Ecosystem Services and Global Trade of Natural Resources

Ecosystem Services and Global Trade of Natural Resources
Author: Thomas Koellner
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 331
Release: 2013-06-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1136723528

The utilization of natural resources to satisfy worldwide growing consumption of goods and services has severe ecological consequences. Aside from the projected doubling of food consumption in the next fifty years, the growing trade of biofuels and other commodities is a global challenge as the economic activities in the primary sector (i.e. mining, fisheries, aquaculture, forestry and agriculture) can damage biodiversity and ecosystem services. This should be taken into account in the decision-making affecting the global value chains linking consumer, retailer, processor, and producer in the North and the South. To cover the topic of ecosystem services and global trade this book is organized into four major parts. Part 1 gives the theoretical framework from an ecological, economic and political perspectives. Part 2 explores how internationally traded biophysical commodities from agriculture, forestry and fisheries translates into a virtual flow of land, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. Part 3 describes how two widely used accounting tools (i.e., Life Cycle Assessment and Green National Accounts) deal with international aspects of ecosystem services, and Part 4 shows how instruments like labelling, bans, or payments for ecosystem services in the private and public sector can influence trade patterns and the management of ecosystem services. This collection is a valuable contribution to the global change science dealing with ecosystem services. It illustrates the consequences of international trade on global ecosystem services and provides an overview of accounting tools and of market-based policy instruments to address negative and positive externalities. The book is certainly innovative, because it brings together research findings from distinct disciplines especially Industrial Ecology and Ecosystem Sciences, as well as Environmental Economics and Political Science.

Ecosystem Services

Ecosystem Services
Author: Sander Jacobs
Publisher: Elsevier Science Limited
Total Pages: 422
Release: 2013-11-25
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9780124199644

Ecosystem Services: Global Issues, Local Practices is a hands-on, transdisciplinary reflection on ecosystem services directed toward the future development of research, practice, and implementation by professionals. The diversity of values assigned to ecosystems and their services are used to inform policy from local to global scales."--Publisher description.

Soil Ecology and Ecosystem Services

Soil Ecology and Ecosystem Services
Author: Diana H. Wall
Publisher:
Total Pages: 422
Release: 2013-07-18
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0199688168

This multi-contributor, international volume synthesizes contributions from the world's leading soil scientists and ecologists, describing cutting-edge research that provides a basis for the maintenance of soil health and sustainability. The book covers these advances from a unique perspective of examining the ecosystem services produced by soil biota across different scales - from biotic interactions at microscales to communities functioning at regional and global scales. The book leads the user towards an understanding of how the sustainability of soils, biodiversity, and ecosystem services can be maintained and how humans, other animals, and ecosystems are dependent on living soils and ecosystem services. This is a valuable reference book for academic libraries and professional ecologists worldwide as a statement of progress in the broad field of soil ecology. It will also be of interest to both upper level undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in soil ecology, as well as academic researchers and professionals in the field requiring an authoritative, balanced, and up-to-date overview of this fast expanding topic.

Ecosystem Services and Global Ecology

Ecosystem Services and Global Ecology
Author: Levente Hufnagel
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2018-09-19
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1789237386

The aim of Ecosystem Services and Global Ecology is to give an overview and report from the frontiers of research of this important and interesting multidisciplinary area. Ecosystem services as a concept plays a key role in solving global environmental and human ecological crises and associated other problems, especially today when the sixth major extinction event of the history of the biosphere is in progress, and humanity can easily become a victim of it. Human activity is rapidly transforming the surface of the Earth, its biosphere, atmosphere, soil, and water resources. Ecological processes happen over a long time scale, thus damage caused by human activity will be perceptible after decades or even centuries. We hope that our book will be interesting and useful for researchers, lecturers, students, and anyone interested in this field.

Climate Change and Its Impact on Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity in Arid and Semi-Arid Zones

Climate Change and Its Impact on Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity in Arid and Semi-Arid Zones
Author: Karmaoui, Ahmed
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 432
Release: 2019-02-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1522573887

Ecosystems provide services that are crucial and beneficial to the human population. The management and conservation of these services can assure the wellbeing of the local population. Climate Change and Its Impact on Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity in Arid and Semi-Arid Zones is an essential reference source that studies the effects of climate change on biodiversity and ecosystem services in dry regions and examines various strategic local, national, and international policy developments to help overcome these impacts. Featuring research on topics such as poverty reduction, climate change, and adaption policies, this book is ideally designed for environmentalists, policymakers, government officials, academicians, researchers, and technology developers who want to improve their understanding of climate change impact, vulnerability, and sustainability, and the strategic role of adaptation and mitigation.

