One Ecosystem :
Ecosystem Service Mapping
|
Corresponding author: Ina Maren Sieber (sieber@phygeo.uni-hannover.de)
Academic editor: Evangelia Drakou
Received: 27 Feb 2018 | Accepted: 06 Jun 2018 | Published: 12 Jun 2018
© 2018 Ina Maren Sieber, Paulo Borges, Benjamin Burkhard
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Sieber I, Borges P, Burkhard B (2018) Hotspots of biodiversity and ecosystem services: the Outermost Regions and Overseas Countries and Territories of the European Union. One Ecosystem 3: e24719. https://doi.org/10.3897/oneeco.3.e24719
|
|
The obligations of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2020 create a need for mapping and assessment of the state of biodiversity, ecosystems and their services in all European member states. Europe’s nine Outermost Regions (ORs) and 25 Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) are mainly islands, scattered around the globe. These territories contain unique flora and fauna and encompass diverse ecosystems, from coral reefs to rainforests. These highly diverse ecosystems provide multiple relevant ecosystem services from local to global scale. To date, the ecosystem services concept has so far received little attention in European ORs and OCTs. Therefore, our aims were (1) to analyse the current state of ecosystem services mapping and assessment in Europe’s overseas territories, (2) to identify knowledge gaps in the context of ecosystem service research and application and (3) to provide recommendations for future research and policy directions to fill these gaps. We conducted a systematic review of scientific literature for each of the ORs and OCTs, screening 1030 publications. The analysis resulted in 161 publications referring to ES mapping and assessment, of which most were conducted in the European Caribbean (31%) and Pacific (21%) territories. Results show that many ORs and OCTs are still blank spots in terms of ecosystem service mapping and assessment and that, despite many biodiversity studies referring to species’ abundance, little has been published on ecosystem services. Our systematic review highlights theknowledge lacking on dealing with invasive species, which pose major threats to native island biodiversity, ecosystem functions and ecosystem services. Further, it discusses knowledge gaps in (1) translation of information on island biodiversity and ecosystem functions into ES; (2) geographical coverage of mapping studies in most ORs and OCTs; (3) the lack of standardised approaches and integrated assessments to map, assess and value ecosystem services. Based on these results, future research and policy priorities could be adapted in order to focus on filling these gaps. To overcome current environmental policy challenges, it is crucial to address the ongoing decline in biodiversity, rising climatic and anthropogenic pressures on ecosystems and to maintain a sustainable ES flow to safeguard human well-being. Ultimately, ES mapping and assessment efforts will form the knowledge base for well-informed decision-making to protect Europe’s vulnerable overseas areas.
Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services, European Union, invasive species, review study
Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) have received growing attention within the European scientific, policy and practitioner communities to safeguard biodiversity and sustain land use management (
Extensive mapping and assessment efforts can be seen on the European mainland (e.g. EU-initiated initiatives and projects such as MAES, ESMERALDA*
Europe’s Outermost Regions (ORs) and Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) often seem to be overlooked in MAES efforts. ORs are territories located at distance from continental Europe but make up substantial parts of EU Member State’s territories. ORs include the Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands and the French Overseas departments of French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin, La Réunion and Mayotte. OCTs are territories that have a special bond with EU Member States of either France, United Kingdom, Denmark or the Netherlands. These 25 territories are associated by EU law rather than by constitutional law of an EU Member State (
The EU overseas areas are rich in biodiversity and natural resources, ranging from polar seas in Greenland, wetlands, coral reefs and volcanic islands to tropical forests (
Today, ecosystems in many ORs and OCTs are threatened. Temperate, semi-tropical and tropical oceanic islands have experienced serious lowland clearance, leading to land cover and land use changes, forcing the last remnants of pre-human pristine forest to higher elevations. In addition, the complex interplay between the EU Agriculture Policies (EU mainland-driven) and land use intensification in small territories have affected native ecosystems severely (
The EU has started to protect key ecosystem functions and services in terrestrial and marine overseas environments. In 2010, the European Parliament approved a Preparatory Action inspired by the voluntary scheme for Biodiversity and ES in Territories of European Overseas (BEST*
Despite these efforts, a review of EU-wide databases on ES and biodiversity, such as the Biodiversity Information System for Europe*
Therefore, this paper aims to assess the current state of knowledge on MAES in ORs and OCTs in more detail. We present a thorough literature analysis of published peer-reviewed scientific literature on the topic of MAES in EU Overseas to:
The paper is structured as follows: Section 2 describes the methodology used to structurally review the ES mapping and assessment efforts in Europe’s Overseas. Section 3 presents the results of the literature analysis on the topic, providing the baseline for current efforts, as well as touching upon the threat of invasive species jeopardising biodiversity and conservation efforts. Section 4 discusses the results in terms of geographical coverage of MAES in ORs and OCTS. Furthermore, this section presents current knowledge gaps, such as diverging conceptual frameworks, data and the need for comparability of ES mapping and assessment efforts. This section also provides an outlook for future research and guidance for enhanced policy-making concerning MAES in ORs and OCTs. Cross-cutting conclusions are drawn in Section 5.
