Faculty of Environment and Technology, University of the West of England, Frenchay Campus, Bristol, United Kingdom.
Integr Environ Assess Manag. 2013 Apr;9(2):252-9. doi: 10.1002/ieam.1386. Epub 2013 Feb 15.
A narrow technocentric focus on a few favored ecosystem services (generally provisioning services) has led to ecosystem degradation globally, including catchment systems and their capacities to support human well-being. Increasing recognition of the multiple benefits provided by ecosystems is slowly being translated into policy and some areas of practice, although there remains a significant shortfall in the incorporation of a systemic perspective into operation management and decision-making tools. Nevertheless, a range of ecosystem-based solutions to issues as diverse as flooding and green space provision in the urban environment offers hope for improving habitat and optimization of beneficial services. The value of catchment ecosystem processes and their associated services is also being increasingly recognized and internalized by the water industry, improving water quality and quantity through catchment land management rather than at greater expense in the treatment costs of contaminated water abstracted lower in catchments. Parallel recognition of the value of working with natural processes, rather than "defending" built assets when catchment hydrology is adversely affected by unsympathetic upstream development, is being progressively incorporated into flood risk management policy. This focus on wider catchment processes also yields a range of cobenefits for fishery, wildlife, amenity, flood risk, and other interests, which may be optimized if multiple stakeholders and their diverse value systems are included in decision-making processes. Ecosystem services, particularly implemented as a central element of the ecosystem approach, provide an integrated framework for building in these different perspectives and values, many of them formerly excluded, into commercial and resource management decision-making processes, thereby making tractable the integrative aspirations of sustainable development. This can help redress deeply entrenched inherited assumptions, habits, and vested interests, replacing them in many management situations with wider recognition of the multiple values of ecosystems and their services. Global interest in taking an ecosystem approach is promoting novel scientific and policy thinking, yet there is a shortfall in its translation into practical management tools. Professional associations may have key roles to play in breaking down barriers to the "mainstreaming" of systemic perspectives into common practice, particularly through joining u different sectors of society essential to their implementation and ongoing adaptive management.
对少数受青睐的生态系统服务（通常是供给服务）的狭隘技术中心主义关注导致了全球范围内的生态系统退化，包括集水区系统及其支持人类福祉的能力。越来越多的人认识到生态系统提供的多种效益，这些效益正在慢慢转化为政策和一些实践领域，尽管在将系统观点纳入运营管理和决策工具方面仍存在显著差距。尽管如此，一系列基于生态系统的解决方案，如城市环境中的洪水和绿色空间供应问题，为改善生境和优化有益服务提供了希望。集水区生态系统过程及其相关服务的价值也越来越被水务行业所认识和内化，通过集水区土地管理来提高水质和水量，而不是在处理集水区下游受污染的水的成本上花费更多。在集水区水文受到上游发展的不利影响时，认识到与自然过程合作的价值，而不是“保护”已建成的资产，这一观念也逐渐被纳入洪水风险管理政策中。这种对更广泛的集水区过程的关注还产生了一系列渔业、野生动物、舒适性、洪水风险和其他利益的共同效益，如果将多个利益相关者及其不同的价值体系纳入决策过程中，这些效益可能会得到优化。生态系统服务，特别是作为生态系统方法的核心要素实施，为在商业和资源管理决策过程中纳入这些不同的观点和价值观提供了一个综合框架，其中许多观点和价值观以前都被排除在外，从而使可持续发展的综合目标变得可行。这有助于纠正根深蒂固的传统假设、习惯和既得利益，在许多管理情况下，更广泛地认识到生态系统及其服务的多重价值。全球对采用生态系统方法的兴趣正在推动新的科学和政策思维，但在将其转化为实际管理工具方面仍存在不足。专业协会在将系统观点“主流化”为共同实践方面可能发挥关键作用，特别是通过联合社会各界实施和持续的适应性管理，这些社会各界对于实施生态系统方法至关重要。
