Academic literature on the topic 'Multifunctionality, ecosystem services, landscape, stakeholder'

Landscapes provide a broad range of services to society. To date, however, only few regional to continental scale studies assess the capacity of landscapes to provide these services under changing environmental conditions. This is required if the maintenance of current landscape multifunctionality remains a long-term goal. The presented mini review highlights and promotes the concept of landscape functions, defined as the capacity or potential of landscapes to provide services. Ultimately, spatially explicit landscape-function assessments may provide baseline information for society to engage in an open discussion on future landscape development and its potential impact on landscape character. Our mini review is supported with recent literature as well as insights gained at a symposium held at the IALE 2009 conference in Salzburg, Austria as well as a workshop held in Salzau, Germany 2010 and the Global Initiative of the The Ecosystem Services Partnership (http://www.fsd.nl/esp, 30. May 2010).

This paper explores the ecosystem services associated with woodlands, as they are viewed by individuals in Scotland, with the idea to reconcile objectives for multifunctionality with the legacy of past forestry systems that were not designed with multifunctionality in mind. Research follows a semi-qualitative route and applies the Q method to identify and explain a range of attitudes among the general public and forestry-associated stakeholders regarding the functional future of forestry in Scotland. Four distinctive groups of attitudes were identified and key factors influencing the attitudinal diversity were explained. Despite the uncovered attitudinal heterogeneity, all groups of attitudes have strong emphasis on native woodland regeneration and on improvement of aesthetic values of woodlands but differ concerning afforestation. An improved understanding of what people think provided an indication of their recognition of ecosystem services types and the trade-offs between these, opportunities available, and factors that can hamper forestry development (e.g., concerning the aspiration of increasing Scotland’s forest cover to 25%). Findings suggest that the productivists’ position (for which the economic objectives are important) remains strong in Scotland. Results (compared with those in several other countries) demonstrate comparability between public and stakeholder perspectives in support of the multifunctional forestry, and this has distinct policy relevance and implications for decision-making.

Agroforestry has been promoted as a key forest landscape restoration (FLR) option to restore ecosystem services in degraded tropical landscapes. We investigated the share and type of agroforestry selected in an optimized landscape, accounting for a mosaic of alternative forest landscape restoration options (reforestation and natural succession) and forest and common agricultural land-uses. We extend previous studies on multi-objective robust optimization and the analytic hierarchy process by a systematic sensitivity analysis to assess the influence of incorporating agroforestry into a landscape. This approach accounts for multiple objectives concurrently, yet data and computational requirements are relatively low. Our results show that experts from different backgrounds perceive agroforestry (i.e., alley cropping and silvopasture) very positively. Inclusion of large shares of agroforestry (41% share of landscape) in the FLR mix enhanced simulated ecosystem service provision. Our results demonstrate that landscapes with high shares of agroforestry may also comprise of high shares of natural forest. However, landscapes dominated by single agroforestry systems showed lower landscape multifunctionality than heterogeneous landscapes. In the ongoing effort to create sustainable landscapes, our approach contributes to an understanding of interrelations between land-covers and uncertain provisions of ecosystem services in circumstances with scarce data.

Balancing human well-being with the maintenance of ecosystem services (ES) for future generations has become one of the central sustainability challenges of the 21st century. In working landscapes, past and ongoing production-centered objectives have resulted in the conversion of ecosystems into simple land-use types, which has also altered the provision of most ES. These inevitable trade-offs between the efficient production of individual provisioning ES and the maintenance of regulating and cultural ES call for the development of a land-use strategy based on the multifunctional use of the landscape. Due to the heterogeneous nature of working landscapes, both protection and restoration actions are needed to improve their multifunctionality. Systematic conservation planning (SCP) offers a decision support framework that can support landscape multifunctionality by indicating where ES management efforts should be implemented. We describe an approach that we developed to include ES provision protection and restoration objectives in SCP with the goal of providing ongoing benefits to society. We explain the general framework of this approach and discuss concepts, challenges, innovations, and prospects for the further development of a comprehensive decision support tool. We illustrate our approach with two case studies implemented in the pan-Canadian project ResNet.

