Scottish Natural Heritage
Sustaining nature’s services
Adopting an ecosystem approach
Contents
Section
Page
Nature’s services
1
An ecosystem approach – what does it mean?
2
How is an ecosystem approach applied?
4
What does it mean for land-use policy, management and decision-making?
6
How can we invest in our natural capital?
8
How is SNH applying an ecosystem approach?
10
Document History
Issues and revisions
First issued
November 2010
Revised
Document Status
(at November 2010) Green - current
Contacts
ii
Mary Christie
Strategy & Communications Manager
Battleby
Redgorton
Perth
PH1 3EW
Greg Mudge
Policy & Advice Manager
Silvan House
231 Corstophine Road
Edinburgh
EH12 7AT
E: [email protected]
T: 01738 444177
E: [email protected]
T: 01463 725195
Sustaining nature’s services Adopting an ecosystem approach
Scottish Natural Heritage
Reference
2010/2
Sustaining nature’s services
Issued
November 2010
Last revised
Adopting an ecosystem approach
Nature’s services
1
Nature is essential for human life. Nature includes plants, animals, micro-organisms and
the environment they live in such as water, rocks and soils. People are not separate from
nature; we are a part of its rich diversity.
2
The diversity of Scotland’s nature and landscapes sustains the services which have
always underpinned our health, wealth, culture and lifestyles. For example our food and
drink industry is dependent on healthy soils, seas and water supplies, and our mental
well-being is greater when we can experience natural surroundings and beautiful
landscapes.
3
But there is a danger that nature’s services are taken for granted. Fresh air, clean water,
and green spaces provide ‘public goods’, not traded in markets. If they are treated as
free gifts, without value, we risk losing them.
4
To continue to benefit from nature’s services we need to understand and value their
importance, and invest in them. An ecosystem approach provides a way of doing this so
that nature can continue to sustain Scotland’s health and prosperity now and into
the future.
www.snh.gov.uk
1
Examples
Floodplains
Floodplains provide protection against floods further downstream and help to
prepare for future increased winter rainfall. If we take an ecosystem approach, we
will recognise the flood regulation service that nature provides and will reflect this
value in land-use decisions.
Crops
Wild plants hold genes that might be used to develop new crop varieties. If we take
an ecosystem approach, we will invest in this natural capital by safeguarding wild
relatives of crops for the benefit of people in the future.
Pollination
Many different types of insect help to pollinate the crops we grow. All insects rely on
having the right natural habitat to thrive. If we take an ecosystem approach we will
recognise the value of the habitats that underpin this important ecosystem service.
Public health
Research on greenspace has increasingly shown the links between nature and good
health. If we take an ecosystem approach, we will design and manage urban areas
so that people can experience natural surroundings in their daily lives.
2
Sustaining nature’s services Adopting an ecosystem approach
Scottish Natural Heritage
Reference
2010/2
Sustaining nature’s services
Issued
November 2010
Last revised
Adopting an ecosystem approach
An ecosystem approach –
what does it mean?
5
An ecosystem approach recognises that our health and prosperity is intimately
connected to the health of nature. It means working for a healthy environment for the
benefit of both Scotland’s people and Scotland’s nature. It means putting the benefits
that ecosystems give at the centre of our approach to nature. It helps us to recognise
that our actions today can affect future generations.
6
So an ‘Ecosystem Approach’ provides a way to apply this thinking to policies, plans or
management that affect, or can benefit from, the natural environment.
7
In the mostly widely-used definition, from the Convention on Biological Diversity, an
ecosystem approach is:
‘a strategy for the integrated management of land, water and living
resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an
equitable way, and which recognises that people with their cultural
and varied social needs are an integral part of ecosystems.’
www.snh.gov.uk
3
Ecosystem Services
There are four types of ecosystem service:
Supporting services
The services that are necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services
including soil formation, photosynthesis, primary production, nutrient cycling and
water cycling.
Provisioning services
The products obtained from ecosystems, including food, fibre, fuel, genetic resources,
biochemicals, natural medicines, pharmaceuticals, ornamental resources and fresh
water.
Regulating services
The benefits obtained from the regulation of ecosystem processes, including
air quality regulation, climate regulation, water regulation, erosion control, water
purification, pest and disease control, pollination, and natural hazard regulation.
Cultural services
The non-material benefits people obtain from ecosystems through spiritual
enrichment, learning, reflection, recreation and aesthetic experiences – including
enjoying Scotland’s fine nature and landscapes.
4
Sustaining nature’s services Adopting an ecosystem approach
Scottish Natural Heritage
Reference
2010/2
Sustaining nature’s services
Issued
November 2010
Last revised
Adopting an ecosystem approach
How is an ecosystem approach applied?
