resource efficiency and nature protection, as well as wider benefits to society and the economy. To address this gap, the DESSIN project developed a framework to evaluate the changes in ecosystem services (ESS) associated
with technical or management solutions implemented at the water body, sub-catchment or catchment level. The framework was developed with a specific focus on freshwater ecosystems to allow for a more detailed exploration of practical implementation issues. Its development, testing and validation was carried out by conducting ESS evaluations in three different urban case study settings. The framework builds upon existing classification systems for ESS (CICES and FEGS-CS) and incorporates the DPSIR adaptive management scheme as its main structural element. This enables compatibility with other international initiatives on ESS assessments and establishes a direct link to the EU Water Framework Directive, respectively.
This work furthers research on practical implementation of the Ecosystem Services Approach, while pushing the discussion on how to promote more informed decision-making and support innovation
uptake to address Europe’s current water-related challenges.

Full text

Getting into the water with the Ecosystem Services Approach:
The DESSIN ESS evaluation framework
Gerardo Anzaldua
a,
⇑
, Nadine V. Gerner
b
, Manuel Lago
a
, Katrina Abhold
a
, Mandy Hinzmann
a
, Sarah Beyer
a
,
Caroline Winking
j,1
, Niels Riegels
c
, Jørgen Krogsgaard Jensen
c,2
, Montserrat Termes
d,e
, Jaume Amorós
d
,
Kristina Wencki
f
, Clemens Strehl
f
, Rita Ugarelli
g
, Marius Hasenheit
a
, Issa Nafo
b
, Marta Hernandez
d
,
Ester Vilanova
h
, Sigrid Damman
g
, Stijn Brouwer
i
, Josselin Rouillard
a
, David Schwesig
f
, Sebastian Birk
j,k
a
Ecologic Institut gemeinnützige GmbH, Pfalzburger Str. 43/44, 10717 Berlin, Germany
b
Emschergenossenschaft, Kronprinzenstr. 24, 45128 Essen, Germany
c
DHI, Agern Alle 5, 2970 Horsholm, Denmark
d
CETaqua Centro Tecnológico del Agua, Fundación Privada, Carretera D’Esplugues 75 Local 1-2, 08940 Cornella de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
e
Universidad de Barcelona, Faculty of Economics and Business, Diagonal, 690-696, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
f
IWW Water Centre, Moritzstr. 26, 45476 Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
g
Stiftelsen SINTEF, Strindveien 4, 7034 Trondheim, Norway
h
Amphos 21 Consulting SL, Passeig Garcia Faria 49-51, 08019 Barcelona, Spain
i
KWR Watercycle Research Institute, Groningenhaven 7, 3433 PE Nieuwegein, The Netherlands
j
University of Duisburg-Essen, Faculty of Biology, Aquatic Ecology, Universitätsstr. 5, 45141 Essen, Germany
k
University of Duisburg-Essen, Centre for Water and Environmental Research, Universitätsstr. 5, 45141 Essen, Germany
article info
Article history:
Received 29 May 2017
Received in revised form 2 December 2017
Accepted 6 December 2017
Available online xxxx
Keywords:
Ecosystem services
Assessment framework
Practical implementation
Economic valuation
Water management
abstract
Driven by Europe’s pressing need to overcome its water quality and water scarcity challenges, the speed
of innovation in the water sector is outpacing that of science. The methodologies available to assess the
impact of innovative solutions to water-related challenges remain limited and highly theoretical, which
sets boundaries on their application and usefulness to water practitioners. This hampers the uptake of
new technologies and innovative management practices, thus foregoing potential gains in resource effi-
ciency and nature protection, as well as wider benefits to society and the economy. To address this gap,
the DESSIN project developed a framework to evaluate the changes in ecosystem services (ESS) associated
with technical or management solutions implemented at the water body, sub-catchment or catchment
level. The framework was developed with a specific focus on freshwater ecosystems to allow for a more
detailed exploration of practical implementation issues. Its development, testing and validation was car-
ried out by conducting ESS evaluations in three different urban case study settings. The framework builds
upon existing classification systems for ESS (CICES and FEGS-CS) and incorporates the DPSIR adaptive
management scheme as its main structural element. This enables compatibility with other international
initiatives on ESS assessments and establishes a direct link to the EU Water Framework Directive, respec-
tively. This work furthers research on practical implementation of the Ecosystem Services Approach,
while pushing the discussion on how to promote more informed decision-making and support innovation
uptake to address Europe’s current water-related challenges.
Ó2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
1. Introduction
Europe currently faces great challenges regarding water quality
and water scarcity, which coincide with growing economic uncer-
tainty in the region (e.g., political changes, financial fluxes, labour
market shifts, among other factors). These challenges can become
especially adverse in urban areas, where they can be compounded
by increasing population levels and overburdened water and
wastewater infrastructures (Koop and van Leeuwen, 2017). Conse-
quently, the EU has opted to direct part of its research, develop-
ment and innovation efforts in the water sector towards
increasing the knowledge base on aquatic ecosystems and water
management (often with special focus on urban areas, e.g. EEA,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2017.12.004
2212-0416/Ó2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
⇑
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: gerardo.anzaldua@ecologic.eu (G. Anzaldua).
