Social and political challenges in putting the concept of ecosystem services in practice.

H SAARIKOSKI; E PRIMMER; CH SCHLEYER; F TURKELBOOM; W VERHEYDEN; R ASZALOS; D BARTON; P BERRY; E CARMEN; L CARVALHO; J DICK; R DUNFORD; M HANZU; J HAUCK; Z IZAKOVICOVA; K LEENA; D LAPOLA; S LUQUE; P MEDERLY; J NIEMELÄ; I PALOMO; G MARTÍNEZ PASTUR; PL PERI; E PREDA; J PRIESS; S SAARELA; A VADINEANU; J YOUNG

Antwerp

Conferencia; European Ecosystem Services Conference.; 2016

ESP Partnership

In ecosystem service literature it is often argued that ecosystem services are not considered in decision-making because many of the services go unnoticed and their importance to human wellbeing is not understood. Furthermore, it is suggested that ecosystem services, especially non-market services, are ignored in decision-making because they are ?free? and hence don?t enter the markets. Here the proposed solution is to value ecosystem services in monetary terms. The role of scientific knowledge in informing and transforming decision-making is nevertheless contested by scholars who point out that knowledge-decision making dynamic is far more complicated than the linear knowledge transfer model assumes (Owens 2012). According to Jordan and Russel (2014), the issue of how knowledge on ecosystem services is used to inform decision-making is massively under-researched. They call for studies to better understand the patterns of use and associated enablers and barriers in specific institutional, sectoral and operational contexts, including cross national comparisons (Russel et al. 2014). In this paper we answer that call and look at the potential in moving from conceptual understanding to practical implementation in 27 OpenNESS project case studies in different social-ecological systems in 20 European and three non-European countries. The analysis is based on the case study researchers first-hand experiences in working with policy-makers, practitioners and place-based experts to put the concept of ecosystem services into policy and practice for example in urban planning, water management and renewable energy policy. It will address the following questions: What were the successes and failures in introducing the concept of ecosystem services into practice, and how did regulatory frameworks and other institutional factors, such as property rights, existing economic incentives, organizational practices, political agendas and societal values assist or prevent consideration of ecosystem services on the ground, in different social-ecological systems and socio-political contexts of different EU countries?