Ecosystem Services: Benefits & Regulation

• Ecosystem services refer to the benefits humans derive from nature
• Ecosystem services are the final products (goods and services) from natural or semi-natural resources, benefiting human health and well-being
• Understanding ecosystem services is crucial for freshwater management, balancing environmental protection and human needs
• The health and biodiversity of ecosystems directly impact their ability to provide essential services

Provisioning services

• Provisioning services are tangible products ecosystems provide for direct human use
• Examples of provisioning services include food, fresh water, wood and fiber for clothing

Regulating services

• Regulating services are the benefits humans receive from the regulation of ecosystem processes
• Climate regulation—wetlands absorb excess carbon and regulate temperature
• Disease control—healthy freshwater systems filter water and support biodiversity, reducing disease spread
• Flood control—wetlands and forests act as natural sponges, reducing flood risks
• Detoxification—healthy ecosystems filter pollutants from water and soil

Cultural services

• Cultural services are non-material benefits humans gain from ecosystems, enriching culture, recreation and mental well-being
• Examples include spiritual values (sacred rivers or lakes), recreational activities (fishing, canoeing), aesthetic beauty (attracting tourists), inspirational roles in art and education and symbolic learning

Supporting services

• Supporting services are essential for the functioning of all other ecosystem services
• These include soil formation, nutrient cycling and primary production, which are often unseen but critical

Direct benefits

• Direct benefits have a clear and easily measurable value
• An example of direct benefits is freshwater supply, directly impacting agriculture, industry and drinking water

Indirect benefits

• Indirect benefits are essential but harder to measure, with values difficult to estimate
• An example of indirect benefits is soil formation and nutrient cycling, vital for life but often invisible

Current problems

• Humans are altering ecosystems at an unprecedented rate
• According to a 2005 study 15 out of 24 key ecosystem services were unsustainably used or severely damaged
• 60% of the world's ecosystem services are already in poor condition
• Problems like climate change and nutrient pollution are expected to worsen conditions

Impact on people

• Costs from lost ecosystem services, like water quality and fertile soil, often affect disadvantaged communities or future generations
• This can lead to conflict over resources and increased poverty

Trade offs

• Efforts to improve certain services, like increased food production, often harm other ecosystem services
• An example of trade offs is clearing land for crops may reduce water quality or destroy wildlife habitats

Unpredictable changes

• Damage to ecosystems can cause sudden and difficult to fix problems
• Effects can vary in timing (quick or slow) and scope (local or global)
• These changes can have nonlinear or abrupt non-reversible impacts on ecosystems

Growing demand for resources

• Increasing populations are driving up demands for resources
• To meet demands, use technology and expand areas
• Ecosystem damaging

Rockstrom (2009) – crossing safe limits

• Some planetary boundaries are exceeded
• These limits include climate stability, freshwater availability and biodiversity loss

What needs to change

• Change behaviour towards less waste of resources
• Enforce strong policies to protect ecosystems,
• Technology must focus on sustainable resource use without environmental harm

Value of wetlands

• Historically wetlands were seen as mosquito-ridden and unproductive areas
• Many were disturbed, damaged or destroyed for those reasons
• The loss of wetlands has increased flood frequencies and intensities
• Over half of South Africa's wetlands are confirmed to be destroyed

Why were wetlands drained

• Convert to agricultural land
• Reduce parasitic disease spread by mosquitoes
• Land conversion was seen as a way to increase land usability

Current understanding of wetland value

• Now understood to have commercial values (fish, reeds, tourism), aesthetic value (beauty and recreation) and ecological value (maintaining biodiversity, improving water and flood control)
• Create or restore artificial wetlands to replace benefits

Wetland services

• Control stream flow by regulating water movement
• Flood control stores excess water
• Pollution filtration
• Trapping sediment to allow sedimentation of solids
• Carbon sequestration for climate change
• High in biodiversity

Freshwater ecosystem priority areas (FEPA)

• Freshwater ecosystems provide flood control
• Freshwater supplies clean water and food water
• Freshwater removes nutrient and trapped toxic substances
• FEPA supply tourism, spiritual services and recreational services

Biodiversity planning

• Biodiversity planning identifies the most important biodiverse regions
• Plans attempt to ensure the representation of all existing ecosystems and that the natural flows aren't disrupted
• These plans try to maximize the efficiency the area

National Protected Area Expansion Strategy (NPAES)

• NFEPA target to conserve a sample of the diversity of water based communities
• Including all connected landscapes, rivers and bodies
• Maintaining responsible generation for future