1
Current address: Emschergenossenschaft, Kronprinzenstr. 24, 45128 Essen,
Germany.
2
Current address: Orbicon, Lautrupvang 4B, 2790 Ballerup, Denmark.
Ecosystem Services xxx (2018) xxx–xxx
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Ecosystem Services
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecoser
Please cite this article in press as: Anzaldua, G., et al. Getting into the water with the Ecosystem Services Approach: The DESSIN ESS evaluation framework.
Ecosystem Services (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2017.12.004

2016; Dige et al., 2017) and promoting the uptake and commercial-
isation of innovative solutions for water supply and treatment
(Aho et al., 2014; Schmidt et al., 2016). Examples of such innova-
tive solutions may include new techniques to replenish groundwa-
ter resources or treat combined sewage in a decentralised way.
Oftentimes, as new technologies and management approaches
emerge, the limitations of the available impact assessment
methodologies become evident. Enhancements in such assessment
approaches are thus necessary to ensure that the full range of pos-
sible impacts on natural systems is accounted for. These enhance-
ments may refer, for instance, to new ways of measuring the
benefits that humans perceive from their interaction with nature.
In this context, European policy has placed increased interest in
the concept of Ecosystem Services (ESS) and the Ecosystem Ser-
vices Approach (ESA) (Bouwma et al., 2017). In particular, these
are perceived to have great potential for enabling more holistic
evaluations of the impacts resulting from new interventions. These
evaluations should, in particular, integrate economic, environmen-
tal and societal dimensions.
To date, much research has been conducted on the concept of
ESS and the multiple aspects concerning its potential as a support
tool for policy- and decision-making, e.g. the Millennium Assess-
ment (MA, 2003; 2005), The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodi-
versity (TEEB, 2008; 2010), initiatives in this field through the
Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and
Ecosystem Services (IPBES, 2014; Díaz et al., 2015) and the EU-
Working Group MAES (Maes et al., 2013, 2016), as well as research
projects such as GLOBAQUA (Navarro-Ortega et al., 2015), AQUA-
CROSS (Gómez et al., 2016), MARS (Hering et al., 2015), OpenNESS
(Potschin et al., 2014), OPERAS (Kettunen and Brink 2015) and POL-
ICYMIX (Barton et al., 2014). However, and despite the progress
achieved so far, the practical application of the ESA continues to
be hindered by its highly theoretical nature and by the fact that
those involved in such applications are required to transgress dis-
ciplinary boundaries if they want to exploit the approach to its full-
est extent. This can result in difficulties - the causes for which
range from inconsistencies in the use of terminology to contradic-
tory handling of fundamental ESS concepts. In addition, the most
advanced efforts are those that focus on national ESS assessments,
where downscaling issues have been pointed out by critics as a
strong limitation (Potschin and Haines-Young, 2013; Paetzold
et al., 2010; Costanza et al., 2014).
In response to these issues, the FP7 project DESSIN (Demon-
strate Ecosystem Services Enabling Innovation in the Water Sec-
tor), funded by the European Commission, set out to
demonstrate innovative solutions to water-related challenges
and to develop an evaluation framework to measure their impacts
on ESS. In this sense, DESSIN endeavours to contribute to the dis-
cussion by bringing forward an evaluation framework that is a)
focused on changes resulting from concrete measures imple-
mented at the local level and b) applicable to produce output that
can be extrapolated from the bottom-up. The project’s exclusive
focus on freshwater ecosystems and their services allows for a
more concentrated discussion and development work that in turn
enables a more detailed exploration of practical implementation
issues.
This paper aims to introduce the DESSIN ESS Evaluation Frame-
work to the wider scientific community and to promote its use and
further development as a tool for conducting local-level applica-
tions of the ESA. The following sections provide an overview of
the justification and objective of the framework (Section 2), the
rationale for its development based on practical case studies (Sec-
tion 3), and its conceptual approach (Section 4) and design (Sec-
tion 5). Sections 6 and 7 then present a discussion of the
aforementioned aspects and general conclusions, respectively.