Integrating the concept of ecosystem services (ES) into spatial planning is an opportunity to make land use and management choices that maximize the delivery of multiple ES. The assessment of social demand can be useful for the identification of priority areas or potential conflicts among stakeholders. We used Q-methodology to understand stakeholder perspectives on ES to facilitate their integration into spatial planning in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. Three perspectives, utilitarian, cultural and protective, were analyzed and used to discuss potential implications for spatial planning. First, ecosystem multifunctionality and synergies among ES should be emphasized. Second, the food production system should move away from a productive-only approach, to a system that protects soils and their functions. Providing a paradigm change, arable land could be protected to the same level as forests and farmers could be incentivized further to change their practices. Finally, our findings show a potential over-interpretation of the importance of cultural ES in current planning policies, as most participants would be ready to change their behaviors to preserve biological functions. It would be useful to conduct a similar study in other cantons to ensure that the results are fully representative of the current situation in Switzerland.

The growing pressure on natural resources and biodiversity has led to a widespread acknowledgement of the services nature provides for humans. The appropriate representation of the benefits of sustainable land use in decision-making is still a challenge and tools that facilitate land use planning processes are needed. The dissertation presents a multicriteria assessment approach for a qualitative estimation of regional potentials to provide ecosystem services. This approach has been applied in several case studies in Saxony, Eastern Germany and Brasil. The ecosystem services concept builts the methodological framework for the assessment as it offers a universal approach to evaluate the impact of Land use/ Land cover change (LULCC) on human well-being. Since standardized methodical approaches for ecosystem services assessment at the landscape level are lacking, a particular requirement was to conceive a method that is easily transferable to other case study areas. Further the method should enable the use of existing and easily available environmental data, and it should be transparent for stakeholders and decision makers. The results of our study show that the combination of selected ecosystem services and land cover data such as CORINE Land Cover (CLC) can contribute to regional planning by communicating the effect of LULCC on ecosystem services, especially when applied as an evaluation basis in the tool GISCAME. The approach supports also the assessment of the performance of a region to provide ecosystem services and the comparison of regions towards this aspect. In the discussion section, the limitations of the developed approach are discussed. Main sources of uncertainty are related to coarse land cover data, lacking knowledge on the provision of ecosystem services at a landscape scale, and the difficulty to make relevant the ecosystem services concept in regional planning processes.

With increasing population growth, changed consumption patterns and the resulting need for resources, the management and use of cultural landscapes has intensified during the last century. Due to this intensification, cultural landscapes in Europe and other human-dominated regions around the world have transformed from multifunctional landscapes (i.e. providing a diverse set of ecosystem services) to more specialized and uniform landscapes (i.e. providing fewer ecosystem services). Since the widespread loss of ecosystem services can seriously affect human well-being, scientists and intergovernmental organizations have increasingly called for the restoration of multifunctionality at the landscape scale. This again resulted in a growing body of literature on the topic and an uncertainty about what multifunctionality actually is about and how to assess multifunctionality. In this dissertation, the focus is on ecosystem service-based multifunctionality (i.e. the quantification of multifunctionality through ecosystem services). Studies of this field generally examine how different ecosystem services interact, where their overall supply is highest and which factors influence the capacity of a landscape to provide multiple ecosystem services. The consideration of multiple ecosystem services at the landscapes scale specifically enables landscapes and the complex interactions within landscapes to be viewed and studied as socio-ecological systems. The assessment of ecosystem service-based multifunctionality is therefore regarded as an important tool for finding sustainable solutions in landscape management. The overall aim of this dissertation was to enhance and strengthen the concept of multifunctionality from a scientific point of view, and to provide novel conceptual and empirical insights on landscape multifunctionality that are relevant for environmental planning and management. In this dissertation, I have specifically focused on three topics that present challenges for the assessments of ecosystem service-based multifunctionality: 1) overcoming the conceptual and methodological uncertainties related to quantitative multifunctionality assessments, 2) accounting for spatial variability of ecosystem service supplies and 3) differentiating between stakeholders’ perspectives on multifunctionality. Each article of this cumulative dissertation focuses on one of the three challenges: The first article (Chapter 2) presents a quantitative literature review of 101 multifunctionality assessments. Conceptual and methodological differences between ecosystem function- and ecosystem service-based multifunctionality assessments were identified, as well as the most commonly used multifunctionality metrics: threshold approaches, average or sum approaches and diversity indices. The second article (Chapter 3) uses 18 ecosystem service indicators to quantify multifunctionality at the municipality scale (alpha-multifunctionality) and further introduces a new multifunctionality indicator (beta-multifunctionality) that accounts for the unique ecosystem service contributions of municipalities to regional multifunctionality. The results of this article show how multifunctionality at the municipality scale, as well as the unique contributions of municipalities to regional multifunctionality vary across Europe and across different land system archetypes. Finally, the third article (Chapter 4) of this dissertation uses eleven ecosystem service indicators to quantify multifunctionality in two peri-urban landscapes in Europe: the Vereinigte Mulde in Germany and the Kromme Rijn in the Netherlands. By weighting the ecosystem service indicators with stakeholder-derived valuations of the ecosystem services, a differentiation between multifunctionality beneficiaries was achieved. The main contributions of this thesis therefore include an overview of the most recent multifunctionality assessments and the testing of two alternative approaches to assess ecosystem service multifunctionality. By compiling previously used methods and linking them with the most recent conceptual advancements in scope of the literature review, I showed that a clear distinction between studies with an exclusively ecological focus and studies with a more integrated socio-ecological perspective is needed to strengthen the application of the multifunctionality concept. As a follow up on this review, I was able to derive common steps in multifunctionality assessments, as well as recommendations for future studies. In scope of the second and third article, I was able to highlight some specific challenges in current multifunctionality assessments and to test methods that go beyond the common quantification of multifunctionality at single spatial scales or for society as a whole. First of all, my work shows that, due to spatial variability of ecosystem service supplies, the diversity of ecosystem services (alpha-multifunctionality) cannot be maximized in all areas. Accounting for unique ecosystem service supplies (beta-multifunctionality) could thus be more relevant for finding viable land management solutions than assessing ecosystem service hotspots only. This approach is especially applicable, if maximizing (alpha-) multifunctionality is not possible or wanted. Second, maintaining a high diversity of ecosystem services is only meaningful, if the ecosystem services are demanded by society and if no land use conflicts evolve through increased multifunctionality. In my last research paper, I therefore show that accounting for different perspectives of stakeholders on landscape multifunctionality is another crucial aspect for finding viable and sustainable land management solutions. All in all, I conclude that maintaining a high diversity of ecosystem services that relevant to various stakeholders and at spatial scales that allow an implementation of multifunctionality, is important for preventing environmental degradation and for ensuring that society as a whole can benefit from landscape multifunctionality. Quantitative multifunctionality assessments can be used in various ways to answer current research questions in landscape ecology and thus to support the maintenance of ecosystem services in cultural landscapes. However, further development, improvement and applications are needed for multifunctionality assessments to work as strong tools for management and decision-making.

