Photo credits, Erika Nortemann, Ellen Morris Bishop and Mark Godfrey

Applying Ecosystem Services: Lessons learned in California

November 7, 2011

Timeline of engagement with ecosystem services

2005-6: ES and ecoregional planning study

2006-7: Scoping for Sierra demonstration site

2008-9: Climate change impacts study2007-10: Implementation of mapping

tools and policy studies, outreach2008- Communicating externally,

applying in places

What are ecosystem services?

“ Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems”

-Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005

One area can provide multiple benefits, often to different beneficiaries

Categories of ecosystem services

Source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

Ecosystems benefit humans in a multitude of ways

Some California examples

Pollination of crops

Water quantity and timing

Carbon sequestration

Regulation of floods

Timber

Forage production

Fiber

Food

Spiritual & religious

Freshwater

Genetic Resources

Climate regulation

Water purification

Disease regulation

Flood/Fire regulation

Recreation & tourism

Aesthetic

Economic Value ($)

Economic Valuation

Difficult or impossible

Easy

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

Many services are public goods

Source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

The Big Idea

- Landowners, governments, companies make decisions motivated by economic considerations

- Land use planning traditionally does not factor in the full array of values that an ecosystem provides - The importance of these values is

emphasized in a warming climate

- If the values of these services are put into the trade-off equation, a different decision might be made

Guidance on Purchasing Land for National Forests (Weeks Law 1911)

1. protection against disastrous erosion of the soil

2. preservation of the purity and regularity of flow of the mountain streams,

with a view to their use for the water supply of towns and cities;

3. preservation of a timber supply to meet the needs of the industries of the country;

4. preservation of the beauty and attractiveness of

the uplands for the recreation and pleasure of the people.Source: http://www.foresthistory.org/Research/usfscoll/policy/Agency_Organization/NF_System/weeks_law/

Conservation Planning: 100 years ago

What is new….

• Emphasis on quantifying economic value of services

• Global agreement on decline of many services (MEA)

• Emergence of markets to buy and sell units of services

• Acknowledgment of global warming

Average Timber Revenue per County (2001-2006)Highest- Humboldt County- $166MSource: CA Board of Equalization

Total Market Value of all Agricultural Products Sold per County (2002)Highest- Fresno County- $2.8BSource: NASS

Economic Value of Traditional Commodities (Provisioning Services)

ForageHabitat Integrity

OverlapsWater Yield

Forest Carbon

Potential Aquifer Recharge

“Hotspots”: Carbon, water yield, habitat

integrity

Showing aggregate provision (and value) or services can tell simple, powerful story

Net change in aboveground live tree carbon stored by the end of the century (2070–2099 mean)

Shaw et al. in press. Climatic Change

Policy context

Survey of Sierra Nevada stakeholders on barriers and opportunities

Completed statewide assessment of existing markets for services

Advance Mitigation MOU

Link the investment in planning to the purpose

Use of Models Needed Level of Accuracy and Precision of Data

Media or Type of Information Delivery

Size of Audience

Frequency of Update, Need for Dynamic Information

Build awareness about distribution and importance of a service

Low Maps, posters, animations, presentations, popular media

Large Low

Identify areas of high service production, or overlap with conservation lands or priorities

Moderate Web mapping portal, synthesized or input data sets, maps of overlap, scenario-based trade-off and synergy summaries

Medium Medium

Support development of a market and transactions among market actors

High Trading platform, near-real-time sensors, monitoring reports

Small (at least initially)

High

Shaw and Cameron, in prep.

Getting people to pay for something that has been free is

hard

- Need regulatory reason to pay for service

- Risk management might be viable avenue

- Paying for public goods through public funding?

© The Economist

Where does the value come from?Provisioning : often after service has

been exploited, value is commodity (eg fish)

Carbon- value is given through regulation

Can the regulations include co-benefits?

Without regulations, voluntary actions

How do regulations affect market

Where are the users?

California State Water Project (CWP) Deliveries

23%

4%

55%

18%

Feather River

San Francisco BayArea

CaliforniaAqueduct

AqueductBranches

Mapping flows and beneficiaries – at what scale?

Infrastructure mediates delivery

Acknowledgements

Rebecca Shaw, Erik Haunreiter, Holly Davis, Nat Cap team, Adam Davis

Funding provided by Resources Legacy Fund