Valuing green infrastructure in an urban environment under pressure — The Johannesburg case

This article considers the importance of robust planning for green infrastructure in fast changing Southern African cities. A key theme is the extent to which ecosystem services are valued publicly, and the opportunity costs of not investing in the green infrastructure. We explore green infrastructure through pairing insights of social–ecological resilience with perspectives on urban infrastructure transitions. By converging these views, we show how green infrastructure can be viewed as an innovative response to challenged urban environments.Through a Johannesburg case study, a number of ecosystem services constitute sources of resilience for an otherwise constrained city. While this is positive and to be valorised, many South African cities are in the midst of service delivery protests, so that resilient ecosystems, and the citizen networks that sustain these, are largely overlooked in planning processes.This article offers three key conclusions. First, a proper understanding of green infrastructure requires blending insights from social–ecological system thinking and infrastructure transition scholarship. Second, there is a paucity of knowledge around ecosystem services in Johannesburg, and that the planning to facilitate ecosystem service valuation is largely inadequate. Third, addressing this requires ecosystem valuations relevant to the unique conditions in developing world cities such as Johannesburg.     

生态智慧引导下的城市公园绿地韧性测度 体系构建

绿色基础设施是城市韧性研究的重要组成部分，是 城市韧性的重要支撑。城市公园绿地通过提供多种生态系统服 务功能来增强城市的可持续性和韧性。对城市公园绿地韧性的 测度研究是探索城市韧性研究的微观路径。从生态智慧研究中 获得启发，重新理解“社会生态系统韧性”“干扰”等含义， 尝试将“社会生态系统韧性”与“生态系统服务”理论进行关 联研究，通过生态系统服务来表征社会生态系统韧性的本质内 涵，基于生态系统服务供需匹配构建城市公园绿地韧性测度 的体系框架，并提出通过多情景规划的路径达到“供需动态匹 配”，进而实现城市韧性提升的目标。通过生态系统服务供需 匹配构建城市公园绿地韧性的测度体系，为城市韧性提供了一 种新的研究思路和方法途径。     

More than total economic value: How to combine economic valuation of biodiversity with ecological resilience

The assessment of total economic value has become a pragmatic and popular approach in nature valuation, yet criticisms have been raised. One major point of critique is that total economic value bases the monetary value of ecosystems purely on the flow of human benefits of services of ecosystems and consequently ignores questions of sustainable use of natural capital per se. This paper explains why total economic value by itself is in principle an inadequate concept to guide sustainable use of ecosystems and gives an overview of essential ecological theory that needs to be taken into account in addition to total economic value to fully include ecosystem sustainability. The paper concludes with a framework for combining ecological theory with economic valuation. The key elements here are theoretical ecological insights about ecosystem resilience and portfolio theory which offers an economic perspective on investment in biodiversity. Portfolio theory puts total economic value in a framework where investment in biodiversity is expanded to cover functional diversity and mobile link species in order to maintain ecosystem resilience and so fosters sustainable use of ecosystems.     

城市生态景观的公众理解及差异研究

城市化的快速发展给人类生产和生活带来极大便利,同时也导致了明显的生态问题,城市生态景观建设因此得到了政府、专家和公众的重视。通过问卷调查的方式,系统研究了公众对生态景观内涵和特征的理解、生态景观设计中存在的问题和面临的挑战、以及生态景观的定量评价指标。结果表明,公众对生态景观建设有很高的期望值,但在生态系统结构和功能、能源和材料利用等方面需要加强宣传和教育。公众的学历和居住地对生态景观的理解有明显的影响,而个人收入的影响相对较小。本研究定量刻画了城市生态景观的公众理解现状,也为进一步更加深入的人类学特征分析提供了基础数据,为完善生态景观的理论和方法提供了参考和依据。     

Reaching for a sustainable,resilient urban future using the lens of ecosystem services

Based on recent research on erosion of ecosystem services, planetary boundaries and predicted pace of urbanization, it is now apparent that humans need to reconnect to the biosphere and that cities in this context, properly managed, could provide great opportunities and arenas for social ecological change and transformation towards sustainability To take advantage of these opportunities one needs to keep in mind that most of the ecosystem services consumed in cities are generated by ecosystems located outside of the cities themselves, not seldom half a world away. In order to operationalize our knowledge, hypothesis and theories on the connections between the work of nature and the welfare and survival of humans over time, we suggest the use of the ecosystem service framework in combination with the merging of the concept “ecology in cities”, mainly focusing on designing energy efficient building, sustainable logistics and providing inhabitants with healthy and functioning green urban environments, and the “ecology of cities”. The “ecology of cities” framework acknowledges the total dependence of cities on the surrounding landscape and the ever-ongoing dance between urban and rural, viewing the city as an ecosystem.     