2. Justification and objective
Decision-making in water management relies on information
describing ecological, economic, and social aspects collated in a
transparent way. Handling, integrating and interpreting such infor-
mation requires a balanced combination of administrative capacity
and specialized expertise. This means water managers and similar
authorities in charge of freshwater ecosystems have to collaborate
with natural scientists, social scientists, engineers, economists and
others in order to reach sound decisions. Tools that support this
collaboration, especially through facilitating communication
across disciplines, are thus required. A literature review revealed
multiple existing ESS assessment frameworks that lay out method-
ologies linking ESS to human well-being, and that could be useful
for authorities and organisations involved in water management
(MA, 2003, 2005; TEEB, 2008, 2010; Harrison, 2010; Paetzold
et al., 2010; Keeler et al., 2012; Peh et al., 2013; Seppelt et al.,
2012). However, some of these frameworks cannot identify how
changes in ecosystems impact the provision of ESS, while others
are overly time and/or data intensive, focus solely or mainly on a
single water issue (e.g., water quality or water scarcity), are limited
in their coverage of ESS types (e.g. focus on provisioning services),
or exclude sustainability considerations. Furthermore, no direct
link between such ESS assessment frameworks and the Water
Framework Directive (WFD) seems evident, at a time when inte-
gration between WFD objectives and ESS principles is being pur-
sued (Vlachopoulou et al., 2014).
The DESSIN framework aims to enable the practical application
of the ESA at the level of an environmental system of interest (e.g. a
surface or groundwater body, sub-catchment or catchment) to
assist decision-making that considers the specific and current
strains put on the ecosystem in focus and the direct effects of a
technical or management solution upon it. As opposed to other
established assessments that produce aggregate accounts of the
services provided by a region’s or nation’s ecosystems (INBO,
2014; Marta-Pedroso et al., 2014; The Finnish Environment,
2015), the DESSIN framework allows its users to evaluate changes
in ESS related to the measures implemented in a given freshwater
ecosystem. In other words, the framework focuses on local-level
assessments to allow its user to associate small-scale interventions
to potential impacts on environmental, economic and social
domains. Where quantification of ESS is not possible due to a lack
of information, the framework allows for the formulation of qual-
itative arguments that can also be helpful for consultation and
decision-making. The framework facilitates scenario analysis and
the comparison amongst different solutions. Furthermore, it
includes the option to take broader-term aspects of sustainability
of the specific measure into account (detailed descriptions follow
in Section 5.2).
The framework builds upon an existing classification system for
ESS and a well-established methodological scheme that are gener-
ally known and accepted in European ESS research circles. These
are the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services
(CICES) developed by Haines-Young and Potschin (2011) and the
Driver, Pressure, State, Impact, Response (DPSIR) adaptive manage-
ment scheme created by the European Environment Agency
(1999). In addition, the framework incorporates some of the
notions and elements behind the Final Ecosystem Goods and
Services-Classification System (FEGS-CS) elaborated by Landers
and Nahlik (2013), and the sustainability assessment tool devel-
oped in the TRUST project (Alegre et al., 2012).
Adopting the CICES typology ensures that evaluations con-
ducted using the DESSIN framework are compatible and compara-
ble with other assessments undertaken by European institutions.
Using the DPSIR scheme as the main structural element of the
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Please cite this article in press as: Anzaldua, G., et al. Getting into the water with the Ecosystem Services Approach: The DESSIN ESS evaluation framework.
Ecosystem Services (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2017.12.004

framework endowed it with an easy-to-follow, sequential evalua-
tion approach and established an important link to the WFD.
Finally, building upon the beneficiaries concept and typology used
in the FEGS-CS approach provided key functionality to the frame-
work in terms of differentiating between final and intermediate
3
ESS, as this provided the basis for identifying which are actually used
by humans in the study area. Because the CICES typology lacked a
sufficient level of specificity for practical application at the local
level, the DESSIN framework filled this gap by adopting final ESS
with importance to beneficiaries, as classified in the FEGS-CS, which
narrowed down the evaluation scope to better tailor to local needs
and challenges.
3. Development based on practical case-studies
What sets the DESSIN framework apart from other similar
methodologies is its practical orientation and focus on smaller-
scale ESS evaluations. This approach facilitates involvement of
local stakeholders, outlining causal relationships within the
boundaries of an ecosystem, and association of specific measures
to expected or observed impacts. These characteristics and func-
tionalities were achieved through a process of co-creation, itera-
tion and reflection based on practical case-studies. This aspect
was key to shaping the framework and allowed the research group
to respond to new questions that emerged as the development
work progressed.
3.1. Testing the draft framework elements in data-rich mature case
study sites
The first designated users of the DESSIN framework were project
members responsible for running retrospective ESS evaluations in
sites where innovative management solutions had already been
implemented, referred to as mature case studies. This user group
included specialists from the fields of freshwater ecology, eco-
nomics, information and communication technologies, and engi-
neering. The mature case study sites were located at the Aarhus
River, Denmark, the Emscher River, Germany (Gerner et al.,
submitted) and the Llobregat River, Spain (Termes-Rifé et al., 2016).
