Ecosystem Services Assessment

What, exactly, is an ecosystem and how does it supply these valuable services? An ecosystem is a community of all living organisms (plants, animals, and more) and their interactions with the environment (water, air, and soil minerals). Ecosystems, and the many living things within them, give us products such as timber, purify our water, and pollinate our plants. Some ecosystem services have a well-known economic value like food; but others' value, such as aesthetic experiences, are much harder to quantify.

For example, estimates of water quality in a stream, wetland, or lake are based on an understanding of precipitation, topography, and land use in a watershed. The value of water purification services provided in that watershed can then be determined by estimating what it would cost to build and operate infrastructure to provide clean drinking water or healthy fish habitat.

Using the ABMI’s specialized ecological knowledge and expertise, the ESA project is enhancing and creating knowledge that will support better environmental management through regional planning, market-based approaches, and sustainability reporting. Its two main goals are to:

• Develop a system to assess and map ecosystem services across Alberta and
• Better understand how planning and management decisions affect the provision of ecosystem services.

Ecosystems are complex, making it difficult to evaluate the supply and value of services they provide. Initially, our assessment approach uses existing sources of information such as maps, inventories, and monitoring programs to determine the supply of each service across a region of interest. Ecosystem service assessments need to be grounded in science, easily understood, and cost effective.

Once the supply of an ecosystem service is estimated, the value calculation can then be based on how humans use or benefit from the service.