Rebelo Alanna J, Holden Petra B, Esler Karen, New Mark G
Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
African Climate and Development Initiative, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
R Soc Open Sci. 2021 Apr 28;8(4):201402. doi: 10.1098/rsos.201402.
Investments to promote sustainable land-use within critical river catchment areas are often undertaken to provide benefits to society. Investments generally aim to protect or restore ecological infrastructure-the underlying framework of ecosystems, functions and processes that supply ecosystem services-for multiple benefits to society. However, the empirical evidence base from studies across the world on both mechanisms and outcomes to support these assumptions is limited. We collate evidence on the benefits of ecological infrastructure interventions, in terms of ecosystem services provided to society, from three major South African water-providing catchments using a novel framework. In these catchments, millions of US Dollars' worth of investments have been made into ecological infrastructure since 1996. We ask the question: is there evidence that ecological infrastructure interventions are delivering the proposed benefits? Results show that even in catchments with substantial, long-term financial investment into ecological infrastructure, research has not empirically confirmed the benefits. Better baseline data collection is required, and monitoring during and after ecological infrastructure interventions, to quantify benefits to society. This evidence is needed to leverage investment into ecological infrastructure interventions at scale. Investment at scale is needed to transition to more sustainable land-use to unlock greater benefits to nature and people.
在关键河流集水区内促进可持续土地利用的投资通常是为了给社会带来益处。投资一般旨在保护或恢复生态基础设施——即提供生态系统服务的生态系统、功能及过程的基础框架——以实现对社会的多重效益。然而，全球范围内关于支持这些假设的机制和结果的实证证据基础有限。我们使用一个新颖的框架，整理了来自南非三个主要供水集水区的、关于生态基础设施干预措施在为社会提供生态系统服务方面所带来益处的证据。自1996年以来，在这些集水区已对生态基础设施投入了价值数百万美元的资金。我们提出一个问题：是否有证据表明生态基础设施干预措施正在带来预期的效益？结果表明，即便在对生态基础设施进行了大量长期资金投入的集水区，研究也尚未从实证上证实这些效益。需要更好地收集基线数据，并在生态基础设施干预期间及之后进行监测，以量化对社会的效益。要大规模撬动对生态基础设施干预措施的投资，就需要这些证据。要向更可持续的土地利用转型以释放对自然和人类的更大效益，则需要大规模投资。
