Understanding the Role of Conceptual Frameworks: Reading the ecosystem service cascade

The aim of this paper is to identify the role of conceptual frameworks in operationalising and mainstreaming the idea of ecosystem services. It builds on some initial discussions from IPBES, which suggested that conceptual frameworks could be used to: ‘simplify thinking’, ‘structure work’, ‘clarify issues’, and ‘provide a common reference point’. The analysis uses the cascade model as a focus and looks at the way it has been used in recent published material and across a set of case studies from the EU-funded OpenNESS Project as a device for conceptual framing.

Open
Understanding the Role of Conceptual Frameworks: Reading the ecosystem service cascade

Related Resources

Global Mangrove Extent Change 1996–2020: Global Mangrove Watch Version 3.0
 Mangroves are a globally important ecosystem that provides a wide range of ecosystem system services, such as carbon capture and storage, coastal protection and fisheries enhancement. Mangroves have s[...]
Tags: extentlossmangrove forestsmangroves
Extinction Risk Assessment of the World’s Seagrass Species
 Seagrasses, a functional group of marine flowering plants rooted in the world’s coastal oceans, support marine food webs and provide essential habitat for many coastal species, playing a critical ro[...]
Tags: BiodiversityextinctionlossSeagrass
Long Distance Biotic Dispersal of Tropical Seagrass Seeds by Marine Mega-herbivores
 Terrestrial plants use an array of animals as vectors for dispersal, however little is known of biotic dispersal of marine angiosperms such as seagrasses. This study in the Great Barrier Reef confirms[...]
Tags: Ecosystem Benefitsecosystem servicesmarine mammalsmarine species
The Magnitude of Global Marine Species Diversity
 The question of how many marine species exist is important because it provides a metric for how much we do and do not know about life in the oceans. We have compiled the first register of the marine s[...]
Tags: marine mammalsmarine speciesmarine vertebratesocean
Ocean Acidification and Other Ocean Changes
 The world’s oceans have absorbed about 93% of the excess heat caused by greenhouse gas warming since the mid-20th century, making them warmer and altering global and regional climate feedbacks. Ocea[...]
Tags: Carbon EmissionsClimate ChangeGlobal carbon cycleOcean Acidification
The Global Flood Protection Benefits of Mangroves
 Coastal flood risks are rising rapidly. We provide high resolution estimates of the economic value of mangroves forests for flood risk reduction every 20 km worldwide. We develop a probabilistic, pr[...]
Mangroves as Feeding and Breeding Grounds
 Mangroves are considered as ecosystems that provide shelter, food and breeding grounds for many groups of inhabiting fauna. Much of the fauna present are organisms in different stages of their life cy[...]
Tags: BiodiversityEcosystem Benefitsecosystem servicesFisheries
Marine Ecosystem Services
 Marine ecosystems represent some of the most heavily exploited ecosystems throughout the world. For example, coastal zones make up just 4% of the earth’s total land area and 11% of the world’s oce[...]
Tags: Blue CarbonBlue Forestscoral reefsEcosystem Benefits