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Managing
Eco-Assets - The Sciences
Asset
management for ecosystem services depends on
combined science, policy & business expertise.
Management of ecological assets
begins with the management of ecosystem services through
a combined expertise in science, policy
and business.
These combining factors of management follow the developing
theories & practices of restoration ecology, as
well as conservation biology. In short, the management
of ecosystem services begins with understanding the
biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living)
characteristics of the local or regional ecosystem.
An eco-region represents
a more or less homogenous composite of topography, climate,
soils, land uses, and potential natural vegetation (PNV).
Eco-regions help agencies and land managers establish spatial
biological, chemical, and physical benchmarks useful in the
preservation, enhancement, restoration or creation (PERC)
of ecosystem services. According to U.S. EPA, eco-regions
"denote areas of general similarity in ecosystems and
in the type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources.
… These general purpose regions are critical for structuring
and implementing ecosystem management strategies across federal
agencies, state agencies, and non-government organizations
that are responsible for different types of resources within
the same geographical areas."
Scientists have debated the absolute
criteria on which eco-regional boundaries should be
established. This debate has led to competing systems
representing U.S. and global eco-regions. There are
currently four prominent systems developed from the
work of Bailey (1976 et seq), Omernik (1987), the Sierra
Club (date unknown) and the World Wildlife Fund / National
Geographic Society (2001). These systems present the
hierarchical structure of eco-regions in different ways,
as well as the details defining sub-regions.
Because humans depend
on ecosystems to provide clean air, clean water, productive
soils, and a diversity of plant and animal species, degradation
of ecosystem services has serious consequences at national
and global scales. These declines in ecosystem services can
be reversed by well-planned restoration efforts, but only
if tools are developed that are workable, acceptable to a
broad range of users, and that create sustainable outcomes.
Academicians at institutions
such as Columbia
University, Earth Institute or
University
of Wisconsin, Center for Restoration Ecology build on core disciplines
in earth sciences, biological sciences, engineering, economics,
social and health sciences in an effort to craft cross-disciplinary
approaches to complex problems of ecosystem PERC and management.
Through research, training and strategic partnerships these
organizations help to mobilize science and technology, to
develop the concepts, methods and tools necessary to achieve
ecological health & integrity, and to deliver a measure
of social / political stability stemming from improved, sustainable
ecosystem (hence, economic) productivity.
In tandem with government organizations, landowners,
industry, educational institutions and the public, tools &
protocols are developed to improve ecosystem restoration.
This is an iterative process that scientists
refer to as "adaptive". Restoration problems
are usually tackled by a team of biological, physical, and
social scientists, who work with other stakeholders to explore
management options, incorporate experiments into actual restoration
efforts, and evaluate the ecological and socio-economic outcomes
of their efforts.
The
Sciences Page 2
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