Print PageThe concept of ecosystem services has gained prominence as a framework for sustainable resource use decision-making. The effective integration of ecosystem services into decisions requires good scientific information on where ecosystem services will be provided, and how access to these services will change under alternative policies and land use patterns. Additionally, such information, once available, needs to be communicated to decision-makers, and incorporated into policies and land use plans to steer resource decisions in a sustainable direction. However, in many cases it is still unclear whether this chain of events, from ecosystem services analyses to effective decision-making, does indeed unfold as hypothesized. We reflect on this process by describing ongoing case studies from Sumatra, Indonesia and Baoxing, China, where an ecosystem services mapping and modeling tool, InVEST, was applied to assess the current state and possible changes in ecosystem services under proposed land use plans. Analyses are being communicated to relevant government authorities in both locations.
Results/Conclusions
In Indonesia, government decision-makers endorsed the use of InVEST as a tool for ecosystem based spatial planning in Sumatra. Analyses of ecosystem services in a pilot region of Central Sumatra are being used to inform spatial planning across 18 districts spanning three provinces. In China, the analyses highlighted that the current land use plan includes development activities in areas important for several ecosystem services. Local government authorities are now reconsidering these developments in the next Baoxing county Land Use Master Plan. Although both case studies are in progress, current indications are encouraging, in terms of the potential of these analyses to influence land use planning.