In the Aarhus mature case study, the effects of a real-time con-
trol system of the full urban water cycle were examined, including
wastewater treatment facilities and recipient waters combined
with the opening of the Aarhus River in the city centre. The real-
time control system aimed to adapt Aarhus’s water system to cli-
mate change-related challenges and to raise the recreational
potential in the city via river restoration and improved water qual-
ity. The evaluation focused on the intermediate ESS ‘‘Degradation
of pollution by microorganisms, algae, plants, animals, and other
ecosystem components” and the final ESS ‘‘Experiential use of
plants, animals and land-/seascapes in different environmental set-
tings”. The first was assessed by estimating changes in degradation
of E. coli and Enterococci bacteria using the water quality mod-
elling software MIKE 11/ECOLAB. The latter was estimated through
changes in the value of houses and apartments located near the re-
opened river section.
In the Emscher mature case study, a large-scale river restoration
was implemented with special emphasis on water quality and
recreational values (Gerner et al., submitted). The improved water
quality, hydrology and morphology of the river were to enhance
biodiversity, regulating ESS and recreation. The main focus was
on the evaluation of the intermediate ESS ‘‘Self-purification: nitro-
gen, phosphate, and carbon retention” and ‘‘Biodiversity”. Final ESS
assessed and monetised were ‘‘Opportunity for placement of
infrastructure and reduced risk of flooding”, ‘‘Opportunity for
placement of infrastructure in environment”, ‘‘Opportunity for bik-
ing & recreational boating”, ‘‘Opportunities to understand, commu-
nicate, and educate”, and ‘‘Knowledge that a restored river area
exists, with suitable water quality (i.e. Good ecological potential
(GEP))”. These were assessed for individual sections of the Emscher
river network and subsequently transferred to the catchment scale.
For visualisation, the resulting monetary value was compared to
the investment costs of the restoration. Several other ESS for which
no sufficient data was available were described qualitatively.
The Llobregat study focused on the economic valuation of
changes in ESS resulting from the implementation of infiltration
ponds. These ponds were created to replenish the groundwater
reserves and provide drinking and non-drinking water to the Bar-
celona area. Here, four ESS linked to the infiltration ponds were
identified and subsequently assessed: ‘‘Water for drinking pur-
poses”, ‘‘Water for non-drinking purposes”, ‘‘Education (Research
opportunities)”, and ‘‘Experiential use of landscapes in different
environmental settings”.
These mature case studies had good data availability and docu-
mentation on the implemented measures, guaranteeing that early
versions of the DESSIN framework could be tested and fine-tuned.
The results of these first applications of the framework were pre-
sented in stakeholder workshops to establish discussions with
local actors and to gather feedback. Running the development pro-
cess in an iterative manner, with users and stakeholders directly
involved in the conceptual development, testing and fine-tuning
of the framework, allowed for identification and consideration of
actual needs.
3.2. Further application in demonstration sites
After completion of the development phase, the framework will
be applied on five demonstration sites facing water scarcity (the
City of Athens, Greece, the Llobregat River delta, Spain and the
Greenport Westland, The Netherlands) and water quality issues
(the Emscher River, Germany and the Hoffselva River, Norway).
These demo sites differ from the mature case study sites in the fact
that they are places where solutions have only recently (i.e. during
the lifetime of the DESSIN project) been implemented for testing
purposes, and thus, the necessary data for the ESS evaluations is
collected during the project. The Emscher mature case study site
and the Emscher demonstration site entail different measures
implemented in different timeframes, as is the case for the Llobre-
gat mature and demonstration sites. The solutions tested at the
demonstration sites are diverse. Aquifer storage and recovery are
demonstrated in Spain and The Netherlands to counteract ground-
water depletion, while in Greece, sewage mining and on-site-
treatment is implemented to address water scarcity. In Hoffselva,
filtration and treatment in combined sewage overflow facilities
aim to improve the quality of recipient waters. Similarly, at the
Emscher demonstration site, real-time-control of the sewer system
and treatment in combined sewage overflow facilities is tested for
the same purpose. Given that these water challenges prevail
throughout Europe, demonstrating the framework’s operability at
the different study sites also represents a high potential of trans-
ferability to other locations.
4. Conceptual approach
The main structural element of an evaluation conducted with
the DESSIN framework is the DPSIR scheme. This was slightly mod-
ified and interlinked with other theoretical developments from ESS
3
Final ESS are defined in the context of a DESSIN evaluation as those ESS that are
not only provided by the ecosystem but also directly utilized or otherwise
appreciated by humans/beneficiaries. Alternatively, intermediate ESS are defined as
those ESS that are only provided by the ecosystem but not necessarily utilized or
otherwise appreciated by humans/beneficiaries.
G. Anzaldua et al. / Ecosystem Services xxx (2018) xxx–xxx 3
Please cite this article in press as: Anzaldua, G., et al. Getting into the water with the Ecosystem Services Approach: The DESSIN ESS evaluation framework.
Ecosystem Services (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2017.12.004

research in order to serve the purpose of DESSIN, i.e. to demon-
strate the impact of innovative technologies, to account for
changes in ESS and to allow for a detailed evaluation in practice.
