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Guy Broucke
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Pretoria Office, RSA
Environmental Conservation and
Ecosystem Services in River Basins
Transboundary Water Management Workshop:
Orange-Senqu and Zambezi Basins
Integrated?
Sustainable?
Really?
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Environment – a sector?
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ECOSYSTEM
SERVICES?
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Ecosystem Services = Benefits
people obtain from ecosystems
Provisioning services
� Food
� Freshwater
� Wood fuel
� Timber
� Fibre
� Genetic Resources
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Ecosystem Services = Benefits
people obtain from ecosystems
Regulating Services
� Climate Regulation
� Flood Regulation
� Disease Regulation
� Water Purification
� Waste assimilation
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Ecosystem Services = Benefits
people obtain from ecosystems
Cultural Services
� Aesthetic
� Spiritual
� Educational
� Recreational
� Social Relations
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ECOSYSTEMS APPROACH
MAINSTREAMING
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES?
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What is Mainstreaming
Ecosystem Services?
� Integrating or incorporating actions
related to conservation and sustainable
use of biodiversity into strategies relating
to production sectors, such as
agriculture, fisheries, forestry, tourism and
mining
� Including biodiversity considerations in
poverty reduction plans and national
sustainable development plans
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Mainstreaming Ecosystem Services
� Requires an understanding and acceptance of
the importance of a healthy environment to well-
functioning production sectors
� Requires mechanisms (e.g. inter-agency
taskforces; coordinating committees etc;), the
will and ability to identify win-win situations
� Requires an extensive strategy of
communication, education and public
awareness
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Ecosystem Approach =
Integrated Management Strategy
� The ecosystem approach is a strategy for
the integrated management of land, water
and living resources that promotes
conservation and sustainable use in an
equitable way.
� Thus, the application of the ecosystem
approach helps to reach a balance of the
three objectives of the CBD:
� conservation;
� sustainable use; and
� the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits
arising out of the utilization of genetic resources
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ECOSYSTEM
APPROACH
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Principles of Ecosystem Approach
(CBD)
Principle 1:
� The objectives of management of land, water and living resources are a matter of societal choice
Principle 2:
� Management should be decentralized to the lowest appropriate level (subsidiarity)
Principle 3:
� Ecosystem managers should consider the external effects (actual or potential) of their activities on adjacent and other ecosystems.
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Principles of Ecosystem Approach
Principle 4:
� Recognizing potential gains from management,
there is usually a need to understand and
manage the ecosystem in an economic
context. Any such ecosystem-management
programme should:
a) Reduce those market distortions that adversely affect biological
diversity;
b) Align incentives to promote biodiversity conservation and
sustainable use;
c) Internalize costs and benefits in the given ecosystem to the
extent feasible.
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Principles of Ecosystem Approach
Principle 5:
� Conservation of ecosystem structure and functioning, in order to maintain ecosystem services, should be a priority target of the ecosystem approach
Principle 6:
� Ecosystems must be managed within the limits of
their functioning
Principle 7:
� The ecosystem approach should be undertaken
at the appropriate spatial and temporal scales
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Principles of Ecosystem Approach
Principle 8:
� Recognizing the varying temporal scales and lag-effects that characterize ecosystem processes, objectives for ecosystem management should be set for the long term
Principle 9:
� Management must recognize that change is inevitable
Principle 10:
� The ecosystem approach should seek the appropriate balance between, and integration of, conservation and use of biological diversity
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Principles of Ecosystem Approach
Principle 11:
� The ecosystem approach should consider all
forms of relevant information, including
scientific and indigenous and local knowledge,
innovations and practices
Principle 12:
� The ecosystem approach should involve all
relevant sectors of society and scientific
disciplines
TOOLS
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Drivers of Biodiversity Loss
Biodiversity Loss
HabitatChange
ClimateChange
InvasiveSpecies
Over-exploitation
Nutrients& pollution
EconomicDemo-graphic
Socio-political
Cultural &religious
Science &Technology
Indirect drivers
Direct drivers
Example of recording sheetfor status of drivers of biodiversity loss
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Habitat
Change
Climate
Change
Invasive
Species
Over-
exploitation
Nutrients
& pollution
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Provisioning Services
Food crops ����livestock ����capture fisheries ����aquaculture ����wild foods ����
Fiber timber +/–
cotton, silk +/–
wood fuel ����Genetic resources ����Biochemicals, medicines ����Fresh water ����
Regulating Services
Air quality regulation ����Climate regulation – global ����Climate– regional and local ����Water regulation +/–
Erosion regulation ����Water / waste treatment ����Disease regulation +/–
Pest regulation ����Pollination ����Natural hazard regulation ����
Cultural Services
Spiritual / religious values ����Aesthetic values ����Recreation and ecotourism +/–
15 of 24 ecosystem
services are in decline
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Operational Objectives for
Ecosystem Approach Management
(1) Develop broad Stakeholder-Based
Governance system
(2) Conserve essential Parts of the ecosystem
(3) Conserve essential ecosystem Processes
Question, if (2) is done well, is (3) necessary?
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Basic Steps Towards Developing
Mechanisms for Conserving
Ecosystem Services
The process can be done in an iterative way
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Operational Guidance for
Mainstreaming Ecosystems Services
1. Focus on the functional relationships and
processes within ecosystems
2. Enhance benefit-sharing
3. Use adaptive management practices
4. Carry out management actions at the
scale appropriate for the issue being
addressed, with decentralization to lowest
level, as appropriate
5. Ensure inter-sectoral cooperation
Integrated Water Resource
Management
Environmental Management Examples for
Water Basin Management
� Maintaining environmental flows
� Pollution control
� Ecohydrology and phytoremediation
� Habitat rehabilitation.
� Conjunctive use of surface and
groundwater
� Watershed management
� Water demand management
� Payment for ecosystem services
© IISD 2011
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THANK YOU
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