•Realised ES are a product of the potential service and specified beneficiaries.•Natural capital (NC) and human-derived capital (HDC) are both essential for ES.•HDC plays a role even at the stage of ...potential ecosystem services.•It is possible but not always easy to separate the contribution of NC and HDC to ES.•Sustainable management should identify critical NC and HDC for each service.
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There is growing interest in the role that natural capital plays in underpinning ecosystem services. Yet, there remain differences and inconsistencies in the conceptualisation of capital and ecosystem services and the role that humans play in their delivery. Using worked examples in a stocks and flows systems approach, we show that both natural capital (NC) and human-derived (produced, human, social, cultural, financial) capital (HDC) are necessary to create ecosystem services at many levels. HDC plays a role at three stages of ecosystem service delivery. Firstly, as essential elements of a combined social-ecological system to create a potential ecosystem service. Secondly, through the beneficiaries in shaping the demand for that service. Thirdly, in the form of additional capital required to realise the ecosystem service flow. We show that it is possible, although not always easy, to separately identify how these forms of capital contribute to ecosystem service flow. We discuss how applying a systems approach can help identify critical natural capital and critical human-derived capital to guide sustainable management of the stocks and flows of all forms of capital which underpin provision of multiple ecosystem services. The amount of realised ecosystem service can be managed in several ways: via the NC & HDC which govern the potential service, and via factors which govern both the demand from the beneficiaries, and the efficiency of use of the potential service by those beneficiaries.
•We introduce and define a place-based approach to Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES).•The approach incorporates multi-level governance, bundling and shared values for ecosystem services.•The ...approach is evaluated using case study research to develop the Peatland Code.•Place-based PES schemes may mitigate negative trade-offs between ecosystem services.•They may more effectively include cultural ecosystem services and empower stakeholders in their design and governance.
Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes are proliferating but are challenged by insufficient attention to spatial and temporal inter-dependencies, interactions between different ecosystems and their services, and the need for multi-level governance. To address these challenges, this paper develops a place-based approach to the development and implementation of PES schemes that incorporates multi-level governance, bundling or layering of services across multiple scales, and shared values for ecosystem services. The approach is evaluated and illustrated using case study research to develop an explicitly place-based PES scheme, the Peatland Code, owned and managed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s UK Peatland Programme and designed to pay for restoration of peatland habitats. Buyers preferred bundled schemes with premium pricing of a primary service, contrasting with sellers’ preferences for quantifying and marketing services separately in a layered scheme. There was limited awareness among key business sectors of dependencies on ecosystem services, or the risks and opportunities arising from their management. Companies with financial links to peatlands or a strong environmental sustainability focus were interested in the scheme, particularly in relation to climate regulation, water quality, biodiversity and flood risk mitigation benefits. Visitors were most interested in donating to projects that benefited wildlife and were willing to donate around £2 on-site during a visit. Sellers agreed a deliberated fair price per tonne of CO2 equivalent from £11.18 to £15.65 across four sites in Scotland, with this range primarily driven by spatial variation in habitat degradation. In the Peak District, perceived declines in sheep and grouse productivity arising from ditch blocking led to substantially higher prices, but in other regions ditch blocking was viewed more positively. The Peatland Code was developed in close collaboration with stakeholders at catchment, landscape and national scales, enabling multi-level governance of the management and delivery of ecosystem services across these scales. Place-based PES schemes can mitigate negative trade-offs between ecosystem services, more effectively include cultural ecosystem services and engage with and empower diverse stakeholders in scheme design and governance.
Monetary valuation of ecosystem services enables more accurate accounting of the environmental costs and benefits of policies, but this has rarely been applied in developing countries. In such ...contexts, there are particular methodological and epistemological challenges that require novel valuation methodologies. This paper introduces a new participatory, deliberative choice experiment approach conducted in the Solomon Islands. The research aimed to determine the value people placed on ecosystem services and whether participatory interventions to elicit deeper held values influenced the preferences expressed. Results found that the initial willingness to pay for a number of tropical forest ecosystem services amounted to 30% of household income. Following deliberative intervention exercises, key ecosystem services effectively became priceless as participants were unwilling to trade them off in the choice experiment scenarios, regardless of financial cost. The group based deliberative approach, combined with participatory interventions, also resulted in significant learning for participants. This included a more sophisticated view of ecological-cultural linkages, greater recognition of deeper held values, and greater awareness of the consequences of human actions for the environment. The use of a group-based participatory approach instead of a conventional individual survey helped to overcome many of the practical difficulties associated with valuation in developing countries. Given the impact of learning on valuation outcomes, participation and deliberation should be integrated into valuation of any complex good, both in developing and developed economies. However, such a methodology raises questions about how valuation can deal with unwillingness to trade-off key ecosystem services, which results in the breakdown of monetary valuation methods. Evaluation of the appropriateness of valuation processes and methodologies for assessing deeper held values and use of mixed-method approaches will be essential to ensure policies take into account the extent to which human life is dependent on ecosystem services.