More specifically, this meant integrating the ‘‘ecosystem service
cascade” of Haines-Young and Potschin (2010) into the DPSIR con-
cept as done by Müller and Burkhard (2012) and van Oudenhoven
et al. (2012). This allowed the positioning of aspects of ecosystem
state, ESS, and human well-being in an established conceptual
framework from which the causal links between these elements
could be explored.
In DESSIN’s DPSIR model, responses are at the centre of the
framework (see Fig. 1). When a decision-maker is confronted with
multiple options for measures to address a known environmental
challenge, a need to appraise the impacts of each possible choice
emerges. Any technology, management approach, policy measure,
or combination of these from which the decision-maker could
choose is considered a response.Given their nature, it is assumed
that these responses can influence the drivers, pressures or state
of the ecosystem under study, or a combination of the three. For
example, a policy measure implemented to ban intensive agricul-
ture in the study area is a representation of a response addressing
a driver. A real-time-control system preventing combined sewer
overflow events is an example of a response addressing a pressure.
An infiltration pond used to recharge the groundwater level in an
aquifer exemplifies a response addressing the state of an ecosys-
tem. In the DESSIN mature case studies, the implemented mea-
sures either alleviated pressures or improved the state directly.
Moving down along the causal chain, changes in state produced
by a response can ultimately result in two types of impacts: first,
an impact on the provision of ESS, i.e. the range and scale of ESS
that are available; second, a change in the actual use of ESS and
the resulting human well-being, i.e. the perceived benefits and
value resulting from the actual utilisation of the available ESS. In
other words, impact I refers to changes in the availability of ESS
associated to changes in ecosystem state, while impact II refers
to changes on human well-being resulting from changes in ESS
(based on Müller and Burkhard, 2012). For example, a restoration
measure can increase the water retention capacity of a river’s
floodplains (impact I), which may result in reduced or avoided
damages and costs once a flood event actually takes place (impact
II).
In evaluations conducted with the DESSIN framework, the con-
cept of beneficiaries is used to ease the distinction between inter-
mediate and final ESS. This distinction is important as only final
ESS can be expressed in monetary terms (Fisher et al., 2009;
Boyd and Banzhaf, 2007). The split of impact elements described
above (impact I and II) is analogue to this notion of intermediate
and final ESS and is further depicted in Fig. 2.
Fig. 2 provides a detailed view of the procedural steps taken in
the evaluation to associate responses to their impacts. The user
starts off with the full list of ESS contained in the CICES catalogue
and attempts to answer the question: What can the response change
in the study area? Response changes may range from changes in
conditions external to the ecosystem (e.g. a change in agricultural
policy can reduce the nutrient emmissions reaching a nearby
river), to specific water quality parameters (e.g. a new on-site
Fig. 1. The structure of the DESSIN ESS Evaluation Framework (based on Müller and
Burkhard, 2012; van Oudenhoven et al., 2012; Haines-Young and Potschin, 2010,
2011).
Fig. 2. Procedural steps to associate the implementation of measures (Responses) to changes in intermediate and final ESS (Impact I and Impact II).
4G. Anzaldua et al. / Ecosystem Services xxx (2018) xxx–xxx
Please cite this article in press as: Anzaldua, G., et al. Getting into the water with the Ecosystem Services Approach: The DESSIN ESS evaluation framework.
Ecosystem Services (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2017.12.004

filtration treatment can reduce the level of turbidity in a river
stretch). Once defined, these changes resulting from the response
can then be associated to specific ESS classes from the CICES list
(e.g. the reduction in turbidity caused by the new filtration treat-
ment could enhance the ‘‘aesthetic” of the river, a cultural ESS).
As a result, the case-relevant ESS, i.e. the services that are hypothet-
ically affected by the response, can be established as a subset of the
full CICES list (further details follow in Section 5). Next, the case-
relevant ESS are categorised into final and intermediate ESS by
analysing their association to beneficiaries present in the study
area. This part of the evaluation uses the beneficiary typology pro-
posed by Landers and Nahlik (2013) to identify associations of indi-
vidual beneficiary types with the case-relevant ESS. In DESSIN,
beneficiaries are defined as any persons, organisations, households
or firms whose interests are positively or negatively affected by
either the direct use or presence of the ESS that are changed by
the response (adapted from Landers and Nahlik, 2013). If—for a
certain case-relevant ESS—there is a beneficiary present in the
study area, it can be considered a final service. Arguably, the total
economic value of these final services for the individual would be
the sum of the benefits derived from each of his/her interests in/
uses of them (Landers and Nahlik, 2013). This distinction helps to
understand and fundamentally, it allows to capture, different con-
cepts of economic value (e.g. use and non-use values) in the ESS
assessment. Otherwise, if a beneficiary is not present, the case-
relevant ESS is considered an intermediate service which may sup-
port the provision of another service. Careful stakeholder analysis
has of course to precede any association of beneficiaries to case-
relevant ESS. This also allows to unravel possible conflicts and
trade-offs among water resource uses (e.g. Castro et al., 2016).
