Action 5 of the European Union's Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 asks that Member States map and assess the state of ecosystems and their services in their national territory. Policymakers and stakeholders of these countries frequently ask why this work is necessary. This article shows that this question can be broken down into a number of specific questions which, in turn, bring specific requests for knowledge and guidance to the surface. This paper develops a typology of questions and identifies the following five categories: knowledge requests, policy support questions, questions on resources and responsibilities, application questions and technical and methodological guidance questions. Next, this typology of questions is framed in an adaptive policy cycle and coupled to a set of available solutions.

Sites that are important for biodiversity conservation can also provide significant benefits (i.e. ecosystem services) to people. Decision-makers need to know how change to a site, whether development or restoration, would affect the delivery of services and the distribution of any benefits among stakeholders. However, there are relatively few empirical studies that present this information. One reason is the lack of appropriate methods and tools for ecosystem service assessment that do not require substantial resources or specialist technical knowledge, or rely heavily upon existing data. Here we address this gap by describing the Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site-based Assessment (TESSA). It could guide local non-specialists through a selection of relatively accessible methods for identifying which ecosystem services may be important at a site, and for evaluating the magnitude of benefits that people obtain from them currently, compared with those expected under alternative land-uses. The toolkit recommends use of existing data where appropriate and places emphasis on enabling users to collect new field data at relatively low cost and effort. By using TESSA, the users could also gain valuable information about the alternative land-uses; and data collected in the field could be incorporated into regular monitoring programmes.

The potential for conservation of individual species has been greatly advanced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) development of objective, repeatable, and transparent criteria for assessing extinction risk that explicitly separate risk assessment from priority setting. At the IV World Conservation Congress in 2008, the process began to develop and implement comparable global standards for ecosystems. A working group established by the IUCN has begun formulating a system of quantitative categories and criteria, analogous to those used for species, for assigning levels of threat to ecosystems at local, regional, and global levels. A final system will require definitions of ecosystems; quantification of ecosystem status; identification of the stages of degradation and loss of ecosystems; proxy measures of risk (criteria); classification thresholds for these criteria; and standardized methods for performing assessments. The system will need to reflect the degree and rate of change in an ecosystem's extent, composition, structure, and function, and have its conceptual roots in ecological theory and empirical research. On the basis of these requirements and the hypothesis that ecosystem risk is a function of the risk of its component species, we propose a set of four criteria: recent declines in distribution or ecological function, historical total loss in distribution or ecological function, small distribution combined with decline, or very small distribution. Most work has focused on terrestrial ecosystems, but comparable thresholds and criteria for freshwater and marine ecosystems are also needed. These are the first steps in an international consultation process that will lead to a unified proposal to be presented at the next World Conservation Congress in 2012.Establecimiento de Criterios para la Lista Roja de UICN de Ecosistemas AmenazadosResumenEl potencial para la conservación de muchas especies ha avanzado enormemente porque la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (UICN) ha desarrollado criterios objetivos, repetibles y transparentes para evaluar el riesgo de extinción que explícitamente separa la evaluación de riesgo de la definición de prioridades. En el IV Congreso Mundial de Conservación en 2008, el proceso comenzó a desarrollar e implementar estándares globales comparables para ecosistemas. Un grupo de trabajo establecido por la UICN ha formulado un sistema inicial de categorías y criterios cuantitativos, análogos a los utilizados para especies, para asignar niveles de amenaza a ecosistemas a niveles local, regional y global. Un sistema final requerirá de definiciones de ecosistemas; cuantificación del estatus de ecosistemas; identificación de las etapas de degradación y pérdida de los ecosistemas; medidas de riesgo (criterios) alternativas; umbrales de clasificación para esos criterios y métodos estandarizados para la realización de evaluaciones. El sistema deberá reflejar el nivel y tasa de cambio en la extensión, composición, estructura y funcio...

