Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Increasing decision relevance of ecosystem service science

Nature Sustainability volume 4, pages 161–169 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

The ecosystem service (ES) community aspires to illuminate how nature contributes to human well-being, and thereby elevate consideration of nature in decision making. So far, however, policy impact of ES research has been limited. To understand why, we identify five key elements of ES research that help inform decisions by connecting the supply of ES to those who benefit from them. Our structured review of the ES literature reveals that only 13% of assessments included the full ES chain from place to value. Only 7% of assessments considered the distribution of ES benefits explicitly across demographic or other beneficiary groups (for example, private landowners versus the broader public), although disaggregation across regions or spatial units was more common (44%). Finally, crucial mediating factors that affect who benefits and how (for example, the vulnerability of beneficiaries or the availability of substitutes for ES) were considered in only 35% of assessments. Our results suggest that increasing the decision relevance of ES research requires more effectively predicting the impacts of specific decisions on the value and distribution of ES across beneficiary groups. Such efforts will need to integrate ecological models with socioeconomic and cultural dimensions of ES more closely than does the current ES literature.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Conceptual diagram illustrating how ES information can be integrated into decision-making processes.
Fig. 2: Relative frequency of chain types in ES assessments.
Fig. 3: Metrics used to quantify ES and methods used for monetary valuation.
Fig. 4: Disaggregation of ES benefits along key dimensions.
Fig. 5: Inclusion of mediating factors affecting delivery and value of ES benefits.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the Stanford Digital Repository at https://purl.stanford.edu/pt786dv3952. Source data are provided with this paper.

References

  1. IPBES Summary for Policymakers. In Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (eds Díaz, S. et al.) (IPBES Secretariat, 2019).

  2. Schaefer, M., Goldman, E., Bartuska, A. M., Sutton-Grier, A. & Lubchenco, J. Nature as capital: advancing and incorporating ecosystem services in United States federal policies and programs. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 112, 7383–7389 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Mastrángelo, M. E. et al. Key knowledge gaps to achieve global sustainability goals. Nat. Sustain. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0412-1 (2019).

  4. Olander, L. et al. So you want your research to be relevant? Building the bridge between ecosystem services research and practice. Ecosyst. Serv. 26, 170–182 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Polasky, S., Tallis, H. & Reyers, B. Setting the bar: standards for ecosystem services. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1406490112 (2015).

  6. Rieb, J. et al. When, where and how nature matters for ecosystem services: challenges for the next generation of ecosystem service models. BioScience 67, 820–833 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Natural Capital Protocol (Natural Capital Coalition, 2016).

  8. Mandle, L., Ouyang, Z., Salzman, J. & Daily, G. C. Green Growth that Works: Natural Capital Policy and Finance Mechanisms from the World (Island Press, 2019).

  9. Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UN, 2015).

  10. Díaz, S. et al. Assessing nature’s contributions to people: recognizing culture, and diverse sources of knowledge, can improve assessments. Science 359, 270–272 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Arkema, K. K. et al. Embedding ecosystem services in coastal planning leads to better outcomes for people and nature. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 112, 7390–7395 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Van Wensem, J. et al. Identifying and assessing the application of ecosystem services approaches in environmental policies and decision making. Integr. Environ. Assess. Manag. 13, 41–51 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Ricketts, T. H. & Lonsdorf, E. Mapping the margin: comparing marginal values of tropical forest remnants for pollination services. Ecol. Appl. 23, 1113–1123 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Mandle, L., Tallis, H., Sotomayor, L. & Vogl, A. L. Who loses? Tracking ecosystem service redistribution from road development and mitigation in the Peruvian Amazon. Front. Ecol. Environ. 13, 309–315 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Wieland, R., Ravensbergen, S., Gregr, E. J., Satterfield, T. & Chan, K. M. A. Debunking trickle-down ecosystem services: the fallacy of omnipotent, homogeneous beneficiaries. Ecol. Econ. 121, 175–180 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Polasky, S. & Segerson, K. Integrating ecology and economics in the study of ecosystem services: some lessons learned. Annu. Rev. Resour. Econ. 1, 409–434 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Keeler, B. L. et al. Linking water quality and well-being for improved assessment and valuation of ecosystem services. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 109, 18619–18624 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Vogl, A. L. et al. Valuing investments in sustainable land management in the Upper Tana River basin, Kenya. J. Environ. Manag. 195, 78–91 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Arkema, K., Guannel, G. & Verutes, G. Coastal habitats shield people and property from sea-level rise and storms. Nat. Clim. Change 3, 913–918 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Plummer, M. L. Assessing benefit transfer for the valuation of ecosystem services. Front. Ecol. Environ. 7, 38–45 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Tallis, H., Polasky, S., Lozano, J. S. & Wolny, S. in Inclusive Wealth Report 2012: Measuring Progress Toward Sustainability 195–214 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2012).

