Sustaining Ecosystem Services for Human Well–Being
Mapping Ecosystem Services.
In order to manage our green infrastructure and maintain the flow
of ecosystem services from our natural capital, we need to be clear
about which areas deliver which services. This report shows the
work we have been doing to map these areas, and establish where our
green and blue infrastructure networks are.
In January 2010 the Countryside Council for Wales started work
on developing and trialing a methodology for the mapping of
ecosystem services, which could ultimately be used to inform
decisions about the best use and management of our land and seas.
The aim is to deliver benefits which increase human well being,
while also maintaining and enhancing the ecological functions
essential for continued delivery of ecosystem services.
This document presents the initial findings of the project; it
describes the method used in detail and provides a number of maps
covering a wide range of services. This work is currently in a
draft stage and views are being sought from a range of individuals
and agencies on improvements to the method and assumptions made, as
well as other appropriate data sources.
There is a clear need for spatial planning to take greater
consideration of both biodiversity and climate change adaptation
issues. Existing tools such as Strategic Environmental Assessment
and Environmental Impact Assessment aim to prevent impacts and
ensure effective mitigation measures are included in development
plans. However, this is essentially a reactive approach and there
is a need to proactively develop green infrastructures and
ecological connectivity and address fragmentation, which will have
the dual function of enhancing biodiversity and improving
resilience and adaptation to climate change.
We would be interested in your comments on this work, these can
be sent to the Mapping Green Infrastructure team using the contact
the team option on the right side of the page.