基于生态服务-生态健康综合评估的 城市生态保护规划研究

人类对自然保护的认知和理念决定了生态保护的方法 与手段。20世纪60年代至今，人们对生态保护的认识经历了4 个阶段，其中以维持自然为核心的物种保护法和以生态服务为 核心的生态功能法是当前生态保护规划的2种主流方法。从城市 生态环境特征、生态问题和生态需求分析入手，提出了基于生 态服务-生态健康(ES-EH)综合评估的城市生态保护方法。以 哈尔滨空港新城为例，选取影响重大的6个生态因子，以加权叠 加法识别出生态保护区范围。研究结果表明：划定的10.36% 的保护区保留了53.49%的生态调节、89.04%的文化服务和 15.69%的生态支持功能，以及71.85%的重要生态结构和 61.91%的生态高恢复力地区。在城市扩张过程中如何科学保 护现存的生态资源意义重大，研究结果可为国土空间规划“双 评价”及城市生态保护提供依据和参考。     

Economic Analysis for Ecosystem Service Assessments

The paper seeks to contribute to the expanding literature on ecosystem service assessment by considering its integration with economic analyses of such services. Focussing upon analyses for future orientated policy and decision making, we initially consider a single period during which ecological stocks are maintained at sustainable levels. The flow of ecosystems services and their contribution to welfare bearing goods is considered and methods for valuing resultant benefits are reviewed and illustrated via a case study of land use change. We then broaden our time horizon to discuss the treatment of future costs and benefits. Finally we relax our sustainability assumption and consider economic approaches to the incorporation of depleting ecological assets with a particular focus upon stocks which exhibit thresholds below which restoration is compromised.     

东道国政治风险对企业对外直接投资绩效的影响——基于企业风险管理能力与东道国自由裁量权的联合调节效应

小微湿地是城市景观中的重要组成部分,研究其空 间分布特征,并从文化与生态2个方面定量估算其服务价值 对引导改善城市人居环境具有重要意义。以南昌市中心城区 小微湿地为研究对象,借助ArcGIS平台开展小微湿地的空间 核密度分析,揭示小微湿地的空间分布特征;以条件价值法 (CVM)、影子工程法(SPA)和市场价值法(MVM)等分别计 量文化与生态服务价值。结果表明：城市小微湿地空间分布不 均衡,主要集中在公园和居住区的差异性格局,受城市规划建 设影响显著;借助CVM方法计量小微湿地的水资源保护、游 憩、景观、科普教育的文化服务价值,通过SPA、MVM等方 法对小微湿地涵养水源、调蓄雨洪、固碳、释氧、降尘等生态 价值进行了估算,研究区2019年小微湿地文化生态服务总价 值为1.469亿元。与其他类型的生态系统相比,小微湿地具有更 高的单位面积文化生态服务价值量,约19.74万元/(hm2 ·a)。 基于以上结果提出对策,旨在构建可持续的城市小微湿地系 统,为城市规划和建设提供新的途径和参考。     

中国矿业能源生态效率差异及动态演进

基于中国矿业2007—2016年的面板数据,使用SBM窗口分析法测算我国采矿业的静态能源生态效率,通过Malmquist-Luenberger指数分析我国采矿业能源生态效率的动态演进特征,研究发现：①采矿业整体能源生态效率水平偏低,离最优生产前沿还有47.3%的改进空间,6个分行业差异显著。矿业投入的冗余率较高。②矿业整体能源生态效率年均增长8%,技术效率和技术进步分别增长-2%和11%。6个分行业的能源生态效率都在上升,但程度不同,在驱动效率提升方面也各有差异。     

Bringing Ecosystem Services into the Real World: An Operational Framework for Assessing the Economic Consequences of Losing Wild Nature

Policy action to halt the global loss of biodiversity and ecosystems is hindered by the perception that it would be so costly as to compromise economic development, yet this assumption needs testing. Inspired by the recent Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, the leaders of the G8+5 nations commissioned a similar assessment of the economics of losing biodiversity, under the Potsdam Initiative on Biodiversity. Here, we propose a conceptual framework for such a global assessment which emphasizes several critical insights from the environmental economics and valuation literature: contrasting counterfactual scenarios which differ solely in whether they include specific conservation policies; identifying non-overlapping benefits; modeling the production, flow, use and value of benefits in a spatially-explicit way; and incorporating the likely costs as well as possible benefits of policy interventions. Tackling these challenges, we argue, will significantly enhance our ability to quantify how the loss of benefits derived from ecosystems and biodiversity compares with the costs incurred in retaining them. We also summarise a review of the current state of knowledge, in order to assess how quickly this framework could be operationalized for some key ecosystem services.     