The growing pressure on natural resources and biodiversity has led to a widespread acknowledgement of the services nature provides for humans. The appropriate representation of the benefits of sustainable land use in decision-making is still a challenge and tools that facilitate land use planning processes are needed. The dissertation presents a multicriteria assessment approach for a qualitative estimation of regional potentials to provide ecosystem services. This approach has been applied in several case studies in Saxony, Eastern Germany and Brasil. The ecosystem services concept builts the methodological framework for the assessment as it offers a universal approach to evaluate the impact of Land use/ Land cover change (LULCC) on human well-being. Since standardized methodical approaches for ecosystem services assessment at the landscape level are lacking, a particular requirement was to conceive a method that is easily transferable to other case study areas. Further the method should enable the use of existing and easily available environmental data, and it should be transparent for stakeholders and decision makers. The results of our study show that the combination of selected ecosystem services and land cover data such as CORINE Land Cover (CLC) can contribute to regional planning by communicating the effect of LULCC on ecosystem services, especially when applied as an evaluation basis in the tool GISCAME. The approach supports also the assessment of the performance of a region to provide ecosystem services and the comparison of regions towards this aspect. In the discussion section, the limitations of the developed approach are discussed. Main sources of uncertainty are related to coarse land cover data, lacking knowledge on the provision of ecosystem services at a landscape scale, and the difficulty to make relevant the ecosystem services concept in regional planning processes.