The Law and Policy of Ecosystem Services

The Law and Policy of Ecosystem Services
Author: J. B. Ruhl
Publisher: Island Press
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2013-03-19
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1597267694

The Law and Policy of Ecosystem Services is the first comprehensive exploration of the status and future of natural capital and ecosystem services in American law and policy. The book develops a framework for thinking about ecosystem services across their ecologic, geographic, economic, social, and legal dimensions and evaluates the prospects of crafting a legal infrastructure that can help build an ecosystem service economy that is as robust as existing economies for manufactured goods, natural resource commodities, and human-provided services. The book examines the geographic, ecological, and economic context of ecosystem services and provides a baseline of the current status of ecosystem services in law and society. It identifies shortcomings of current law and policy and the critical areas for improvement and forges an approach for the design of new law and policy for ecosystem services. Included are a series of nine empirical case studies that explore the problems caused by society’s failure to properly value natural capital. Among the case study topics considered are water issues, The Conservation Reserve Program, the National Conservation Buffer Initiative, the agricultural policy of the European Union, wetland mitigation, and pollution trading. The Law and Policy of Ecosystem Services is a groundbreaking look at the question of whether and how law and policy can shape a sustainable system of ecosystem service management. It is an accessible and informative work for faculty, students, and policy makers concerned with ecology, economics, geography, political science, environmental studies, law, and related fields.

Ecosystem Services

Ecosystem Services
Author: Jetske A. Bouma
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2015-01-29
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1107062888

This book draws on a range of interdisciplinary perspectives to provide a framework for translating concepts into ecosystem-related decision making and practice.

Earth Observation of Ecosystem Services

Earth Observation of Ecosystem Services
Author: Domingo Alcaraz-Segura
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 520
Release: 2013-11-12
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1466505885

A balanced review of differing approaches based on remote sensing tools and methods to assess and monitor biodiversity, carbon and water cycles, and the energy balance of terrestrial ecosystem. Earth Observation of Ecosystem Services highlights the advantages Earth observation technologies offer for quantifying and monitoring multiple ecosystem functions and services. It provides a multidisciplinary reference that expressly covers the use of remote sensing for quantifying and monitoring multiple ecosystem services. Rather than exhaustively cover all possible ecosystem services, this book takes a global look at the most relevant remote sensing approaches to estimate key ecosystem services from satellite data. Structured in four main sections, it covers carbon cycle, biodiversity, water cycle, and energy balance. Each section contains a review of conceptual and empirical methods, techniques, and case studies linking remotely sensed data to the biophysical variables and ecosystem functions associated with key ecosystem services. The book identifies relevant issues and challenges of assessment, presents cutting-edge sensing techniques, uses globally implemented tools to quantify ecosystem functions, and presents examples of successful monitoring programs. Covering recent developments undertaken on the global and national stage from Earth observation satellite data, it includes valuable lessons and recommendations and novel ways to improve current global monitoring systems. The book delineates the use of Earth observation data so that it can be used to quantify, map, value, and manage the valuable goods and services that ecosystems provide to societies around the world.

Global Ecology

Global Ecology
Author: Sven Erik Jørgensen
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 475
Release: 2010-04-16
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0444536272

Global Ecology focuses on the perception of the biosphere or the ecosphere as a unified cooperative system with numerous synergistic effects, which describe the distinctive properties of this sphere. This book is subdivided into five parts dealing with diverse aspects in global ecology. The first part of the book provides comprehensive description of the biosphere, including its unique characteristics and evolution. This part also describes various spheres in the biosphere, such as the hydrosphere, noosphere, and pedosphere as well as their composition. The next part focuses on the global cycles, including calcium, carbon, iron, microbial nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, sulfur, and water cycles. In addition, global balances and flows are explained. Presented in the third part are the results of the global cycles and flows as well as the patterns of the climatic factors and marine currents. There is also a part discussing the climate interactions, climatic changes, and its effect on the living organisms. The book concludes by covering the application of stoichiometry in the biosphere and in ecosystems. The book offers a comprehensive view of global ecology and ecological stoichiometry, which will aid in the processes of global ecology. - Provides an overview of the theory and application of global ecology - International focus and range of ecosystems makes Global Ecology an indispensable resource to scientists - Based on the bestselling Encyclopedia of Ecology - Full-color figures and tables support the text and aid in understanding

Ecosystem Ecology

Ecosystem Ecology
Author: David G. Raffaelli
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 174
Release: 2010-03-04
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9780521513494

What can ecological science contribute to the sustainable management and conservation of the natural systems that underpin human well-being? Bridging the natural, physical and social sciences, this book shows how ecosystem ecology can inform the ecosystem services approach to environmental management. The authors recognise that ecosystems are rich in linkages between biophysical and social elements that generate powerful intrinsic dynamics. Unlike traditional reductionist approaches, the holistic perspective adopted here is able to explain the increasing range of scientific studies that have highlighted unexpected consequences of human activity, such as the lack of recovery of cod populations on the Grand Banks despite nearly two decades of fishery closures, or the degradation of Australia's fertile land through salt intrusion. Written primarily for researchers and graduate students in ecology and environmental management, it provides an accessible discussion of some of the most important aspects of ecosystem ecology and the potential relationships between them.