The Development of an Ecosystem Services Framework for South East Queensland

Abstract

Extensive research has been conducted globally into conceptual frameworks for ecosystem services, the most notable being the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (Millennium ecosystem assessment: ecosystems and human well-being; a framework for assessment. World Resources Institute, Washington, DC, pp 51, 53-55, 2005). The South East Queensland (SEQ) Ecosystem Services Framework (Australia) aims to provide the tools to enable government, industry, business, researchers, non-government organizations and land managers to apply the concept of ecosystem services in their planning and management practices. This article describes the Framework and the process that has produced matrices and maps that identify and illustrate the linkages between ecosystems, ecosystem functions, ecosystem services and the community's well-being. The matrices and maps derived can identify areas in the region where the most ecosystem services are generated. This allows areas to be considered as valuable natural assets of the region, deserving appropriate protection measures or significant offsets if they are diminished or degraded in any way. Although the Framework requires further refinement and ongoing development, the process applied and the products produced has enabled decision makers to turn the concept of ecosystem services into practical application in SEQ.

A Methodology to Map Ecosystem Functions to Support Ecosystem Services Assessments

“…Among these limitations are biases in the geographic and temporal coverage of the data and in the types of data collected (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005, Troy and Wilson 2006, Maynard et al 2010. Data availability for some subregions in SEQ is greater than for others (e.g., marine areas), and there are differences between data availability for the various types of resources (e.g., biodiversity).…”

“…Two Total Ecosystem Function maps have been produced: one based on presence/absence and another on quartile standardization. As the final products (19 individual function and 2 Total Ecosystem Function maps) are a combination of data sources and corresponding map layers, consideration needed to be given to the parent scale, year of creation, accuracy of data, data models, and the minimum mapping unit for each input layer (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005, Troy and Wilson 2006, Maynard et al 2010.…”

“…Ecosystem function maps were produced to provide spatial support for the SEQ Ecosystem Services Framework (henceforth, the Framework), an agreed framework developed by SEQ stakeholders to identify, measure, and value ecosystem services specifically for land use and natural resource management policy and planning (Maynard et al 2010). Although a brief overview of the Framework are provided, the focus in this article is only on the production of the ecosystem function maps.…”

“…Land use mapping can also miss the topographic context of land use, which can impact on the provisioning of ecosystem function and services (Carlson and Arthur 2000). The SEQ Ecosystem Services Framework (Maynard et al 2010) requires that the mapping The southern portion of SEQ is dominated by volcanic highlands and includes parts of the Central Eastern Australia World Heritage area. The western area contains rich agricultural soils among the mountain ranges.…”

Análise de serviços ecossistêmicos na avaliação de impacto ambiental: proposta e aplicação em um empreendimento minerário

“…A partir da relação de serviços ecossistêmicos encontrados na literatura (Costanza et al, 1997;Daily, 1997;De Groot et al, 2002;MEA, 2005;Brown et al, 2007;Wallace, 2007;Bennett et al, 2010;De Groot et al, 2010;Maynard et al, 2010;TEEB, 2010;Landsberg et al, 2011;Lautenbach et al, 2011;Burkhard et al, 2012;Maes et al, 2012), foi elaborada uma lista de serviços ecossistêmicos relacionados à paisagem da área de estudo. Os serviços ecossistêmicos potenciais identificados foram agrupados em quatro categorias, conforme a classificação proposta por MEA (2003): serviços de suporte (integridade ecológica dos ecossistemas), serviços de provisão, serviços de regulação e serviços culturais.…”