• Energy Research

Carbon Farming (CF) decreases atmospheric CO2 concentrations by increasing carbon stocks in soils and biomass. In addition to mitigating climate change, CF measures provide co-benefits through the supply of additional ecosystem services (ES). Integrating such benefits into a comprehensive assessment may increase the attractiveness of CF measures, increase adoption rates, and ultimately benefit climate and ecosystems. However, site-specific and measure-specific characteristics influence the impacts of CF measures. A comprehensive overview over CF impacts is lacking. We therefore analyzed six CF measures on cropland in the European temperate zone: (1) cover cropping, (2) introducing legumes or semi-perennial crops into crop rotations, (3) conversion to short rotation coppice, (4) agroforestry, (5) afforestation of marginal cropland, and (6) partial rewetting of drained organic soils. Through a structured literature review, we derived on-site climate change mitigation potentials, impacts on the supply of ES, and economic trade-offs, as well as influencing factors causing spatial heterogeneities. Our results show that the climate change mitigation potential varies strongly between and within CF measures. All measures can boost the supply of regulating ecosystem services, while trade-offs exist mainly with provisioning services and economic returns. Spatially heterogeneous effects in ES supply depend on local ES demand. As proof of concept, we mapped expected beneficial ES effects from 4 selected ES positively impacted by the measure (4) agroforestry in a GIS environment for Germany, as well as opportunity costs as an economic trade-off. The results suggest that strong co-benefits can be expected in areas where opportunity costs are high. Moreover, the CF measures with the highest climate change mitigation potential also imply the highest systemic change of the farm system. This constitutes a strong economic hurdle to implementation. We argue that payments for ES are needed to incentivize CF adoption and harness the beneficial effects on climate and ecosystems. Our findings provide a comprehensive view on the effect of CF measures and may support effective European climate change mitigation policy.

AbstractIntegrated impact assessment (IA) of policies in the European Commission takes place in an environment of competing problem frames, contested policy objectives and a multitude of interested actors. This paper sets out to discuss the potential value of integrating the ecosystem services (ESS) concept for improving the consideration of environmental benefits and values during framing and appraisal of new policies at European level. The discussion was based on a workshop conducted with experts encompassing their disciplinary fields to the science–policy interface. A review of recent literature and impact assessment reports from policy science and ecosystem services research allowed for a two-way contemplation. The potential integration of concepts was analysed for conceptual, technical, ethical and pragmatic aspects. It was found that indicator sets applied in the impact assessment reports follow a much less formalised structure than the reports or the procedure. An integration of the ecosystem services concept would enhance the requisite variety of indicators used, and thus contribute to the overall goal for sustainable development. Potentials for improving IA lie particularly in the up- and downscaling of benefits and values, policy relevant comparative studies and the prospective possibilities for innovation in indicator development. Based on this rationale of improving requisite variety for future decision making, the emphasis lies on a further development of the ESS concept along two pathways of operationalisation: the translation of the concept for a comprehensive approach at a higher level of abstraction (soft application), and the application of the concept for providing aggregated, quantitative and unit-based information at different steps of an IA (hard application).

Regional and global assessments periodically update what we know, and highlight what remains to be known, about the linkages between people and nature that both define and depend upon the state of the environment. To guide research that better informs policy and practice, we systematically synthesize knowledge gaps from recent assessments of four regions of the globe and three key themes by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. We assess their relevance to global sustainability goals and trace their evolution relative to those identified in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. We found that global sustainability goals cannot be achieved without improved knowledge on feedbacks between social and ecological systems, effectiveness of governance systems and the influence of institutions on the social distribution of ecosystem services. These top research priorities have persisted for the 14 years since the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Our analysis also reveals limited understanding of the role of indigenous and local knowledge in sustaining nature’s benefits to people. Our findings contribute to a policy-relevant and solution-oriented agenda for global, long-term social-ecological research.

Ecosystem services (ES) mapping is becoming mainstream in many sustainability assessments, but its impact on real world decision-making is still limited. Robustness, end-user relevance and transparency have been identified as key attributes needed for effective ES mapping. However, these requirements are not always met due to multiple challenges, referred to here as bottlenecks, that scientists, practitioners, policy makers and users from other public and private sectors encounter along the mapping process. A selection of commonly encountered ES mapping bottlenecks that relate to seven themes: i) map-maker map-user interaction; ii) nomenclature and ontologies; iii) skills and background; iv) data and maps availability; v) methods-selection; vi) technical difficulties; and vii) over-simplification of mapping process/output. The authors synthesise the variety of solutions already applied by map-makers and map-users to mitigate or cope with these bottlenecks and discuss the emerging trade-offs amongst different solutions. Tackling the bottlenecks described here is a crucial first step towards more effective ES mapping, which can in turn ensure the adequate impact of ES mapping in decision-making.

The application of ecosystem service (ES) knowledge to planning processes and decision-making can lead to more effective climate change adaptation. Despite the increased attention given to the ES concept, its degree of integration and use in spatial planning processes are still below the expectations of those who are promoting this concept. Barriers hindering its operationalisation cover a span of aspects ranging from theoretical to procedural and methodological issues. Overall, there is a general lack of guidance on how and at what point ES knowledge should be integrated into planning processes. This study aims to promote the inclusion of ES knowledge into spatial planning practices and decision-making processes to enhance climate change adaptation. A replicable GIS-based methodology is proposed. First, the potential supply of ESs that can support climate change adaptation (ESCCAs) is defined, mapped, and quantified. Then, a need for an ESCCA supply is identified, and territorial capacities to respond to the expected climate change impacts on natural and socio-economic sectors are assessed. The methodology is applied to the Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region (Italy) as an illustrative case study. The results reveal that areas with similar geomorphological characteristics tend to respond similarly. Forest ecosystems, inland wetlands and specifically salt marshes can potentially supply a greater variety of ESCCAs. In the case study area, about 62% of the supplied ESCCAs can contribute to reducing the impacts in more than 50% of the impacted sectors. The territory of the study site generally shows good preparedness for expected impacts in most of the analysed sectors; less prepared areas are characterised by agricultural ecosystems. This reading approach based on land cover analyses can thus assist in developing policies to enhance different territorial capacities, ultimately leading to better and more sustainable decision-making.