planted annually, primarily in monoculture systems (TASS, 2002). Furthermore, about 5.5 million stocker Agriculture in the Texas High Plains depends heavily on irrigation cattle (about 25% of U.S. total; TASS, 2002; USDA with water withdrawn from the Ogallala aquifer at nonsustainable rates. Our hypothesis was that integrating crop and livestock systems Natl. Agric. Stat. Serv., 2003) are shipped into the High would reduce irrigation water use, maintain profitability, and diversify profitability, and impact on water use of (i) a cotton mono-Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX 79409-2122; R. Kellison, Silver Creek culture system managed by best management practices Farm, Lockney, TX 79241; E. Segarra, Dep. of Agric. and Appl. Econ., Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX 79409; T. Wheeler, Texas A&M for the area and (ii) an integrated cotton-forage-livestock Agric. Exp. Stn., Lubbock, TX 79403; P. Dotray, Dep. of Plant and system. This long-term project continues, but results of Soil Sci., Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX 79409-2122 and Texas Coopthe first 5 yr are presented here. erative Extension, Lubbock, TX 79403; J.C. Conkwright, High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1, Lubbock, TX 79411-2499; and V. Acosta-Martinez, USDA-ARS, Lubbock, TX 79415.

Global statistical standards are being developed

Only 10 years remain to achieve all Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) globally, so there is a growing need to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of action by targeting multiple SDGs. The SDGs were conceived as an 'indivisible whole', but interactions between SDGs need to be better understood. Several previous assessments have begun to explore interactions including synergies and possible conflicts between the SDGs, and differ widely in their conclusions. Although some highlight the role of the more environmentally-focused SDGs in underpinning sustainable development, none specifically focuses on environment-human linkages. Assessing interactions between SDGs, and the influence of environment on them can make an important contribution to informing decisions in 2020 and beyond. Here, we review previous assessments of interactions among SDGs, apply an influence matrix to assess pairwise interactions between all SDGs, and show how viewing these from the perspective of environment-human linkages can influence the outcome. Environment, and environment-human linkages, influence most interactions between SDGs. Our action-focused assessment enables decision makers to focus environmental management to have the greatest impacts and to identify opportunities to build on synergies and reduce trade-offs between particular SDGs. It may enable sectoral decision makers to seek support from environment managers for achieving their goals. We explore cross-cutting issues and the relevance and potential application of our approach in supporting decision making for progress to achieve the SDGs.

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Arid and semiarid landscapes are often fragile and, thus, vulnerable to both natural weather extremes and human activities. Climate change and increasing demands for food to meet needs of a growing global population will place greater stress on these environments. Cropping and livestock systems have generally succeeded in these regions to the extent that the environment could be altered through water development and irrigation. Water sources for irrigation, including surface and groundwater, are declining in quality and quantity. Improvements in irrigation use efficiency now exceed 95% but often have led to increased water use, instead of water savings, as more systems have been installed. Also, as groundwater becomes scarce, more energy is required to extract water from greater depths. Increasing demands for alternative water uses and depletion of historic water sources make many irrigated systems in dry climates nonsustainable. The Texas High Plains exemplifies these challenges, where agriculture depends heavily on irrigation at nonsustainable rates of water extraction from the Ogallala aquifer. Today, agriculture uses about 95% of total water withdrawn from the aquifer. Crop rotations and integrating crop and livestock systems could reduce irrigation water use and diversify income compared with a monoculture. This region was historically a grazing land ecosystem offering opportunities for pastoral systems and benefits from diversification. Long-term comparisons of two irrigated systems [a cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) monoculture and an integrated cotton-forage-beef cattle system] in the Texas High Plains have demonstrated water savings of about 25% achieved through integration, while remaining economically viable and diversifying income sources. Additional benefits included reduced soil erosion, lower chemical inputs including a 40% reduction in N fertilizer, improved soil microbial and enzymatic activities, enhanced C sequestration, and greater rainfall infiltration than the monoculture system. Greater annual crop yields can shift short-term profitability to the monoculture system, but long-term sustainability is likely to depend on environmental benefits and water savings achieved by integrated systems. Challenges include existing large investments in local infrastructure focused on monoculture systems, producer adoption of alternative strategies, enhanced knowledge and management skill required, and a need for more research. Dryland agriculture will increase with remaining water diverted to other uses including livestock, municipalities, manufacturing, and energy generation. Technological advances can increase water savings but can also decrease system resilience with dependence on nonsustainable external buffers. Regional resource and economic stability will likely depend more on internal resilience of appropriately integrated plant and animal agricultural systems.