  22. Costanza, R. et al. Changes in the global value of ecosystem services. Glob. Environ. Change https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.04.002 (2014).

  23. Granek, E. F. et al. Ecosystem services as a common language for coastal ecosystem-based management. Conserv. Biol. 24, 207–216 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Ruckelshaus, M. et al. Notes from the field: lessons learned from using ecosystem service approaches to inform real-world decisions. Ecol. Econ. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.07.009 (2013).

  25. Ellis, A. M., Myers, S. S. & Ricketts, T. H. Do pollinators contribute to nutritional health? PLoS ONE 10, e114805 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Olsson, P., Folke, C. & Hughes, T. P. Navigating the Transition to Ecosystem-Based Management of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 105, 9489–9494 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Costanza, R. et al. The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 387, 253–260 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting Revision (System of Environmental Economic Accounting, 2020); https://go.nature.com/2sqGqFn

  29. Aburto-Oropeza, O. et al. Mangroves in the Gulf of California increase fishery yields. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0804601105 (2008).

  30. Keeler, B. L. et al. The social costs of nitrogen. Sci. Adv. 2, e1600219 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Kenter, J. O. et al. What are shared and social values of ecosystems? Ecol. Econ. 111, 86–99 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Pascual, U. et al. Valuing nature’s contributions to people: the IPBES approach. Curr. Opin. Environ. Sustain. 26–27, 7–16 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Samberg, L. H., Gerber, J. S., Ramankutty, N., Herrero, M. & West, P. C. Subnational distribution of average farm size and smallholder contributions to global food production. Environ. Res. Lett. 11, 124010 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Jean, N. et al. Combining satellite imagery and machine learning to predict poverty. Science 353, 790–794 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Wolff, S., Schulp, C. J. E. & Verburg, P. H. Mapping ecosystem services demand: a review of current research and future perspectives. Ecol. Indic. 55, 159–171 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Dawson, N. & Martin, A. Assessing the contribution of ecosystem services to human wellbeing: a disaggregated study in western Rwanda. Ecol. Econ. 117, 62–72 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Daw, T., Brown, K., Rosendo, S. & Pomeroy, R. Applying the ecosystem services concept to poverty alleviation: the need to disaggregate human well-being. Environ. Conserv. 38, 370–379 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Ruhl, J. B. & Salzman, J. The effects of wetland mitigation banking on people. Natl Wetl. Newsl. 28, 7–13 (2006).

    Google Scholar 

  39. Kabisch, N. & Haase, D. Green justice or just green? Provision of urban green spaces in Berlin, Germany. Landsc. Urban Plan. 122, 129–139 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Farley, K. A. & Bremer, L. L. ‘Water Is Life’: local perceptions of páramo grasslands and land management strategies associated with payment for ecosystem services. Ann. Am. Assoc. Geogr. 107, 371–381 (2017).