8
An ecosystem is made up of plants and animals, water, rocks and soils, and the natural
processes that connect them together. An ecosystem can be anything from a pond or a
forest to a river catchment, an island, an ocean or even the globe, where what happens
in one part can affect other parts.
9
There are three main considerations when following an ecosystem approach:
– Take account of how ecosystems work. Nature connects across landscapes, so this
means considering the broad scale as well as the local. The capacity of ecosystems
to respond to impacts and to provide resources is not infinite. This means
recognising environmental limits to resource use. Ecosystems are dynamic so this
means recognising that change is inevitable but using up-to-date information and
adaptive management to deal with uncertainty.
– Take account of the services that ecosystems provide to people, such as regulating
flood and climate, breaking down waste, providing food, fuel and water, and
contributing to quality of life, culture and mental well-being.
– Involve people in decision-making, those who benefit from the ecosystem services
and those who manage them. This means valuing people’s knowledge, helping
people to participate, and giving people greater ownership and responsibility.
10 An ecosystem approach can be applied at any scale - global, national and local - but
it means working together between these scales or levels. This needs policies and
actions at different levels and in different sectors to be integrated, recognising that
effects on ecosystems in one place can have implications for people using ecosystem
services elsewhere.
www.snh.gov.uk
5
Examples
Biodiversity conservation
Despite some successes, the diversity of some groups of species is continuing to
decline, such as wild plants and specialist butterflies. Fragmentation of habitats
by changes in land use is still a problem. This shows that to sustain habitats and
species in a changing environment, conservation has to go beyond a ‘sites-andspecies’ based approach. Conservation policies need to recognise the importance
of connectivity in a dynamic environment, the links between nature and people,
the need to maintain key natural processes across landscapes, and to involve
stakeholders in the management of the whole ecosystem on which sites and species
depend.
Fisheries
An ‘ecosystem-based’ approach to fisheries policy in Europe has been developed
after it became clear that impacts on ecosystems - food webs and habitats - are
linked to declines in fish stocks. This approach also involves local stakeholders to
help to achieve long-term solutions.
Urban drainage
Considering how permeable surfaces, watercourses and ponds improve the capacity
of land in built-up areas to deal with surface run-off helps to ensure that drains
are more able to cope with extreme rainfall. An ecosystem approach may include
telling householders how their gardens can reduce the pressure on drains, as
well as regulation requiring Sustainable urban drainage schemes (SUDS) in new
developments. Wildlife can benefit too, if gardens, permeable surfaces and ponds are
designed with nature in mind.
6
Sustaining nature’s services Adopting an ecosystem approach
Scottish Natural Heritage
Reference
2010/2
Sustaining nature’s services
Issued
November 2010
Last revised
Adopting an ecosystem approach
What does it mean for land-use policy,
management and decision-making?
11 We need to work together to achieve multi-functional use of our natural resources:
managing the land and the sea not just for tangible products but for multiple benefits
including the less visible services. These benefits depend on preventing pollution and
making space for wild species and natural processes. We can use indicators to help to
monitor the health of our environment, to identify the pressures affecting it and identify
where remedial action is needed.
12 We know more now about how nature underpins the services that we used to take for
granted, and we can turn this knowledge into practical action to maximise their benefits.
For example, land managers can manage soils to retain carbon in a way that helps to
reduce man-made climate change, and can manage wetlands to reduce downstream
flooding.
13 Multi-functional use of the land needs to involve those with on-the-ground knowledge
and those who benefit from nature’s services. Those who benefit from services such as
water supply may be far away from the land that supplies it. People and organisations
need to collaborate at a broad scale to identify actions needed. Working together can
be more efficient and make public policy and funding more effective.
14 Sometimes trade-offs will be required, where delivering one benefit in one area means
that another benefit is reduced. But these trade-offs need to be open and, over the
region and country as a whole, we need to ensure that delivery of nature’s services
continues.
www.snh.gov.uk
7
Examples
Land-use incentives
Could be better aligned with the public benefits of ecosystems by avoiding incentives
that encourage activities that damage ecosystem services, whilst promoting habitat
management actions that sustain ecosystem services such as flood regulation,
carbon sequestration, and pollination. There may also be scope to encourage
markets for these services.
Strategic Environmental Assessments
Could be more comprehensive in their analysis and better inform policies and plans,
by considering how the plan or programme affects ecosystem services as well as the
natural resources that underpin them.
8
Sustaining nature’s services Adopting an ecosystem approach
Scottish Natural Heritage
Reference
2010/2
Sustaining nature’s services
Issued
November 2010
Last revised
Adopting an ecosystem approach
How can we invest in our natural capital?