梅州市森林生态系统服务价值评估

森林是陆地生态系统的主体,森林生态系统服务功能是森林生态系统与生态过程所形成及所维持人类赖以生存的自然环境条件与效用。文章采用产量—价格法、直接市场法、影子工程法、机会成本法等研究方法,评估了梅州市森林生态系统服务价值。结果表明：梅州市森林生态服务年流量价值180.679×10^8元,其中年生态价值为177.679×10^8元,是直接经济价值3.00×10^8元的59倍,社会价值只有14.89×10^8元。文章旨在强调森林的生态功能,对梅州市的环境保护和生态建设及森林生态系统的管理具有一定的参考价值。     

The quantification and valuation of ecosystem services

This paper explores differences between economic and ecological criteria for identifying, measuring, and evaluating ecosystem services. It argues that economic stakeholders (user groups) generally do well in identifying these services and assigning prices to them. These prices arise spontaneously in—and serve to coordinate—market activity related to the environment. The relevant ecological information which markets gather and apply tends to be dispersed, contingent, particular, local, transitory, and embedded in institutions and practices. Ecologists and other scientists, in contrast, often seek to understand how ecosystems work and which populations and processes provide ecosystem services. The knowledge science seeks, unlike the information markets gather, tends to be centralized, collaborative, collective, and consensus-based; science pursues concepts and principles that are timeless and general rather than ephemeral and site-specific. The paper contrasts the dispersed and decentralized information organized by markets with the collective and centralized knowledge characteristic of science. The paper argues that the conceptual distance between market-based and science-based methods of assembling information and applying knowledge defeats efforts to determine the “value” of ecosystem services in any integrated sense.     

水生态系统服务供需视角下的水网乡村 适应性规划策略——以吴江张鸭荡片区为例

苏南乡村地区一直是中国乡村建设的先行区域，特殊的纵横交错的水网结构构成了一个错综复杂的系统，呈现出其他地区不具有的复杂性和生态特殊性。随着城镇的扩张，乡村的发展建设使其水网空间的平衡发展面临极大的挑战。传统单一静态的规划方法逐渐显示出无法适应经济、社会等发展要求的缺陷。苏南乡村地区以水为核心，从水生态系统服务供需关系的视角下探究水网乡村的适应性规划策略更加适应当前的乡村现状和需求。以传统水网乡村空间形态转译为基础，建立水生态系统供需服务评估体系，在评估水生态系统服务供需能力的基础上，分析供需分异模式及供需矛盾。从构建乡村水域空间生态格局、乡村水域空间功能分区规划，以及乡村水域空间多情景预判3个方面，提出苏南水网乡村的适应性规划策略，并为水网乡村的生态实践提出新思路。     

循环经济与城市生态系统

循环经济与城市生态系统之间存在着有机联系。循环经济是从资源、生产、消费、废物利用等环节实现闭环型物质流动模式的经济方式;而城市生态系统源于生物生态学,将自然生态系统、经济系统和社会系统,依照生态学的原理将它们有机地联系起来,既促进经济的健康发展,又能实现城市生态文明。     

Ecosystem services and dis-services to agriculture

Agricultural ecosystems are actively managed by humans to optimize the provision of food, fiber, and fuel. These ecosystem services from agriculture, classified as provisioning services by the recent Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, depend in turn upon a web of supporting and regulating services as inputs to production (e.g., soil fertility and pollination). Agriculture also receives ecosystem dis-services that reduce productivity or increase production costs (e.g., herbivory and competition for water and nutrients by undesired species). The flows of these services and dis-services directly depend on how agricultural ecosystems are managed and upon the diversity, composition, and functioning of remaining natural ecosystems in the landscape. Managing agricultural landscapes to provide sufficient supporting and regulating ecosystem services and fewer dis-services will require research that is policy-relevant, multidisciplinary and collaborative. This paper focuses on how ecosystem services contribute to agricultural productivity and how ecosystem dis-services detract from it. We first describe the major services and dis-services as well as their key mediators. We then explore the importance of scale and economic externalities for the management of ecosystem service provision to agriculture. Finally, we discuss outstanding issues in regard to improving the management of ecosystem services and dis-services to agriculture.     