For regulating and maintaining services, such as self-purification
or nutrient retention, often no immediate beneficiaries can be
identified, qualifying these ESS as intermediate services.
As the ESS evaluation is not exhaustive in its coverage of the
aspects relevant for a decision-maker to decide for or against a
response or between two or more responses, further criteria are
inquired in the optional sustainability assessment of the DESSIN
framework. Here, the response is evaluated with regard to possible
implications on five dimensions of sustainability, i.e. social, envi-
ronmental, financial, governance or asset performance (e.g. effects
on job creation, energy use, investment and operational expendi-
ture, stakeholder involvement, or reliability, respectively).
5. Framework design
5.1. Overview
The DESSIN framework consists of a suite of structured refer-
ence materials that provides the instructions necessary to run an
evaluation: the DESSIN cookbook (Anzaldua et al., 2016a), a com-
panion report (Anzaldua et al., 2016b), a supplementary material
catalogue, an evaluation template, and a webinar. In addition, a
software module was developed and integrated into an existing
Decision Support System (MIKE Workbench) to ease usability, pro-
mote the uptake of the framework and to enable the use of compu-
tational models in evaluations.
The DESSIN cookbook is the main interface of the DESSIN
framework. It guides the user through the five parts of the evalua-
tion, detailing the procedural steps to follow (see Fig. 3 and the fol-
lowing sub-section). Examples from DESSIN’s mature case studies
are used throughout the cookbook to illustrate this procedure.
The cookbook is written as a practical guidance document and is
meant to be read as a step-by-step instruction manual to fill in
the evaluation template. The latter gives the user a structured out-
line to present evaluation outcomes.
The companion report presents the theoretical background con-
sidered in the development of the DESSIN framework and explains
its conceptual basis. It contains a glossary of terminology which
was discussed and agreed by the interdisciplinary team in charge
of developing and applying the framework in the case studies.
The report includes extensive treatment of the concepts underpin-
ning the five parts of the evaluation.
The supplementary material catalogue provides lists of drivers,
pressures, state parameters, beneficiary types, impact indicators
and economic valuation studies that the user can refer to when
conducting an evaluation. The catalogue functions as a quick refer-
ence directory that illustrates possible associations between ESS
classes, beneficiary types and the different elements of the DPSIR
scheme. The catalogue was created based on literature
Fig. 3. Procedural steps for the application of the DESSIN ESS Evaluation Framework. Note: The position of Steps 4 and 5 depend on whether the response affects the drivers,
pressures or state of the system as described in Section 4.
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Please cite this article in press as: Anzaldua, G., et al. Getting into the water with the Ecosystem Services Approach: The DESSIN ESS evaluation framework.
Ecosystem Services (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2017.12.004

(Haines-Young and Potschin, 2011; Landers and Nahlik, 2013;
MARS, 2014; Weber and Ringold, 2015) and the results of the DES-
SIN mature case studies, which comprised expert knowledge from
the direct users of the framework supplemented by stakeholder
feedback gathered in workshops. A database of economic valuation
studies was compiled and included as a way of showing the user
how different valuation methodologies are applied in practice.
Splitting the framework into a cookbook and a companion
report is an attempt to overcome the complexity of applying the
ESA by balancing the weight given to the theoretical aspects and
the procedural steps of an evaluation. This separation between the-
oretical background and practical guidance increases the user
friendliness of the framework without compromising its potential
for yielding reliable results.
5.2. Detailed description of the 5 parts of an evaluation
As introduced in the previous sub-section, users can run an
evaluation using the DESSIN framework by completing a series of
steps that are organised into 5 main evaluation parts. Each part
has a specific objective and clear instructions for the user (see
Anzaldua et al., 2016a).
Part I: Study description helps the user to set the scene for the
evaluation. In step 1, the user is asked to declare the objectives
of the evaluation and to define the study area, including its physi-
cal boundaries. These boundaries serve to delineate the ecosystem
of interest for the evaluation, e.g. a surface or ground water body, a
sub-catchment or catchment. Furthermore, the user is asked to
prepare an exhaustive list of the stakeholders
4
located within the
study area. This list is used in Part III of the evaluation to see if the
local stakeholder groups can be associated with the case-relevant
ESS, in which case they are declared as beneficiares.
Part II: Problem characterisation aims to identify and describe
drivers and pressures (steps 2 and 3, respectively). Drivers are con-
sidered anthropogenic activities that may have an environmental
effect, such as agriculture, industry or urban development (based
on MARS, 2014). Pressures are considered direct environmental
effects that result from human activities (e.g. input of pollutants).
In this part, the user is asked to select from a list of predefined dri-
vers those that apply to the study area and then to find the pres-
sures associated to these drivers, again using a predefined list in
the supplementary material catalogue.
