Sustaining ecosystem services: Overcoming the dilemma posed by local actions and planetary boundaries

Published in Earths Future, v. 2(8):407-420
Authors

Jonas, M., Ometto, J.P.H.B., Batistella, M., Franklin, O., Hall, M., Lapola, D.M., Moran, E.F., Tramberend, S., Lanza-Queiroz, B., Schaffartzik, A., Shvidenko, A., Nilsson, S.B. and Nobre, C.A.
Publication year 2014
DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/2013EF000224Issue
Affiliations
  • Advanced Systems Analysis Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria
  • Centrefor Earth System Science, National Institute for Space Research, São Paulo, Brazil
  • EMBRAPA Satellite Monitoring,Campinas, Brazil
  • Ecosystems Services and Management Program, International Institute for Applied SystemsAnalysis, Laxenburg, Austria
  • Centre for Environmental and Climate Research, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
  • Department of Ecology, Earth System Science Lab, São Paulo State University, Rio Claro, Brazil
  • Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
  • Water Program, InternationalInstitute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria
  • Department of Demography and Center for RegionalDevelopment and Planning, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
  • Institute of Social Ecology,Institute of Social Ecology Vienna (SEC), Alpen Adria University Klagenfurt-Wien-Graz, Vienna, Austria
  • Forest SectorInsights AB, Hedemora,Sweden
  • National Secretary for R&D Policies, Ministry of Science and Technology,Brasília,Brazil
IAI Program

CRN3
IAI Project CRN3005
Keywords
Earth system processes
sustainability
ecosystem services

Highlights

•A globally consistent framework isneeded for sustainability decisionmaking
•The framework would facilitatedecision making from global-to-localand vice versa
•The framework would link multipleEarth system processes and targets

Abstract

Resolving challenges related to the sustainability of natural capital and ecosystem services is an urgent issue. No roadmap on reaching sustainability exists and the kind of sustainable land use required in a world that acknowledges both multiple environmental boundaries and local human well‐being presents a quandary. In this commentary, we argue that a new globally consistent and expandable systems‐analytical framework is needed to guide and facilitate decision making on sustainability from the planetary to the local level, and vice versa. This framework would strive to link a multitude of Earth system processes and targets it would give preference to systemic insight over data complexity through being highly explicit in spatiotemporal terms. Its strength would lie in its ability to help scientists uncover and explore potential, and even unexpected, interactions between Earth's subsystems with planetary environmental boundaries and socioeconomic constraints coming into play. Equally importantly, such a framework would allow countries such as Brazil, a case study in this commentary, to understand domestic or even local sustainability measures within a global perspective and to optimize them accordingly.