    Google Scholar 

  41. Pascual, U. et al. Social equity matters in payments for ecosystem services. BioScience 64, 1027–1036 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Mastrangelo, M. E. & Laterra, P. From biophysical to social-ecological trade-offs: integrating biodiversity conservation and agricultural production in the Argentine Dry Chaco. Ecol. Soc. 20, 20 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Guerry, A. D. et al. Natural capital and ecosystem services informing decisions: from promise to practice. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 112, 7348–7355 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Rieb, J. T. et al. When, where, and how nature matters for ecosystem services: challenges for the next generation of ecosystem service models. BioScience 67, 820–833 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Villa, F., Bagstad, K. J., Voigt, B., Johnson, G. W. & Portela, R. A methodology for adaptable and robust ecosystem services assessment. PLoS ONE 9, e91001 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Díaz, S. et al. Assessing nature’s contributions to people. Science 359, 270–272 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Ecosystems and Human Well-being: A Framework for Assessment (Island Press, 2003).

  48. Fleiss, J. L. Measuring nominal scale agreement among many raters. Psychol. Bull. 76, 378–382 (1971).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Gamer, M., Lemon, J., Fellows, I. & Singh, P. irr: Various Coefficients of Interrater Reliability and Agreement (2012).

  50. Landis, J. R. & Koch, G. G. The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics 33, 159–174 (1977).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  51. Tallis, H. et al. A global system for monitoring ecosystem service change. BioScience 62, 977–986 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Daily, G. C. et al. Ecosystem services in decision making: time to deliver. Front. Ecol. Environ. 7, 21–28 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was supported in part by the Scenarios Society and Solutions Research Coordination Network (grant no. NSF-DEB-13-38809), the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (430-2014-00861) and the Natural Capital Project–Stanford. We thank W. Bierbower for help with scripts for randomly selecting and downloading papers. We are grateful to E. Bennett, D. Guswa, K. Watson and the many Natural Capital Project members who provided helpful suggestions and feedback along the way.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Natural Capital Project, Department of Biology and Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Lisa Mandle, Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer, Gregory M. Verutes, Adrian L. Vogl & Gretchen C. Daily

  2. Department of Integrative Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Analisa Shields-Estrada

  3. Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Matthew G. E. Mitchell

  4. Centre for Sustainable Food Systems, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Matthew G. E. Mitchell

  5. University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Leah L. Bremer

  6. University of Hawaiʻi Water Resources Research Center, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Leah L. Bremer

  7. Gund Institute for Environment, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA

    Jesse D. Gourevitch, Laura J. Sonter & Taylor H. Ricketts

  8. Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA

    Jesse D. Gourevitch & Taylor H. Ricketts

  9. Natural Capital Project, Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN, USA

    Peter Hawthorne

  10. Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN, USA

    Justin A. Johnson

  11. Department of Geography, McGill University, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    Brian E. Robinson

  12. Department of Biology, Center for Conservation Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Jeffrey R. Smith & Gretchen C. Daily

  13. Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia

    Laura J. Sonter

  14. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia

    Laura J. Sonter

  15. Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Gregory M. Verutes

Authors
  1. Lisa Mandle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Analisa Shields-Estrada
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Matthew G. E. Mitchell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Leah L. Bremer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jesse D. Gourevitch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Peter Hawthorne
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Justin A. Johnson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Brian E. Robinson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Jeffrey R. Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Laura J. Sonter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Gregory M. Verutes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Adrian L. Vogl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Gretchen C. Daily
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  15. Taylor H. Ricketts
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors were involved in study conceptualization and design, and contributed to review and editing; A.L.V., A.S.-E., R.C.-K., B.E.R., G.M.V., J.D.G., J.A.J., J.R.S., L.J.S., L.L.B., L.M., M.G.E.M. and P.L.H. contributed to data collection; A.S.-E., L.M. and G.M.V. conducted the formal analyses; L.M. led project administration and supervision; A.S.-E. led data management and visualization; and L.M. and T.H.R. led the writing of the original draft.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Analisa Shields-Estrada.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–3 and Appendices A and B.

Reporting Summary

Source data

Source Data Fig. 2

Numerical Source Data.

Source Data Fig. 3

Numerical Source Data.

Source Data Fig. 4

Numerical Source Data.

Source Data Fig. 5

Numerical Source Data.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mandle, L., Shields-Estrada, A., Chaplin-Kramer, R. et al. Increasing decision relevance of ecosystem service science. Nat Sustain 4, 161–169 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-00625-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-00625-y

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing