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Mapping and assessing ecosystem services (ES) projects at the national level have been implemented recently in the European Union in order to comply with the targets set out in the EU's Biodiversity Strategy for 2020 and later in the Strategy for 2030. In Hungary this work has just been accomplished in a large-scale six-year project. The Hungarian assessment was structured along the ES cascade with each level described by a set of indicators. We present the selected and quantified indicators for 12 ES. For the assessment of cascade level 4, human well-being, a set of relevant well-being dimensions were selected. The whole process was supported by several forms of involvement, interviews, consultations and workshops and in thematic working groups performing the ES quantifications, followed by building scenarios and synthesizing maps and results. Here we give an overview of the main steps and results of the assessment, discuss related conceptual issues and recommend solutions that may be of international relevance. We refine some definitions of the cascade levels and suggest theoretical extensions to the cascade model. By finding a common basis for ES assessments and especially for national ones, we can ensure better comparability of results and better adoption in decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, the concept of Ecosystem Services (ES) has generated a paradigm shift in the perspective of human society on nature and has had an important awareness-raising role concerning the importance of ecosystems. However, the concept has not been capable to stop the loss of biodiversity and nature in order to meet the societal challenges of ES provision, especially in urbanized territories. From the reviewed literature, it is obvious that implementing the ES concept within spatial design and planning processes poses several difficulties. In this context we state that a more comprehensive approach is needed of which the ES concept is part. To move to genuine landscape change and a shift in land use and land stewardship, we argue that a landscape design approach can play a significant activating role. The goal of this paper is to underpin this assumption from a theoretical and methodological point of view. The paper first gives an overview of the difficulties that the field of ES science and practice is facing when implementing the ES concept in landscape design and planning processes. Then a landscape design approach is presented as an alternative approach and a possible way forward for genuine landscape change to meet the societal demand for ES.

Abstract Sixteen ecosystem services were quantified for the riverine landscapes of the Nahe, Stever (Germany), Bresse plain, and Azergues (France), to assess the effects of riparian woodland cover. Future woodland cover in 2050 was modeled to reflect contrasting scenarios of river management aligned to the well‐established shared socioeconomic pathways. The scenarios are labeled as current, pessimistic, best practice, and ambitious riparian management practices (RMPs). We linked services to floodplain land use and river morphology and quantified them separately for spatial segments (0.5–1 km in length, n = 118–3419, depending on river length), using an analytical framework, the “Mononen cascade.” Conservative monetary value estimates were based on net producer income before tax and subsidy, a shadow market price for carbon, flood damage functions, or willingness to pay for recreation and non‐use. Most services were linked to land use, some affected the value of other services through simple rules (woodland shade affected trout survival hence angling benefit, a minimum of woodland affected pest regulation, hence crop productivity). In the current landscape state, provisioning, regulating, and cultural services all showed optimum curves with woodland cover: Provisioning services and cultural services were maximal around 45%, whereas this was around 30% for regulating services. More woodland was present in steeper near‐source segments. Averaged across rivers, mean total service provision was estimated at 1084 ± 4 €·ha−1·yr−1, with 40%, 36%, and 24% contributed by, respectively, provisioning, regulating, and cultural services. The three scenarios led to a limited change in total ecosystem service delivery, even if mean woodland cover was reduced from 27% to 17% in the pessimistic RMP and increased to 70% in the ambitious RMP for the most extreme case of the Stever. Provisioning services declined with increased woodland cover and cultural services increased. Regulating services did not change that much, because they are dominated by flood prevention in our assessment. The “best practice” scenario appeared to combine a modest increase in cultural services with a slight increase in provisioning service. An ambitious nature conservation objective as in the ambitious RMP appears possible without seriously compromising overall societal benefit.

Sixteen ecosystem services were quantified for the riverine landscapes of the Nahe, Stever (Germany), Bresse plain, and Azergues (France), to assess the effects of riparian woodland cover. Future woodland cover in 2050 was modeled to reflect contrasting scenarios of river management aligned to the well‐established shared socioeconomic pathways. The scenarios are labeled as current, pessimistic, best practice, and ambitious riparian management practices (RMPs). We linked services to floodplain land use and river morphology and quantified them separately for spatial segments (0.5–1 km in length, n = 118–3419, depending on river length), using an analytical framework, the "Mononen cascade." Conservative monetary value estimates were based on net producer income before tax and subsidy, a shadow market price for carbon, flood damage functions, or willingness to pay for recreation and non‐use. Most services were linked to land use, some affected the value of other services through simple rules (woodland shade affected trout survival hence angling benefit, a minimum of woodland affected pest regulation, hence crop productivity). In the current landscape state, provisioning, regulating, and cultural services all showed optimum curves with woodland cover: Provisioning services and cultural services were maximal around 45%, whereas this was around 30% for regulating services. More woodland was present in steeper near‐source segments. Averaged across rivers, mean total service provision was estimated at 1084 ± 4 €·ha−1·yr−1, with 40%, 36%, and 24% contributed by, respectively, provisioning, regulating, and cultural services. The three scenarios led to a limited change in total ecosystem service delivery, even if mean woodland cover was reduced from 27% to 17% in the pessimistic RMP and increased to 70% in the ambitious RMP for the most extreme case of the Stever. Provisioning services declined with increased woodland cover and cultural services increased. Regulating services did not change that much, because they are dominated by flood prevention in our assessment. The "best practice" scenario appeared to combine a modest increase in cultural services with a slight increase in provisioning service. An ambitious nature conservation objective as in the ambitious RMP appears possible without seriously compromising overall societal benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• There has been a growing body of studies on ES assessments at multiple cascade levels. • We propose a concise version of the ES cascade framework to clarify cascade components. • We categorize related ES assessment studies into three categories. • We present an evidence map for the three proposed categories of studies. • This study provides a holistic view of the characteristics, potentials, and challenges of ES assessment. The ecosystem service (ES) cascade framework describes the process by which benefits from ecosystems are delivered