Part III: Response changes and potential beneficiaries aims to
identify the responses that can be implemented to address prob-
lems in the study area (step 4) and determine case-relevant ESS
and beneficiaries (step 5). As stated in Section 4, responses are
any technology, management approach, policy measure, or combi-
nation of these that aim to moderate the drivers, reduce pressures
and/or improve the state of the ecosystem under study. Here, the
user is asked to reflect and describe the ways in which the
response is expected to change the ecosystem and relate these
changes to specific ESS. This yields the list of case-relevant ESS.
For this, the supplementary material catalogue offers a list of envi-
ronmental parameters related to freshwater ecosystems. These
parameters are grouped according to the state categories used by
the WFD (biological, hydromorphological and physicochemical)
and the work by Weber and Ringold (2015) on human apreciation
of river characteristics. In the catalogue, these parameters have
been associated to specific provisioning, regulation and mainte-
nance, and cultural ESS.
To help the user identify the beneficiaries of the case-relevant
ESS found in step 4, the supplementary material catalogue offers
the beneficiary typology used in FEGS-CS (Landers and Nahlik,
2013). The typology provides detailed descriptions of beneficiary
types and associates them with specific uses of ESS (e.g. irrigators
use water from rivers and streams to grow and maintain crops;
industrial dischargers use rivers and streams as a medium for
receiving industrial discharge). The DESSIN team has assigned
these ESS uses in the FEGS-CS typology to specific ESS classes in
CICES. This allows the user of the framework to query the cata-
logue in search for the case-relevant ESS and retrieve the benefi-
ciary types commonly associated with their use. By finding the
matches between the retrieved beneficiary types and the stake-
holder groups from the list elaborated in Part I, the user can pin-
point the beneficiaries actually present in the study area. Subse-
quently, this enables the distinction between final and intermedi-
ate case-relevant ESS.
Part IV: Impact evaluation aims to measure the impact of the
response by quantifying the state of the ecosystem, impact I (ESS
provision) and impact II (ESS use by beneficiaries). This part of
the evaluation is the most data intensive. Here, the user is asked
to select the suitable indicators for state (step 6) and impact (step
7 and 8) from the lists of indicators available in the supplementary
material catalogue. The user then calculates the selected indicators
(step 9) for two scenarios, before and after the implementation of
the measure, to reveal the impact of the response.
Part V: Sustainability assessment is an optional set of steps that
aims to put the evaluated changes in ESS into perspective by con-
sidering further aspects of sustainability (i.e. the wider social, envi-
ronmental, financial, governmental, and asset performance aspects
of the examined case). After selecting indicators, the user can run a
multi-criteria assessment that enables the comparison of potential
disadvantages of the response (e.g. high implementation costs or
additional greenhouse gas emissions) against its potential advan-
tages (i.e. expected benefits).
6. Discussion
One of the key objectives of the DESSIN project was to develop
an analytical framework to evaluate and account for integrated
impacts resulting from the implemention of innovative solutions
in the water sector. The main challenge in meeting this objective
was to adequately link the relevant biophysical and socioeconomic
elements of the systems under study. The perceived potential of
the ESA to facilitate such integrated impact evaluations thus
became the basis for developing an analytical framework that held
the ESS concept at the forefront. This, however, presented the sub-
sequent challenge of bringing a highly theoretical and complex
concept into practice and providing a transparent and applicable,
yet solid framework.
As mentioned, the DESSIN framework was developed following
an incremental, iterative process largely based on its practical
application in case studies. Commissioning the development of
the framework to an interdisciplinary team of ecologists, econo-
mists and engineers served to recreate the common adversities
associated with applying the ESA in practice: contradicting view-
points of stakeholders (founded largely on disciplinary back-
grounds), discrepancies in the use and understanding of
terminology, and unaligned group or individual interests, among
others. While these issues at times seemed to stall progress, the
collaborative experiment of developing the DESSIN framework
ultimately evidenced that successful application of the ESS concept
in practice requires an openness and willingness of the participants
to embark on mutual learning and to move beyond traditional dis-
ciplinary boundaries. Spending the extra effort on breaking the
4
In the context of an evaluation, stakeholders are defined as persons, groups or
organisations that may be affected by or may have an influence on the outcome of an
intervention taking place in the study area (adapted from Ridder et al., 2005). Notice
that the framework distinguishes between stakeholders and beneficiaries on the basis
of actual ESS use. In this sense, beneficiaries are a subset of stakeholders.
6G. Anzaldua et al. / Ecosystem Services xxx (2018) xxx–xxx
Please cite this article in press as: Anzaldua, G., et al. Getting into the water with the Ecosystem Services Approach: The DESSIN ESS evaluation framework.
Ecosystem Services (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2017.12.004

gridlock that sets in when the tough questions emerge is crucial to
achieve tangible progress in this field of work.
