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Course, academic year 2023/2024
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Ecosystem services - MO550P116
Title: Ekosystémové služby
Czech title: Ekosystémové služby
Guaranteed by: Institute for Environmental Studies (31-550)
Faculty: Faculty of Science
Actual: from 2014
Semester: summer
E-Credits: 3
Examination process: summer s.:
Hours per week, examination: summer s.:2/1, Ex [HT]
Capacity: unlimited
Min. number of students: 3
4EU+: no
Virtual mobility / capacity: no
State of the course: taught
Language: Czech
Note: enabled for web enrollment
Guarantor: Mgr. Davina Elena Vačkářová, Ph.D.
Teacher(s): Mgr. Davina Elena Vačkářová, Ph.D.
Annotation -
Last update: Mgr. Davina Elena Vačkářová, Ph.D. (16.02.2024)
The aim of the course is to introduce current theoretical approaches and scientific knowledge in the field of ecosystem services and the nature´s contributions to people. How does human society depend on and influence ecosystems? What analytical approaches, indicators and models can we use to evaluate ecosystem services? Can human demands on ecosystems be unsustainable or unjust? Students will work with these questions as part of the Ecosystem Services course. The course will also introduce the approaches, models and scenarios with which international organizations and scholars associated within the Ecosystem Services Partnership work. The course is designed not only as a theoretical overview of current knowledge, but also equips students with tools for practical decision-making in ecosystem management. The course focuses in particular on more integrated approaches to the analysis of ecosystem services (scenarios, models, indicators), enabling support for the management and sustainable management of ecosystems. The course is designed from an interdisciplinary perspective of ecological, economic and social science approaches.
Literature - Czech
Last update: Mgr. Davina Elena Vačkářová, Ph.D. (04.03.2024)

IPBES (2019). Global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. E. S. Brondizio, J. Settele, S. Díaz, and H. T. Ngo (editors). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany.

IPBES (2022). Methodological Assessment Report on the Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Balvanera, P., Pascual, U., Christie, M., Baptiste, B., and González-Jiménez, D. (eds.). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6522522

United Nations et al. (2021). System of Environmental-Economic Accounting-Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA). Available at: https://seea.un.org/ecosystem-accounting.

Maes, J., Teller, A., Erhard, M., Condé, S., Vallecillo, S., Barredo, J.I., Paracchini, M.L., et al. (2020). Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services: An EU ecosystem assessment, EUR 30161 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Ispra.

Burkhard, B., Maes, J. (Editors) et al. (2017). Mapping ecosystem services. Pensoft Publishers, 376 pp. https://ab.pensoft.net/article/12837/

Costanza, R., de Groot, R., Braat, L., Kubiszewski, I., Fioramonti, L., Sutton, P., Farber, S., Grasso, M. (2017). Twenty years of ecosystem services: how far have we come and how far do we still need to go? Ecosystem Services 28, pp. 1-16.

Kareiva, P., Tallis, H., Ricketts, T.H., Daily, G.C., Polasky, S. (Editors) (2011): Natural Capital: Theory and Practice of Mapping Ecosystem Services. Oxford University Press, 392 pp.

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2006). Ekosystémy a lidský blahobyt: syntéza. Univerzita Karlova, Centrum pro otázky životního prostředí, 138 pp.

Další zdroje, články a komentáře dle zadání.

 

Requirements to the exam -
Last update: Mgr. Davina Elena Vačkářová, Ph.D. (21.02.2024)

Seminar paper (scored take-home exam according to assignment)

The seminar work is prepared on the basis of an assigned scientific article, the aim is to demonstrate an understanding of the issue of ecosystem services from a conceptual, methodological and application point of view.
The expected scope of the work is 1000-2000 words (4-8 standard pages).

Evaluation:

The evaluation of the paper is on a scale of 0 - 10 points (2 points max. per criterium, quarter points possible). 

Criteria:

  • fulfillment of the assignment;
  • level of processing, stylistics and comprehensibility;
  • formal processing and structure;
  • work with literature;
  • innovation and insight into the issue.

9-10 points = excellent, 7-8 points = very good, 5-6 points = good.

Syllabus -
Last update: Mgr. Davina Elena Vačkářová, Ph.D. (21.02.2024)
Basic framework of ecosystem services. Development of the concept of ecosystem services, conceptual and theoretical frameworks for ecosystem services and the nature´s contributions to people, basic definitions and approaches to the study of ecosystem services. International context, international conventions, goals and initiatives (IPBES, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment MA, SEEA-EA, Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity TEEB, UK National Assessment, and others).
 
Analytical approaches for the assessment of ecosystem services. Classification systems of ecosystem services, cascade of ecosystem services, matrix of ecosystem services. Approaches to the analysis of ecosystem services, basic categories and examples (supporting, material, regulaion and cultural/non-material services), ecosystem services in the context of diverse values of nature.
 
Ecosystem accounting. Natural capital accounting (NCA), basic principles and starting points (System of Environmental Economic Accounting, SEEA-EA Ecosystem Accounting). Basic principles of ecosystem accounting, asset accounts, physical and monetary accounts of ES flows, examples of ecosystem accounts.
 
Driving forces, ecosystems and the good qaulity of life. Basic components of the quality of human life (human well-being) in international assessments. Interaction between the state of ecosystems and the quality of life. Drivers of ecosystem change, categories and examples of driver effects on ecosystem services.
 
Integrated assessment of ecosystem services. Basic principles of integrated assessments, assessment of the state and development of ecosystem services, assessment procedure of ecosystem services at different levels and at different scales, individual assessment steps, usable tools, toolkits and methodologies. Expressing uncertainty associated with integrated assessment of ecosystem services.
 
Modeling and mapping ecosystem services. Approaches to modeling ecosystem services, types of models. Mapping ecosystem services and their changes. Modeling ecosystem services trade-offs, interaction matrix of ecosystem services. Ecosystem services synergies and bundles.
 
Ecosystem service scenarios. Scenarios in current international IPBES assessments, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) scenarios. Principles and methodology of scenario building, direct and indirect driving forces in scenarios. Typology of scenarios, application in political decision-making.
 
Ecosystem services and biodiversity. The role of biodiversity in the production of ecosystem services, ecological production functions. Ecological insurance, effects of biodiversity on the functioning of ecosystems/ecosystem processes/ecosystem services, interactions between ecosystem services and biodiversity. Global linkages of anthropogenic ecosystem transformation, biodiversity and ecosystem services.
 
Economic valuation of ecosystem services. Basic types of ecosystem service values, economic methods of ecosystem services valuation, experimental approaches. Analysis of the benefits and costs associated with ecosystem services, approaches to assessing the return of ecosystem protection and restoration. Examples of values of ecosystems and services, ES valuation database, principles of value transfer. Integrated valuations in the context of diverse values of nature.
 
Applications of ecosystem services assessments. Application of ecosystem service assessments at different scales. Global flows of ecosystem services, assessment of ecosystem services in cities, ecosystem services in nature conservation. Ecosystems and disaster risk reduction, nature-based adaptation to climate change (NBS), ecosystem services and ecosystem restoration.
 
Sociocultural and participatory approaches to the assessment of ecosystem services. Involvement of actors in the identification, mapping and modeling of ecosystem services, participatory mapping and modeling. Examples and typologies of participatory methods. Application of participatory methods in case of lack of data. Co-production of knowledge in the context of the interaction of science and politics.

Ecosystem services in the context of environmental justice. Environmental justice and ecosystem services, disaggregation and distribution of ecosystem service benefits, an intersectional perspective for ecosystem services research.
 
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