Ecosystem Services and Agriculture

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Ecosystem services &

Agriculture

AIL présentation 22.09.2014

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Examples

Food production

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Examples

Recycling of organic matter

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• Recreation

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ES definition

ES are the benefits human obtain from nature

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Human wellbeing

Ecosystems & Biodiversity

Human judgments

ES Cascade

Benefits Values ($ & $) Structures & processes Functions _Services

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Human wellbeing

Human judgments

c. Social valuation

Three ES Valuation types

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ES typology

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• Millenium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA, 2005)

Assessment of current states & trends of biodiversity & ES 1st world wide assessment

Raised awareness

• The Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity (TEEB, 2010)

The three main ES initiatives

• The Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity (TEEB, 2010) Revealed the economic benefits of biodiversity

Provides standards for economic valuation

• International Platform Biodiversity & ES (IPBES, since 2012) Same as IPCC, but about ES instead of climate change

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• Book

Belgian initiatives

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Anthropocentric vision

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… thus limited

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How much would you pay to preserve

this species ?

How much would you pay to preserve

this species ?

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What about this one ?

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• EDS to agriculture

Ecosystem dis-services

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• = a licence to trash ?

Ecosystem monetary valuation

McCauley, D. J. Selling out on nature. Nature 443, 27–28 (2006).

• WWF estimated Virunga Park and its Gorillas to potentially be worth >1 billion$/year

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ES as sustainability assessment tool

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• Contribution of diversified farms to the delivery of ES in its landscape

 Comparison with adjacent conventional

Example: my research project

 Comparison with adjacent conventional farms

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Example: my research project

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• Example: farm-set 1

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Human wellbeing

Human judgments

c. Social valuation

Three ES Valuation types

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Environmental valuation

• Soil formation: Earthworms

• N regulation: bait-lamina probes

Environmental valuation

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• Physical experiences: presence of landscape elements knwon to support this ES

Environmental valuation

• Education: farm visits, training sessions

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Social valuation

• To which extent do the stakeholders value

these ES ?

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• ES = sustainability assessment tool

• ES assessments used to guide agricultural

management

• Must keep limitations in mind !

Conclusions

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