15 The continued supply of nature’s services depends on the natural assets that underpin
them. These make up our ‘natural capital’. If we invest in building it up, we will help
ensure that these services are not lost to future pressures like climate change. Natural
capital includes healthy soils, clean rivers, wild species, landscapes, and habitats like
meadows, peatbogs, woods, mudflats and underwater reefs.
16 In urban areas and around towns, these natural assets include parks and green
space and together make up a green network of ‘green infrastructure’ as essential
to Scotland’s future as the grey infrastructure of roads and pipes. These green
networks provide habitat for wild species and fulfil a range of other functions such as
routes for walking and cycling, wetlands for flood regulation and urban drainage, and
landscapes that are more attractive for locating businesses. They contribute to the good
environments that are important to improving people’s health in Scotland.
17 Decisions are often made by looking at the costs and benefits of different options. An
economic valuation of these natural assets and the services they provide can help to
ensure that they are not overlooked in decisions that deliver more tangible, immediate
benefits. Not everything can be given an economic value though, so other ways of
recognising the value of nature will continue to be important in decision-making.
www.snh.gov.uk
9
Examples
Spatial planning
Can help sustain healthy ecosystems by reflecting priorities in different parts of
Scotland (for example as identified in SNH’s Natural Heritage Futures). Development
plans for coastal regions can consider the benefits for coast protection from making
space for coastal habitats. Plans can make space for the large strategic habitat
restoration identified in the National Planning Framework 2.
The National Planning Framework 2
Recognises that building environmental capital at a landscape scale can deliver
important benefits for the economy and communities. The Framework identifies the
value of creating ecological networks to enhance wildlife populations and provide a
variety of ecosystem services, including places for recreation and sustainable travel.
The Central Scotland Green Network aims to deliver this as one of the Framework’s
national projects.
Options appraisal
Should take account of the benefits of measures to enhance ecosystem services,
and the costs to society of measures that damage Scotland’s natural capital .e.g. as
part of Regulatory Impact Assessments.
10
Sustaining nature’s services Adopting an ecosystem approach
Scottish Natural Heritage
Reference
2010/2
Sustaining nature’s services
Issued
November 2010
Last revised
Adopting an ecosystem approach
How is SNH applying an ecosystem
approach?
18 SNH cannot alone ensure that an ecosystem approach is applied in Scotland, but
we can use our knowledge and expertise, through our advice, grants, research and
communications, to foster an ecosystem approach. An ecosystem approach helps SNH
to achieve these corporate outcomes:
– Rich and diverse habitats on land and at sea, with management that maintains
healthy ecosystems
– Ecosystems that help people and wildlife adapt to a changing climate
– Raised awareness of the contribution made by Scotland’s diverse and distinctive
natural heritage to cultural identity
– Scotland’s natural heritage used to underpin economic well-being
– Scotland’s natural heritage managed sustainably
19 SNH has three objectives in applying an ecosystem approach:
– Improve our understanding of how ecosystems function and what is needed to
sustain their health
– Put sustaining the benefits of healthy ecosystems for present and future generations
of people at the heart of advice and decisions
www.snh.gov.uk
11
– Enable people to undertake sustainable management of their natural heritage
through effective engagement and support
20 We recognise that communicating in language appropriate to the audience is
critical to meeting these objectives.
21 We are working with others to find ways to demonstrate an ecosystem approach in
practice, e.g. applied to land use or planning.
Scottish Natural Heritage actions
SNH has identified key actions for delivering our objectives for an ecosystem
approach in our business programmes. Some of these continue existing work. Others
are actions to change the way we do things or to help others adopt an ecosystem
approach.
Key areas of focus in SNH are:
– communicating the value of peatlands as carbon stores
– developing ecosystem health targets for Ecosystem plans to deliver the Scottish
Biodiversity Strategy
– promoting and enhancing the value of protected areas in providing ecosystem
services
– considering ecosystem function in the selection of Marine Protected Areas
– exploring how to reflect cultural services in land-use planning
– championing multi-functional networks of green space through the Central
Scotland Green Network
– working with land managers and others to investigate opportunities to secure
management that sustains ecosystem services
– working more closely with wildlife management stakeholders to support
the sustainable use of wildlife resources integrated with wider land/water
management
12
Sustaining nature’s services Adopting an ecosystem approach
www.snh.gov.uk
SNH commitment to customers
— We will ask customers for their views
— We will put things right if they go wrong
— We will give high standards of customer care
— We will publish our customer care performance
www.snh.gov.uk
© Scottish Natural Heritage November 2010
Photography: All © Lorne Gill/SNH.
E: [email protected]