Reviews Concepts & Synthesis

2011

The global decline in estuarine and coastal ecosystems (ECEs) is affecting a number of critical benefits, or ecosystem services. We review the main ecological services across a variety of ECEs, including marshes, mangroves, nearshore coral reefs, seagrass beds, and sand beaches and dunes.

Science of The Total Environment, 2014

PeerJ

Wetlands, tidal flats, seaweed beds, and coral reefs are valuable not only as habitats for many species, but also as places where people interact with the sea. Unfortunately, these areas have declined in recent years, so environmental improvement projects to conserve and restore them are being carried out across the world. In this study, we propose a method for quantifying ecosystem services, that is, useful for the proper maintenance and management of artificial tidal flats, a type of environmental improvement project. With this method, a conceptual model of the relationship between each service and related environmental factors in natural and social systems was created, and the relationships between services and environmental factors were clarified. The state of the environmental factors affecting each service was quantified, and the state of those factors was reflected in the evaluation value of the service. As a result, the method can identify which environmental factors need to...

Ecological Complexity, 2010

DESCRIPTION AND QUANTIFICATION OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES FROM THE ESWATINI NATIONAL TRUST COMMISION RESERVES WITH GUIDELINES AND RECOMENDATION, 2020

This report follows on from an earlier report that engaged stakeholders in a qualitative evaluation of the ecosystem services provided by the three ENTC reserves. This process also served as a scoping exercise to identify and prioritise the most important ecosystem services and their beneficiaries (Berliner & Dlamini, 2020a; Berliner & Dlamini, 2020 b). The method of data collection included literature reviews and an online survey using a structured questionnaire of 31 multiple choice questions, available at: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=DQSIkWdsW0yxEjajBLZtrQAAAAAAAAAAAA MAANorbENUNkxGWEc3ODRMTzA2WkNCQklBUzhBVDhCVS4u Ecosystem service valuation is increasingly seen as an important tool in conservation, land use management and developmental planning. The purpose is to identify, and quantify the various benefits arising from ecosystems, and to identify the beneficiaries of these services. Internationally ecosystem service valuation is fast becoming a central approach to project evaluations that require trade-off and cost-benefit analysis, as well as for Nature-Based interventions aimed at climate change mitigation and adaptation. Ecosystem service valuation makes explicit and apparent the many direct, indirect, societal and welfare benefits arising from protected areas enabling the true value protected areas to be appreciated. This is of particular importance for developing countries such as Eswatini, where significant pressure exists on conservation areas to be used for other forms of land use such as mining or agriculture. By framing biodiversity conservation in terms of ecosystem services, the benefits to society become explicit. In Eswatini there is still limited capacity and data to do quantitative ecosystem service valuations. This poses a risk of continued under prioritization of natural areas and their biodiversity. This report aims to address this shortcoming by assisting decision-makers to appreciate the broader values of the protected areas, as well as by providing guideline and examples of how economic values can be derived for protected areas. The three Eswatini National trust Commission (ENTC) parks (Malolotja, Mlawula and Mantenga nature reserves), cover a combined area of about 54,000 ha with diverse habitats and ecosystems5 ranging from montane grasslands to Lowveld bushveld. This report shows how substantial socioeconomic benefits are being derived from the three ENTC parks and are providing a significant contribution to the economy of the country. Ecosystem services valuation includes monetary valuation and non-monetary valuation. Monetary valuation estimates the total monetary values of ecosystem services. Not all ecosystem services are tangible or can easily be represented as monetary values. This report shows how a variety of methods can be used to derive economic values, including market-based methods, contingent evaluation, value transfer and avoided costs. None of these methods are perfect, and It should also be noted that using different evaluation methods for the same ecosystem service, can produce signifyingly different results. For this reason, economic values of ecosystem services should in general, be considered as indicative, rather than absolute. Other ecosystem services of protected areas, particularly those that are non-consumptive and intangible, such as mental health benefits, cultural and spiritual values are well recognised, but are exceedingly difficult to translate into economic values. This report considers biodiversity value as an ecosystem service value that underpins all other ecosystem services. This report argues that the biodiversity value of protected areas cannot and should not be translated into monetary terms. Rather, biodiversity values of protected areas should be evaluated in terms of their relative importance at local, national, and global scales. A number of ecosystem services are either inherently difficult to evaluate, and/or require data not readily available. A number of ecosystem services had to be lumped together to avoid double counting, or where data provided was not disaggregated (for example cultural and nature-based tourism revenue)

The importance of taking account of the total economic value of ecosystems is stressed and the possible reasons why the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) emphasised the importance of ecosystem services for biodiversity conservation is discussed. It is suggested that the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment does not give enough attention to the disservices association with some ecosystems nor to the comparisons of the value of alternative ecosystems. Reasons why it is important to estimate the total economic value of ecosystems are outlined. It is argued that the economic valuation of ecosystems is of little value unless it compares the economic value of alternative ecosystems or forms of land use. Most published economic valuations of ecosystems fail to do this or only do it to a very limited extent. The cost of replacing ecosystem services if an ecosystem is lost is sometimes used to value its services. In most cases (but not all cases), this tends to over value the loss. This is illustrated using some simple graphs. There is also the further complication that if one type of ecosystem is replaced by another form of land or aquatic use, some ecosystem services may continue to be supplied, possibly in reduced quantities or qualities. In such cases, assuming that the pre-existing services are totally lost and need to be replaced completely overstates the economic value lost, or in other words, the value of retaining an existing ecosystem.

Springer eBooks, 2023

Academia Letters, 2021

University of California, Los Angeles, 2020

Archaeological research in Northern Ethiopia encountered several major transformations with regard to methods and research questions. To understand these transformations, one must first contextualize the history of archaeological research in the region. An examination of the historical actors - archaeologists, early explorers and antiquarians - reveals the motives for their presence in Northern Ethiopia and Eritrea. During the early 19th century, when antiquarian interest manifested in the Northern Horn, archaeological research was not yet a scientific, methodic field of inquiry. To best understand the history of archaeological research in Northern Ethiopia, a diachronic study examining the paradigmatic shifts which inspired archaeological work in different regions is necessary. The driving motives and perspectives behind archaeological research and the archaeologists who carried out this early work are deserving of special attention, as their agendas have shaped the trajectory of Northern Ethiopian archeology until modern times. The goal of this paper is to outline the most significant aspects of the history of archaeology in Northern Ethiopia and to recount how it has changed over time into its present form.