to human society. In the recent decade, there has been a growing body of studies on ES mapping and assessment at multiple cascade levels. However, the terms and concepts used for characterizing ES cascade components differ widely across studies. Herein we present an evidence map for these studies and aim to reveal their similarities and differences and guide future research. First, we propose a concise and operational version of the ES cascade framework with three key components – supply, flow, and demand – to clarify and standardize these components. Then, we categorize related studies into three categories: supply-demand (Category 1), supply-flow-demand (Category 2), and spatial ES flow (Category 3). These three categories can well represent research on this topic at different levels, with cascade levels ranging from supply-demand to supply-flow-demand, and with research scope ranging from a given region (Category 1–2) to interregional linkages (Category 3). After establishing these standardized categories, we conducted a literature search, screening, and an evidence mapping. In total, 131 studies were selected and fit into the three proposed research categories (Category 1: 68; Category 2: 28; Category 3: 35). Results showed a growing research interest in ES mapping and assessments over the past decade, as well as the heterogeneous distribution of publications across geographic regions. We demonstrated their similarities and differences in terms of studied ES, research methods for analyzing the relationships between ES components, spatial and temporal scales, and research purposes. The ES research categories proposed in this study provide a meaningful framework for retrospection and improvement in future research design. Such evidence mapping can also help researchers approach a more holistic view of the characteristics of different categories of studies and their respective potentials and challenges, particularly when considering management and policy decisions with different purposes and conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One focus of ecosystem service research is the connection between biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being as well as the socioeconomic influences on them. Despite existing investigations, exact impacts from the human system on the dynamics of biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being are still uncertain because of the insufficiency of the respective quantitative analyses. Our research aims are discerning the socioeconomic influences on biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being and demonstrating mutual impacts between these items. We propose a DPSIR framework coupling ecological integrity, ecosystem services as well as human well-being and suggest DPSIR indicators for the case study area Jiangsu, China. Based on available statistical and surveying data, we revealed the factors significantly impacting biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being in the research area through factor analysis and correlation analysis, using the 13 prefecture-level cities of Jiangsu as samples. The results show that urbanization and industrialization in the urban areas have predominant positive influences on regional biodiversity, agricultural productivity and tourism services as well as rural residents' living standards. Additionally, the knowledge, technology and finance inputs for agriculture also have generally positive impacts on these system components. Concerning regional carbon storage, non-cropland vegetation cover obviously plays a significant positive role. Contrarily, the expansion of farming land and the increase of total food production are two important negative influential factors of biodiversity, ecosystem's food provisioning service capacity, regional tourism income and the well-being of the rural population. Our study provides a promising approach based on the DPSIR model to quantitatively capture the socioeconomic influential factors of biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being for human-environmental systems at regional scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ecosystem services (ESS) approach seeks to identify and characterize links between ecosystems and human welfare. The DESSIN ESS evaluation framework is a novel methodology that has been developed to operationalize ecosystem service assessment, with a focus on urban freshwater settings. This paper describes an application of the framework to a retrospective case study in Aarhus, Denmark, which was used to test the framework and make suggestions for improvement. River restoration and wastewater management measures enhanced ecosystem state and the provision and use of purification and recreation ESS for selected beneficiaries, including increased economic values. Feedback from this case study suggests a missing link between science-based ESS approaches, which often have a normative basis in ecosystem status, and the real-world provision and use of ESS in urban settings. In the urban context, many ESS result from a combination of human and ecosystem inputs, and the human inputs can often be significant. Quantifying ESS provision and use therefore requires understanding how ecosystem and human inputs work together to make contributions to human welfare. Unlabelled Image • Restoration of the Aarhus River (Denmark) enhances recreational and experiential ESS. • A software tool was developed to facilitate the implementation of the ESS approach. • We suggest further distinction of human and ecosystem contributions to ESS provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We identified cultural ecosystem services of Idaho rivers from Flickr metadata. • CES were associated with biophysical, social, and built landscape features. • Traditional CES categories failed to capture associations among specific CES. • Social media data can be used to examine nuances of CES at landscape scales. Cultural ecosystem services (CES) are an important component of the benefits that humans derive from nature. Yet, research on CES at landscape scales has lagged behind other ecosystem services, due to the difficulty measuring CES across broad scales and the uncertainty about the mechanisms linking CES provisioning to biophysical characteristics. Social media data has emerged as an important tool for quantifying CES. We applied a bottom-up, data-driven approach to capture rich information about CES from the text (title, tags, descriptions) associated with geo-located Flickr images across river ecosystems in Idaho, USA. We address the following four questions: 1) What CES do people obtain from rivers in Idaho? 2) How does overall CES provisioning vary across ecosystem characteristics? 3) How do specific CES relate to ecosystem characteristics? and 4) Do CES bundle in ways that parallel traditional CES categories? Overall, we were able to identify diverse CES not typically examined in empirical studies as well as how landscape features support CES provisioning. Relating CES to biophysical, social, and built characteristics of the ecosystem, CES provisioning was significantly but weakly associated with access to rivers, land cover, and land ownership. The importance of social and built characteristics of the landscape suggests the cascade model in which ecosystem services flow from ecosystem structure has limited utility for specifically addressing CES. In addition, we found specific CES are more strongly associated with landscape variables than general CES categories. This difference highlights that traditional CES categories fail to reflect how individual CES are distributed over space. Text provides information-rich source for moving beyond a small number of broad CES categories and understanding not only the diversity of ways people interact with landscapes, but what landscape features support these uses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]