Biodiversity supports a range of ecosystems services that are of fundamental importance to people in poor countries. Economic valuation of biodiversity is important for the development of policies ...that protect biodiversity and alleviate poverty. This paper provides an evaluation of monetary and non-monetary techniques for assessing the value of biodiversity to people in least developed countries (LDCs). Specifically, research questions include:1)To what extent have monetary and non-monetary techniques been used to assess the value of biodiversity and ecosystem services in LDCs?2)What are the key methodological, practical, epistemological and policy challenges to assessing the value of biodiversity and ecosystem services in LDCs?3)How can valuation methods be improved to allow more accurate valuation in LDCs?
► Only one in ten biodiversity valuation studies were conducted in the poorest countries. ► Half of the published papers valuing biodiversity in poor countries had no input from researchers from those countries. ► There is a need to build capacity on valuing biodiversity in the research and policy making communities of poor countries. ► Research is urgently needed to review and develop new and innovative approaches to valuing biodiversity in poor countries. ► Incorporating participatory, deliberative and action research methods into valuation can improve valuation.
Meeting global targets that maintain temperatures at 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels while adapting to the growing impacts of climate change requires significant and rapid societal change. Within ...this context, there has been growing interest in building community resilience to shocks and stressors and as a forward-looking process. Yet while there has been extensive attention to conceptual aspects, there has been much less on how this can be achieved in practice. This research worked with three communities in Scotland (UK) regularly exposed to flooding and other integrated challenges to learn from action about community resilience building. A carefully developed four-tiered transdisciplinary approach was applied that included: relationship-building; enhancing capacities to work with interconnections; enabling processes; and supportive action-oriented research. The findings of the analysis of the system dynamics that were occurring during the resilience-building process highlight that it is a complex and messy social process. Yet, it also shows that if quality and sufficient quantity of support and time to help surface and deliberate on underlying assumptions about communities and change is provided, it can be possible to stimulate emergence of beneficial reinforcing social dynamics that begin to support collaborative and systemic action. To further advance know how about resilience building, much greater focus will be needed on the ‘how’ of resilience. This, in turn, will require new framings of, and approaches for, community resilience and new framings of research, knowledge and knowing.
The benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy for FIGO stage I, high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) after optimal staging is a matter of debate. We investigated the effect of adjuvant chemotherapy on ...recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) in a population-based cohort study.
All patients diagnosed in the Netherlands between 2002 and 2014 with FIGO stage I HGSOC who underwent surgical staging were included. Data on clinical characteristics, histopathology, completeness of staging and survival were collected from the Netherlands Cancer Registry and Dutch Pathology Registry. Recurrence data was collected from hospital files. We used Kaplan-Meier methods to estimate RFS and OS and Cox-proportional hazard analyses to control for differences in baseline characteristics between patients who did or did not receive chemotherapy.
We identified 223 patients who underwent optimal staging procedures including lymph node sampling. Events of disease recurrence occurred in 21 of the 101 patients (21%) who received adjuvant chemotherapy and in 46 of the 122 patients (38%) who did not (multivariable hazard ratio (HR), 0.37; 95%CI 0.22–0.64; p < 0.01). Five-year RFS was 81% after staging plus chemotherapy and 59% after staging only. At a median follow-up of 105 months, 21 patients (21%) in the chemotherapy group and 38 patients (31%) in the no-chemotherapy group had died (multivariable HR 0.50; 95%CI 0.28–0.89; p = 0.02). Ten-year OS was 78% with chemotherapy and 62% without chemotherapy.
Adjuvant chemotherapy improves long-term RFS and OS in patients with FIGO stage I HGSOC after optimal staging.
•Until now, no consensus has been reached on the benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy for early stage HGSOC.•After optimal staging and FIGO stage I HGSOC, adjuvant chemotherapy favors long-term RFS and OS.•Chemotherapy should be considered after optimal staging for FIGO stage I HGSOC to improve RFS and OS.