Integrating ecosystem services into conservation assessments: A review

A call has been made for conservation planners to include ecosystem services into their assessments of conservation priority areas. The need to develop an integrated approach to meeting different conservation objectives and a shift in focus towards human wellbeing are some of the motivations behind this call. There is currently no widely accepted approach to planning for ecosystem services. This study contributes towards the development of this approach through a review of conservation assessments and the extent to which they include ecosystem services. Of the 476 conservation assessments identified by a set of search terms on the Web of Science, 100 were randomly selected for this review. Of these only seven had included ecosystem services, while another 13 had referred to ecosystem services as a rationale for conservation without including them in the assessment. The majority of assessments were based on biodiversity pattern data while 19 used data on ecological processes. A total of 11 of these 19 assessments used processes, which could be linked to services. Ecosystem services have witnessed an increase in attention received in conservation assessments since the year 2000, however trends were not apparent beyond this date. In order to assess which types of ecosystem services and how they have been accounted for in conservation assessments, we extended our review to include an additional nine conservation assessments which included ecosystem services. The majority included cultural ecosystem services, followed by regulatory, provisioning and supporting services respectively. We conclude with an analysis of the constraints and opportunities for the integration of ecosystem services into conservation assessments and highlight the urgent need for an appropriate framework for planning for ecosystem services.     

Dynamic modeling of environmental amenity-driven migration with ecological feedbacks

Environmental amenity-driven migration presents a double-edged sword to policy makers concerned with both economic and ecological sustainability. Clearly the protection of environmental amenities is important, but what is the right balance between ecosystem protection and regional economic processes that simultaneously respond to and degrade ecological resources? We consider this question in the context of households that are attracted to a region by urban and lake amenities and a lake ecosystem that becomes degraded by land development. An analytical expression for the time evolution of population is derived from households' and firms' optimizing behaviors. Numerical methods with phase plane diagrams are used to study the steady state and transient dynamics of the resulting population-phosphorus coupled system. The system is found to be bi-stable under a range of parameter values with one attractor corresponding to a desired “balanced” economy-ecology state and the other to a very small population base with fully restored ecology. We examine the dynamics and quantify the resilience of the system in and away from the balanced steady state using phase plane diagrams that demarcate the two domains of attraction. Economic-ecological interactions fundamentally alter regional economic dynamics and influence the resilience of the balanced domain of attraction. For example, a one percent increase in the loadings coefficient associated with residential land development generates a three percent decline in the resilience of the balanced state. We find that economic feedbacks often increase system resilience. Initial increases in the attraction of urban amenities spur greater population growth that increases the resilience of the balanced state. In addition, price feedbacks that arise from capitalized (dis)amenities increase the resilience of the system to bad ecological shocks.     

Appraisal of the vegetation-based services for cropland ecosystems： a case study of a high-yielding county in North China

1. Introduction Ecosystem services are explicitly defined as “the natural environmental conditions and effects upon which people rely for existence that are formed and maintained by ecosystems and ecological processes” [1] . The valuation of ecosystem goods and services has become an important issue in the field of envi- ronmental protection and sustainable development, which also represents one aspect of the United Na- tions Millennium Assessment. At present, the re- search associated wit…     

产业集聚、产业多样化与城市经济韧性关系研究

2008年金融危机对全球多个国家经济发展造成巨大冲击,我国许多沿海外向型城市面临国外订单需求不足、行业内人才流失以及厂房闲置等问题,体现出城市经济韧性能力的重要性。针对不同城市在面对外部冲击时表现出的城市经济韧性能力差异,重点研究产业集聚、产业多样化与城市经济韧性之间的关系,并将产业多样化划分为产业相关多样化和产业无关多样化,运用基准回归和稳健性检验分析两种划分对城市经济韧性的影响。结果表明,产业集聚与城市经济韧性之间呈U型关系,产业相关多样化与城市经济韧性之间呈倒U型关系,产业无关多样化与城市经济韧性呈倒U型关系。最后从破除区域间分权壁垒角度提出政策建议。     

Towards a consistent approach for ecosystem accounting

In spite of an increasing interest in environmental economic accounting, there is still very limited experience with the integration of ecosystem services and ecosystem capital in national accounts. This paper identifies four key methodological challenges in developing ecosystem accounts: the definition of ecosystem services in the context of accounting, their allocation to institutional sectors; the treatment of degradation and rehabilitation, and valuing ecosystem services consistent with SNA principles. We analyze the different perspectives taken on these challenges and present a number of proposals to deal with the challenges in developing ecosystem accounts. These proposals comprise several novel aspects, including (i) presenting an accounting approach that recognizes that most ecosystems are strongly influenced by people and that ecosystem services depend on natural processes as well as human ecosystem management; and, (ii) recording ecosystem services as either contributions of a private land owner or as generated by a sector ’Ecosystems’ depending on the type of ecosystem service. We also present a consistent approach for recording degradation, and for applying monetary valuation approaches in the context of accounting.