Our systematic review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement (
The sources of relevant articles for this literature study were tripartite: First, peer-reviewed scientific literature, published in English language, was screened for publications on ES in ORs and OCTs. We selected Scopus (Elsevier) and Web of Science (Thomson Reuters), the two largest scientific databases for environmental and social sciences, for our search. Second, relevant scientific literature (published in English) designed to identify the current status of ES mapping and assessment was obtained from Google Scholar, including to some extent also grey literature. However, grey literature that was not publicly available or not published in English was not included in this review. As a third source, the review included policy documents and empirical studies that were presented during the first MAES OR&OCT expert workshop within the scope of the ESMERALDA EU Project in Ponta Delgada, Azores, from 28.02.-03.03.2017.
The publications were reviewed in four steps (see Fig.
Keywords used in this systematic literature review, searching the databases Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar (adjusted from
Keywords referring to ecosystem services |
Keywords referring to mapping |
Keywords referring to the ORs and OCTs |
“ecosystem” |
“mapping” |
Greenland |
“ecosystem services” |
“map” |
Saint-Pierre and Miquelon |
“ecosystem services assessment” |
“geospatial” |
Azores |
“ecosystem mapping” |
“geographic information system” |
Madeira |
“ecosystem service map” |
“GIS” |
Canary Islands |
“biodiversity” |
“landscape” |
Bermuda |
“biodiversity assessment” |
“cartography” |
British Virgin Islands |
“remote sensing” |
Anguilla |
|
Saint Martin |
||
Saint Barthélemy |
||
Guadeloupe |
||
Martinique |
||
Netherlands Antilles |
||
Aruba |
||
Montserrat |
||
Cayman Islands |
||
Turks and Caicos Islands |
||
French Guiana |
||
Wallis and Futuna |
||
French Polynesia |
||
Pitcairn |
||
New Caledonia |
||
Ascension Island |
||
Saint Helena |
||
Tristan da Cunha |
||
Falkland Islands (Malvinas) |
||
South Georgia and the Southern Sandwich Islands |
||
British Antarctic Territory (BAT) |
||
Adélie Land |
||
French Southern and Antarctic Territories (TAAF) |
||
Scattered Islands |
||
Mayotte |
||
Réunion |
||
British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) |
The screening provided 1030 papers divided over the global regions of Amazonia, Macaronesia, the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Pacific, Polar and Subpolar regions as well as the EU regions and territories in the South Atlantic (Fig.
In a second step, articles were catalogued and categorised, using an adjusted version of the ES mapping and modelling blueprint (
In addition, all publications were categorised according to the ES Cascade conceptual model (
The number of publications on biodiversity in ORs and OCTs has been growing exponentially (Fig.
Number of all screened publications in this review. (In step 4 of Fig.
The 161 ES mapping and assessment publications were spread over all 7 regions (Fig.
Geographical location of ES mapping and assessment studies in ORs and OCTs. All publications (n=161) obtained between April and June 2017 are included and divided by global regions. The map shows the number of case studies per region (number in brackets), their study type (top pie charts), scale of publication (middle pie charts) and group of ES assessed (bottom pie charts). Assessments at national or larger spatial scales are included in the map.
A higher number of studies was expected in the ORs, because of their closer legislative and administrative bonds with their respective EU Member States. However, this expected trend was not confirmed by the data. There were no clear differences between numbers of publications on ORs and OCTs or between northern or southern hemisphere. The numbers ranged from 4 publications in Guadeloupe to 18 on the Azores, which was the overall highest number on ES mapping and assessment-related studies in one of the regions considered in this review.
The majority of publications explicitly mentioned the ecosystem type in which the mapping activities took place (Fig.
Overview of ecosystem types described in the 161 ES mapping and assessment publications and the spatial extent at which they performed (global, multi-national, within the EU context, island group, island level or local). Publications that did not define any spatial scale of analysis were classified as 'undefined'.
After presenting the results of the systematic review of the mapping and assessment studies, a short overview of the information included in the publications is given. This overview elaborates the ES classification, spatial coverage as well as the enormous impacts of invasive species on ecosystems in ORs and OCTs. The 161 publications included 72 ES mapping studies, 85 ES assessment papers and 28 review papers (Fig.
Overview of the individual literature review data variables for Europes ORs and OCTs. Data variables include: (a) type of publication (192 counts); (b) spatial scale (161); (c) type of assessment (202); (d) ES Classifications used (168); (e) ES described in literature (233) and (f) input data used in publications (264). Multiple counts per study were possible.