Applying the DESSIN framework on the mature case studies also
provided its developers with key insights necessary to shape it into
a practice-oriented tool. It allowed close observation of its utilisa-
tion by end-users, which helped prioritise development actions by
delineating initial gaps and inconsistencies. Addressing such initial
issues (e.g. via the development of a supplementary material cata-
logue and the preparation of a common glossary of evaluation
terms) endowed the framework with a more flexible and user-
centric character relative to previous efforts in the field. Further
iteration of this process in the demonstration sites will reveal
new constraints, prompt concentrated action and ultimately bring
the framework a step forward before the end of the DESSIN project.
The design of the DESSIN framework is deliberately closely
related to the implementation of WFD river basin management
(RBM), which is legally binding for all EU Member States. The
framework’s foundation upon the DPSIR adaptive management
scheme fits well into standard RBM approaches (Borja et al.,
2006). Placing ESS within the impact category allows for aligning
the ESA with an approved management concept, including familiar
terminology and accustomed practices (Hering et al., 2015). This
conceptual consistency, along with the concrete, stepwise guid-
ance provided by the framework, facilitates the integration of ESS
into existing RBM procedures. As highlighted by Grizzetti et al.
(2016) such an integration is beneficial in the proper implementa-
tion of the economic elements of the WFD, i.e. evaluating cost-
effectiveness and -benefit of the mitigation measures and water
recovery costs, respectively, as well as co-benefits of nature-
based solutions and green infrastructure (e.g. Liquete et al.,
2016). The practical integration of ESS evaluation into operational
RBM schemes may also support in defining alternative manage-
ment objectives beyond 2027, especially when exemptions from
reaching the WFD targets are increasingly claimed for due to, for
instance, disproportionate costs (Klauer et al., 2016).
Large-scale application of the ESA is associated with large
investments in terms of effort, time and financial resources. By
focusing on local-scale evaluations of case-relevant ESS, the DES-
SIN framework has attempted to make ESS assessments more
accessible, leaner, and yielding results that are more directly relat-
able and actionable for stakeholders and decision-makers. This has
great potential to complement the large ESS assessments being
undertaken at the EU and national levels.
The framework’s limitations reside principally on the need to
incorporate value judgements in the selection of water-related
ESS, indicators, choice of biophysical and economic models, means
of measurement and choice of valuation methods, which could
potentially result in uncertainty and inconsistency if the assump-
tions made are not adequately documented. This is, however, a
common issue of ESS assessment frameworks given their delibera-
tive and multi-stakeholder nature. Further limitations reside in the
uncertainty inherent to the methodologies and indicators bundled
within the framework and the aggregation along the evaluation.
Depending on available data for a given case study, this uncer-
tainty can be reduced through the employment of more elaborate,
direct indicators and keeping the use of proxies and assumptions
to a minimum. Experience has shown though that data availability
is a recurrent constraint in ESS assessments, especially in ex-ante
evaluations of measures. This can only be addressed through fur-
ther fieldwork (measuring and monitoring), environmental mod-
elling and the enhancement of water and environmental data
repositories at all levels (EU, national, regional and local).
The authors see the use of the beneficiaries concept inspired by
Landers and Nahlik (2013) as one of the key features of the DESSIN
framework that enables more locally-relevant ESS assessments as
described above. However, it has also been noted that the practical
operationalisation of the definition of beneficiaries can be tough,
especially in the case of immaterial benefits or cultural and regu-
lating ESS. Further, some criticism has emerged on the use of the
term beneficiary itself. In the definition, individuals and groups
who are both positively and negatively affected by changes in
ESS are considered; however, the term does not make this evident
since it subsumes all parties under a title that connotates a positive
relation. Some suggest that a more neutral term would increase
transparency.
Lastly, while the framework establishes that responses can
influence drivers, pressures, state, and a combination of the three,
detailed instruction on how to deal with combined effects of the
response on the other DPSIR elements is generally lacking in the
framework, as this specific situation did not emerge during its
application on the mature case study sites. Further examples from
practice will be useful to illustrate the issue.
7. Conclusions
Through the DESSIN ESS Evaluation Framework, the DESSIN
project has brought progress in applied ESS science by attempting
to balance the theoretical and practical elements of ESA implemen-
tation, by focusing on the evaluation of changes in ESS, and by
using the concept of beneficiaries to unlock the often elusive dis-
tinction between final and intermediate ESS. While the framework
shares some common limitations with earlier approaches, the
authors believe that its further use in practical case studies will
enhance its capabilities, inter alia by expanding and enhancing
the indicator catalogue and validating the associations between
responses and subsequent elements of the DPSIR chain. Neverthe-
less, the DESSIN framework is fit for purpose to support decision-
making and promote the uptake of innovative solutions to water
quality and water scarcity challenges in urban areas. The explo-
ration of its potential to facilitate the integration of the ESS concept
into future WFD implementation is encouraged.
Acknowledgement
The research leading to these results has received funding from
European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)
under Grant agreement no. 619039.
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