The ecosystem services concept (ES) is becoming a cornerstone of contemporary sustainability thought. Challenges with this concept and its applications are well documented, but have not yet been ...systematically assessed alongside strengths and external factors that influence uptake. Such an assessment could form the basis for improving ES thinking, further embedding it into environmental decisions and management.
The Young Ecosystem Services Specialists (YESS) completed a Strengths–Weaknesses–Opportunities–Threats (SWOT) analysis of ES through YESS member surveys. Strengths include the approach being interdisciplinary, and a useful communication tool. Weaknesses include an incomplete scientific basis, frameworks being inconsistently applied, and accounting for nature's intrinsic value. Opportunities include alignment with existing policies and established methodologies, and increasing environmental awareness. Threats include resistance to change, and difficulty with interdisciplinary collaboration. Consideration of SWOT themes suggested five strategic areas for developing and implementing ES.
The ES concept could improve decision-making related to natural resource use, and interpretation of the complexities of human-nature interactions. It is contradictory – valued as a simple means of communicating the importance of conservation, whilst also considered an oversimplification characterised by ambiguous language. Nonetheless, given sufficient funding and political will, the ES framework could facilitate interdisciplinary research, ensuring decision-making that supports sustainable development.
•We completed a SWOT analysis of the ecosystem services (ES) framework.•The ES approach is a useful interdisciplinary communication tool.•Implementation is hampered by incomplete science and inconsistent application.•The ES approach could better align with existing policies and tools.Threats include insufficient funding and a loss of political will.•We discuss strategies in light of the SWOT for furthering the approach.
Global recognition of the decline of marine ecosystems and their services has led to rapid designation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in recent decades. The complexity of effectively managing ...protected areas within the context of densely populated, highly used and contested coastlines points to the need for decision-support processes that effectively engage users and incorporate social, cultural and economic considerations alongside ecological objectives. Multi-Criteria Approaches (MCA) are established tools for complex decision-making involving uncertain, multi-scale environmental issues and multiple actors. Working closely with decision-makers, we develop a novel approach that draws on the strengths of MCA, but focuses less on arithmetic outcomes, instead presenting a deliberative-democratic process to facilitate emergence of shared values around effective conservation management. We nest these deliberations within the Community Voice Method (CVM), an interpretive film-based approach. CVM enables reflection on deeper-held values, stepping back from polarised policy debates and fostering conversation around shared values connecting people to place. We discuss how the integrated interpretive-deliberative methodology by a transdisciplinary team improved participation and engagement and provided outputs that supported improved decision-making. The approach made diverse impacts and benefits explicit and highlighted shared values amongst participants as a critical part of establishing robust management.
•Socio-economics and culture need to be part of complex environmental decision-making.•We explore the potential of taking a trans-disciplinary, mixed methods approach.•The novel methodology enabled understanding of shared value among participants.•Workshops facilitated effective participation to inform MPA management decisions.
Objective
The use of lymph node sampling during staging procedures in clinical early‐stage mucinous ovarian carcinoma (MOC) is an ongoing matter of debate. Furthermore, the incidence of lymph node ...metastases (LNM) in MOC in relation to tumour grade (G) is unknown. We aimed to determine the incidence of LNM in clinical early‐stage MOC per tumour grade.
Design
Retrospective study with data from the Dutch Pathology Registry (PALGA).
Setting
The Netherlands, 2002–2012.
Population or sample
Patients with MOC.
Methods
Histology reports on patients with MOC diagnosed in the Netherlands between 2002 and 2012 were obtained from PALGA. Reports were reviewed for diagnosis, tumour grade and presence of LNM. Clinical data, surgery reports and radiology reports of patients with LNM were retrieved from hospital files.
Main outcome measures
Incidence of LNM, disease‐free survival (DFS).
Results
Of 915 patients with MOC, 426 underwent lymph node sampling. Cytoreductive surgery was performed in 267 patients. The other 222 patients received staging without lymph node sampling. In eight of 426 patients, LNM were discovered by sampling. In four of 190 (2.1%) patients with G1 MOC, LNM were present, compared with one of 115 (0.9%) patients with G2 MOC and three of 22 (13.6%) patients with G3 MOC. Tumour grade was not specified in 99 patients. Patients with clinical early‐stage MOC had no DFS benefit from lymph node sampling.
Conclusions
LNM are rare in early‐stage G1 and G2 MOC without clinical suspicion of LNM. Therefore, lymph node sampling can be omitted in these patients.
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Lymph node sampling can be omitted in clinical early‐stage G1 and G2 mucinous ovarian cancer.
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Lymph node sampling can be omitted in clinical early‐stage G1 and G2 mucinous ovarian cancer.
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