SYMP 21-5
Building the conservation economy
By 2050 there will be 9B people on the planet. To meet the needs of these 9B people, agriculture productivity will need to increase by 70%, water supply will need to increase by 55% and the footprint of infrastructure and the built environment will need to triple. Meeting these demands under a business-as-usual scenario will devastate the natural environment and the ecosystem services that flow from it, even without the expected rise in global mean temperature of 2 degrees Celsius. Our academic/conservation communities have worked diligently to understand and document the spatial and temporal patterns of the production of ecosystem services. For all our efforts, the concept of ecosystems services remains a niche issue. The sustainability of ecosystems services is not considered when plans are made for expanding our ability to meet the demands of a growing population. While we document the degradation and offer pilot projects that map, measure and value services, we do so outside the context of the economic demand drivers and, therefore, we miss opportunities to fundamentally realign the relationship between development and the sustainable delivery of ecosystem services. To address this, I explore (1) the beneficial outcomes we are seeking in the sustainability of ecosystems services, (2) criteria for incorporation of ecosystems services into the process of sustainably meeting future demands, (3) the opportunities for transformational, as opposed to incremental, ecosystem service delivery, and (4) case studies that are charting the pathway for change.
Results/Conclusions
In my study, I found that in order for ecosystem service efforts to be sustained and deliver outcomes now and into the future, they need to meet the following criteria: (1) Efforts need to be driven by actual or potential demand for services, not conservation priorities; (2) Implementation needs to increase participation by addressing all stakeholder values; (3) Programs need to be designed to be easily operational and replicable for large-scale, cost-efficient outcomes; (4) Outcomes need tangible and quantified in standardized metrics that incorporate ecological, economic and social values; and (5) Programs should be adaptable and responsive to changing needs of the resource and the community. In conclusion, we need to catalyze transactions for delivery of ecosystem services in the context of human needs/values that analyze opportunities through the demand for services. To do so, we need to rethink the relatives roles of NGOs, philanthropic organizations, government, and industry in facilitating a transition to transformative and sustainable ecosystem delivery.