The ES classification applied in the study was left undefined in 82 publications (48%). For the publications that defined the ES classification, authors mostly used the TEEB*
Spatial scales used to describe the individual ES in the publications were heterogeneous. 53 studies referred to global and multi-national scales. That means that more than half of all publications that describe ecosystems and their services used maps with comparably less detail and lower resolution. 12 publications mapped or valued ES for island groups and 40 publications referred to specific ORs and OCTs. Only 3 publications compared the ORs/OCTs and their respective EU Member States (e.g.
The results show that the number of ES mapping and assessment publications in European OR and OCTs has been constantly increasing. In the following, we will discuss past and current ES mapping and assessment efforts, knowledge gaps and future research needs.
In EU comparison, most ORs and OCTs still show slightly skewed publication numbers in a) geographical coverage and b) spatial scale.
a) In terms of geographical coverage, some regions have been mapped more than others. With 60 out of 161 publications, the Caribbean region is covered most extensively. However, as the Caribbean hosts 13 EU OCTs and ORs, this results in an average of 4.5 publications per region. In comparison, the Macaronesian region is only covered by 30 publications spread over 3 ORs, which results in a higher density of published studies with an average of 10 studies per OR. Furthermore, publications are not equally spread over the territories within each region. With a maximum of 18 mapping and assessment publications, this review found the Azores Archipelago leading in ES mapping and assessment efforts, a number that is average compared to continental Europe (
There are several explanations for the overall low number of publications mapping EU overseas. Firstly, the legal complexity of EU law in ORs and OCTs obscures the necessity to implement the EU Biodiversity Strategy overseas. Whereas ORs are obliged to implement all EU laws and legislation, the legal status of the OCTs can differ for each territory (
The lack of ES maps can be explained by three factors. Firstly by the fact that such efforts usually take place on local scales and refer more to policy than to scientific levels. Therefore, peer-reviewed publications are often lacking for ORs and OCTs. Even though this review considered grey literature, existing efforts that are of internal nature and not publicly available could not be included in this review. Secondly, the remoteness and relatively small size of most regions encroach upon the importance of ORs and OCTs, because their contribution to EU Member States is often small in terms of economic impact or benefits (
b) In terms of spatial scale, the review showed that mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services takes place on multiple scales, including local (e.g. provisioning ES of fishing capacity and effort (
We need to acknowledge that such global and multinational publications are important to provide a good overview and raise awareness on biodiversity and ES globally and multinationally. However, at policy level, it is important to understand where and what services are provided by an ecosystem, island, region or globally in order to monitor the achievement of policy goals (
Hence, both geographical and spatial coverage show fragmented ES mapping and assessment efforts in EU ORs and OCTs. Based on this fact and the general outcomes of the review, the following knowledge gaps were identifietd.
Several knowledge gaps related to dealing with diverging conceptual frameworks, lacking knowledge on mapping and assessing island ES, the role of key biodiversity areas and marine protected areas, applied methods as well as information sharing, were identified for the ORs and OCTs:
a) The lack of common conceptual frameworks to analyse ES seems to be obvious in ORs and OCTs. Rather, a broad variety of concepts was found within the publications. The European Commission has set up a common conceptual ES framework within the EU Biodiversity Strategy (
b) This literature review showed a general lack of knowledge on mapping island ecosystems and the services they provide. As the current MAES efforts mainly focus on specific ecosystems, adjusted for continental Europe, comprehensive island ES maps are lacking. This review shows that trends observed in ES research in ORs and OCTs differ from European MAES efforts. Most comparable (global) literature reviews have found a strong focus on regulating ES (e.g.
c) Mapping in ORs and OCTs has often been reduced to key biodiversity areas (KBA) or marine protected areas (MPA) (
local scale is acknowledged, however, the flexible nature of resources (fish stock, larvae), the pressure of invasive species and chemical and biological pollutants affecting protected coastal ecosystems and the often inadequate size of the parks are amongst the main criticisms (
d) Most of the reviewed studies were applying economic and biophysical/ecological mapping and assessment methods. ES supply and demand are, however, embedded in the complex human-environmental system, requiring transdisciplinary research approaches that integrate methods and value domains from ecological, economic and social sciences. Our review found that researchers often apply methods that they are familiar with. Moreover, data sets used for research might contain gaps. As already described by
e) In addition, ways to store information on ES such as related data, metadata, maps and the like differ. Existing EU platforms to share case studies and publications are largely unused for ORs and OCTs, as the screening of databases like BISE*
The role of invasive species in ORs and OCTs
Biological invasions are a shared problem in all regions – about 25% of all reviewed studies mentioned invasive species and ecosystem disservices linked to alien flora and fauna. With typically limited biodiversity on islands, invasive species can alter ecosystem structures and processes and hence impact the provision of ES (e.g.