AbstractThe Gonglaoping community is located in Central Western Taiwan, with approximately 700 residents. The hilly landscape contains farmlands and sloping areas with abundant natural resources. Locals rely on the Han River system and seasonal rainfall for water supply for domestic use and irrigation. Uneven rainfall patterns and high demand for water has led to the overuse of groundwater and conflicts among the people. The surrounding natural forests provide important ecosystem services, including wildlife habitats and water conservation, among others; however, overlap with human activities has brought threats to biodiversity conservation. Considering these challenges, locals were determined to transform their community towards sustainability. The Gonglaoping Industrial Development Association (GIDA) and the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau (SWCB) joined hands to initiate the promotion of the Satoyama Initiative, playing catalytic roles in several implementations, such as establishing water management strategies based on mutual trust, rebuilding the masonry landscape, and economic development, forming partnerships with other stakeholders. This multi-stakeholder and co-management platform allowed the community to achieve transformative change, particularly in resolving conflicts of water use, restoring the SEPL, enhancing biodiversity conservation, and developing a self-sustaining economy.Achieving sustainability in a SEPL requires the application of a holistic approach and a multi-sector collaborating (community-government-university) platform. This case demonstrates a practical, effective framework for government authorities, policymakers and other stakeholders in terms of maintaining the integrity of ecosystems. With the final outcome of promoting a vision of co-prosperity, it is a solid example showing a win-win strategy for both the human population and the farmland ecosystem in a hilly landscape.

AbstractAn innovative approach towards transformative change through multi-stakeholder participation for socio-ecological practices—Integrated Local Delivery (ILD)—has been used to restore the water quality and biodiversity across a catchment in the Cotswolds, South West England. This was triggered by the need to improve the Ecological Status of water as a part of the European Union’s Water Framework Directive. On a landscape scale of roughly 25,000 hectares, multi-stakeholders collaborated through a bottom-up approach to carry out environmental restoration of the catchment.Over 3 years, an iterative learning loop of reflection and evolution created increased engagement. Twenty farmers have been empowered as ‘guardians’ to be key contacts between institutions and ensure the sustained environmental quality of the area. Both farmers and communities acted to reduce chemical use, protect river banks from livestock damage and clear waterways to enhance water quality and biodiversity. Local communities fed into the development of a ‘Community Water Guide’ which can be applied internationally for similar projects. Within the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) transformative change framework, the ILD model can also be applied by facilitators to access levers and leverage points in order to enable change.Important take home messages from the project include having well-trained facilitators who ensure active engagement, connections and continuity over the long term. Likewise, ensuring all stakeholders feel listened to and clearly communicated with is essential to build trust and motivation.

Governance is a difficult task in the context of achieving landscape multifunctionality owing to the multiplicity of stakeholders, institutions, scale and ecosystem services: the ‘many-multiple’ (Cockburn et al 2018). Governing and managing the physical landscape and the actors in the landscape requires intensive knowledge and good planning systems. Land-use planning is a powerful instrument in landscape governance because it directly guides how actors will intervene in the physical landscape (land use) to gain commonly desired value. It is essential for sustaining rural landscapes and improving the livelihoods of rural communities (Bourgoin and Castella 2011, Bourgoin et al 2012, Rydin 1998), ensuring landscape multifunctionality (Nelson et al 2009, Reyers et al 2012) and enhancing efficiency in carbon sequestration, in particular (Bourgoin et al 2013, Cathcart et al 2007). It is also considered critical to the successful implementation of land-based climate mitigation, such as under Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), because the Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector is included in the mitigation contributions of nearly 90 percent of countries in Sub-Saharan and Southern Asia countries and in the Latin American and Caribbean regions (FAO 2016). Viet Nam has been implementing its NDC, which includes forestry and land-based mitigation options under the LULUCF sector. The contribution of the sector to committed national emission reduction is significant and cost-effective compared with other sectors. In addition to achieving emission reduction targets, implementation of forestry and land-based mitigation options has the highest benefits for social-economic development and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (MONRE 2020). Challenges, however, lie in the way national priorities and targets are translated into sub-national delivery plans and the way sub-national actors are brought together in orchestration (Hsu et al 2019) in a context where the legal framework for climate-change mitigation is elaborated at national rather than sub-national levels and coordination between government bodies and among stakeholders is generally ineffective (UNDP 2018). In many developing countries, conventional ‘top–down’, centralized land-use planning approaches have been widely practised, with very little success, a result of a lack of flexibility in adapting local peculiarities (Amler et al 1999, Ducourtieux et al 2005, Kauzeni et al 1993). In forest–agriculture mosaic landscapes, the fundamental question is how land-use planning can best conserve forest and agricultural land, both as sources of economic income and environmental services (O’Farrell and Anderson 2010). This paper provides guidance on monitoring integrated tree-based landscape management at commune level, based on the current legal framework related to natural resource management (land and forest) and the requirements of national green-growth development and assessment of land uses in two communes in Dien Bien and Son La provinces. The concept of integrated tree based landscape management in Viet Nam is still new and should be further developed for wider application across levels.