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What are Ecosystem Services: Understanding complexity

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Presentation on theme: "What are Ecosystem Services: Understanding complexity"— Presentation transcript:

1 What are Ecosystem Services: Understanding complexity
by Arild Vatn Department of Environment and Development, Norwegian University of Life Sciences Lecture at the international workshop: “Making Sense of Ecosystem Services: Ecosocial and Institutional Perspectives” Koli, Finland, August 25-27

2 The structure of the presentation
The perspective of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Complexity, social systems and ecosystem services

3 1. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
The MEA classifies sets of ecosystem service functions Supporting (e.g., nutrient cycling, soil formation) Provisioning (e.g.,food, fuel) Regulating (e.g., climate regulation, disease regulation) Cultural (e.g., aesthetics, educational)

4 The linkages are context dependent
The linkages are context dependent. The relationships differ across gender, spatial location, income etc Trade-offs to be made at the individual level as well as at the societal level. It affects the: 1 efficiency – cost effectiveness e.g water purification (Catskill) 2.Equity – is it fair – example cotton subsidies Globalization also affect the ecosystem services directly (see next slide) 1. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (cont.) Ecosystem services and human well being 4

5 2. Complexity: Social and ecological
Nested systems Different scales (time; space) Different processes operate at different scales  Multiple representations Lack of (complete) predictability Risk Uncertainty Ignorance (radical uncertainty)

6 2. Complexity: Social and ecological (cont.) Complexity and knowledge
Determinism – simple/compli- cated – outcomes all known Ignorance – complexity – uncertainty/ignorance Strong deter-minism Risk - weak determinism Open ignorance Closed ignorance Irreducible ignorance Reducible ignorance Personal ignorance – education Common ignorance – research Chaos Novelty (geno-typic change After Faber et al. 1996

7 2. Complexity: Social and ecological (cont.) Systems complexity
Vulnerability Adaptability Resilience Attractor basin ? System’s position

8 Biogeochemical cycles
2. Complexity: Social and ecological (cont.) Natural systems complexity Evolution of species Biogeochemical cycles The interactions between biota, chemical and geological processes Life has created its own conditions – e.g., the composition of the atmosphere The rivet – popper analogy: redundancy, resilience and vulnerability Interconnectedness The entropy laws

9 2. Complexity: Social and ecological (cont.) Social systems complexity
Institutions bring order to a complex external world (Wittgenstein: The limits of my language means the limits to my world). Still multiple representations Social complexity Different representations – e.g., different perspectives and disciplines Different values and value systems Different interests Different rationalities – e.g., individual vs. social rationality Interest vs. value vs. data conflicts Anthropocentric vs. non-anthropocentric values Complex behavior – individual and group level


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