Why Peri-urban Ecosystem Services Matter for Urban Policy (original) (raw)

Making the Most of Peri-Urban Ecosystem Services

2018

Ecosystem services have a vital role to play in plans and policies to address poverty and vulnerability, support local economies, protect against shocks and stresses, promote food security and safeguard health and wellbeing. Despite policy challenges and rapid, complex change, there are opportunities for local authorities and citizens to work together more to spread good practice and join up policy with groundlevel action.

TEEB Manual for Cities: Ecosystem Services in Urban Management

Why and how can a focus on ecosystem services help cities achieve their goals? This manual guides practitioners and decision makers in a stepwise approach towards counting on a city’s natural capital - and making it work for you. The concept of ‘ecosystem services’ is key to this. This manual builds upon the report TEEB – The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for Local and Regional Policy Makers (2010) and draws on the combined expertise in sustainability management of participating local governments in ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability’s Local Action for Biodiversity Programme, run in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

A review of urban ecosystem services: six key challenges for future research

Global urbanization creates opportunities and challenges for human well-being and transition towards sustainability. Urban areas are human-environment systems that depend fundamentally on ecosystems, and thus require an understanding of the management of urban ecosystem services to ensure sustainable urban planning. The purpose of this study is to provide a systematic review of urban ecosystems services research, which addresses the combined domain of ecosystem services and urban development. We examined emerging trends and gaps in how urban ecosystem services are conceptualized in peer-reviewed case study literature, including the geographical distribution of research, the development and use of the urban ecosystem services concept, and the involvement of stakeholders. We highlight six challenges aimed at strengthening the concept's potential to facilitate meaningful inter- and transdisciplinary work for ecosystem services research and planning. Achieving a cohesive conceptual approach in the research field will address (i) the need for more extensive spatial and contextual coverage, (ii) continual clarification of definitions, (iii) recognition of limited data transferability, (iv) more comprehensive stakeholder involvement, (v) more integrated research efforts, and (vi) translation of scientific findings into actionable knowledge, feeding information back into planning and management. We conclude with recommendations for conducting further research while incorporating these challenges.