Whereas non-native invasive species have long been recognised as the largest cause of species loss in island ecosystems, the link between alien species and ecosystem (dis)services has just recently been established (
The high number of publications on biodiversity and ecosystem conditions in ORs and OCTs clearly indicates the importance of flora, fauna and habitats of the ORs and OCTs. As the numbers of publications on invasive species showed, there is an urgent need for nature conservation action. Moreover, there is the need to understand the role of exotic and invasive species on both ES and disservices in island native and human-made habitats. It is also important to identify the role of native insect pollinators or native birds as promoters of disservices, namely on helping plant invasions through, for instance, seed dispersal.
This review has found no studies that were officially carried out under the umbrella of MAES. Only a few studies have effectively identified or defined the goods and services derived from ecosystems and only a fraction of these publications mapped or assessed the respective ES. Past and current efforts are still skewed in terms of geographical and spatial coverage and conceptual frameworks diverge. In addition, data and the process of translating biodiversity and environmental studies into ES maps have still not clearly been communicated. Combined, these three areas of concern lead to limited comparability of studies across the EU, the overseas regions, landscapes and amongst ES maps. Experts criticise that such a broad variability, in technical and contextual aspects, would make it difficult to assess the individual and political value of such studies (
To enhance comparability between ES mapping and assessment studies, developing a standardised approach or one-size-fits-all solution would be unfavourable for the ORs and OCTs. Due to their immense diversity and special needs, such standardised approaches or lessons learned from continental EU might fail to obtain the data on ES mapping and assessment needed to enhance local decision-making and natural resources management. Rather, a flexible, guidance-based approach based on the vast knowledge on ES mapping and assessment from around the world needs to be developed, taking into consideration the individual ORs' or OCTs' needs. We strongly believe that developing such a flexible guidance for mapping and assessing ES that focuses on smaller spatial scales and finer resolutions can enhance local resources management for multiple, interacting ES bundles and a sustainable land management and biodiversity conservation in ORs and OCTs.
To achieve the targets of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2020, a stronger emphasis on ES in the governance of ORs' and OCTs' natural resources and policy is needed. The MAES initiative needs much more exposure outside of continental Europe. Rather than solely placing the ES concept in the overseas policy plans of related EU Member States, the ES concept needs anchoring in national nature conservation and decision-making efforts as well as in local societies and cultures of the overseas regions, countries and territories. Voluntary programmes, such as the BEST initiative, are a step in the right direction. Capacity building amongst relevant stakeholders is required to transfer the ES concept from science into practice.
Our review shows that current efforts from within the regions as well as from the European Commission to strengthen MAES in ORs and OCTs are still scarce. Nonetheless, general scientific literature on ES mapping and assessment is growing. The NetBiome and EU-BEST projects mark a good beginning with their regional reports of ecosystem profiles and overviews of existing initiatives to protect ES and biodiversity for each region. However, even though there is much information on biodiversity and ecosystems for the seven global regions, a transparent translation into ES maps and assessments still needs to be done. Integrated, standardised ES assessments are often missing and mapping studies often entail scale-mismatches, conducted on global or multi-national scale. Hence, ES mapping and assessment still contribute little to policy and decision-making related to natural resources and conservation management on local or regional scales.
This literature review shows that efforts are still needed for most ORs and OCTs to meet the aims of Action 5 of Target 2 of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2020. Therefore, we call for the development of a more flexible, guidance-based approach for ES mapping and assessment of EU overseas, including researchers from multiple disciplines and sectors to provide a comprehensive overview of the current status of biodiversity, ecosystems and the services they provide. This requires strong emphasis on MAES from the ORs and OCTs, their related EU Member States as well as from the European Commission. The ESMERALDA project has developed the scientific and methodological background (e.g.
To reach the EU Biodiversity Strategy's target of EU wide, comprehensive maps of ecosystems and their services and the integration of such ES values into national accounting systems by 2020, urgent actions are needed in ORs and OCTs, as overexploitation of natural resources and degradation of habitats through invasive species proceed unaltered. With proceeding climatic change, ES are a suitable tool to promote the protection of coastal habitats and natural protection structures. ES maps can raise awareness, reveal ES supply-demand mismatches and thereby reduce vulnerability of EU overseas areas.
This study was funded by the Coordination and Support Action ESMERALDA. This project receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 642007.
IMS and BB conceived the study. IMS and BB designed the sampling strategy. The literature review was performed by IMS. IMS created the maps and wrote main parts of the paper, with input from all authors. IMS, BB and PAVB contributed to readjustments on previous drafts.
all studies were conducted between 1991 and 2017 .
e.g. Caribbean (http://campam.gcfi.org/CaribbeanMPA/CaribbeanMPA.php)