Criteria for identifying priority areas

• Represent ecosystem types
• Represent migration corridors
• Select high areas where water and groundwater recharge
• Identify areas with high population of endangered fish

Principles of management of SA ecosystems

• Flow is not wasted
• Need for continuous water flow
• Connected systems require source
• Balance land use for the rivers against utilization
• Support tributaries

Management guidelines: Water quantity

• Avoid damn usage: new weirs and dams should be avoided to ensure water availability
• Avoid canals
• Send Stormwater through floodplains
• Avoid abstraction and follow requirements

Management guidelines: Afforestation

• Plant species native to the area
• Enfore strict rules on the removal of riparian plants to protect the ecosystem health

Management guidelines: Water quality

• No contaminated water should be dumped
• No agricultural runoff in sensitive areas
• Establish cultivation standards

Management guidelines: Habitat and biota

• Limit habitat fragmentation
• All regulations pertaining to banks and sediments must be adhered to

Adaptive management

• Adaptive management improves future outcomes
• Adaptive management refines practices by analyzing past decision outcomes and adjusting

Steps for adaptive management

• Set objectives
• ID verifiable goals
• Implement a management system
• Environmental parameter monitoring
• Practice adaptive management

Strategic adaptive management (SAM)

• SAM is ideal for complex systems due to its rigorous framework
• SAM compiles key management info and processes for better decisions
• SAM can be applied on any local to regional scales
• SAM ecosystems as social-ecological not just biological

Managing IWRM

• Based on sustainable policies
• Must align wide broad policies
• Implement by work structures
• Start by developing managing strategies
• Tailors to South Africa's conditions

Link policies and actions

• Policies must bridge what happens to actions on ground
• Plans for both must be achievable

Catchment management

• Protects and develops water resources to maximise economic benefit but maintains sustainability
• Important activities include maintaining ecosystems and maximising resources

Land and soil stabilization

• Prevents erosion and landsides
• Maintains vegetative cover
• Enhancing fertility
• Minimising degradation
• Regulate Natural flow
• Prevents harmful water flow

Enhancement of fish and wildlife/recreation

• Ensures catchment areas are fun and biodiverse through activities
• Water systems must maintain quality
• Water consumption efficiency
• Prevent erosion and degradation
• Encourage the use of catchment areas
• Resources must support economic and benefit local industries

Impact of water yield on catchment areas

• Atmospheric precipitation directly affects water
• Evaporation process removes water
• Areas with less rainfall and high evapotion leave less water

Human impacts on water yield within catchments: Deforestation

• Deforestation is is the removal of trees
• Deforestation heavily effects water in the cachement
• The sudden removal of the trees causes erosion
• Loss affect nearby regions through rain patterns disruption
• Removal is devastating water access.

Reduction in transpiration

• Deforestation reduces transpiration and decrease cloud formation
• Dries soil and increases erosion of trees

Afforestation

• Increase rate of Carbon absorption
• The precipitation waters are filtered
• Creates intensified cycles

Negative effects of afforestation

• Reduce of stream flow
• 400mm of potential water loss
• Overall decreases water supply

Tree species

• Species consume varying water volumes
• Early tree will use up and store more but release when older

Climate consiterations

• High Rain levels might make it negligible loss
• Areas lack water due to reduced supply

Examples of major afforestation efforts

• Nigeria, active in afforestation, could see more water or reduced amount longer term

Controlled burning / prescribed burning

• Burning intended to vegetate and preserve while reducing risk of wildfire
• Burns need many biomes to keep biodiversity

Effects on water yield

• Temporarily increases water yield
• Short lived

Environmental gold

• Maintain supply clean water
• Leaving riparian zones helps stabilize filter
• Protect of integrity

Alteration

• Can decrease quality and impede normal function

Irrigation

• Applying water artificially to land
• Important for crop but decrease yield

Excesive evaporation

• Contributes greater water loss

Altered water use

• Divides catchments
• Overall water might decrease

Excessive irrigation water

• Increase groundwater amount
• Pollutes that with chemicals
• Reduces sources

Soil

• Harms roots
• Destroys ecosystems
• Severely damages land

Rood construction alteration

• Impacts water and catchment patterns
• Redirect toward the systems
• Can be up to 4x more

Run off

• Increases pollution
• Is effected soil
• Creates floodier conditions

Export

• Sediment transport refers to movement
• Influenced by man and nature

Higher yield

• Basins with larger flows help
• Higher slopes help with faster water

Sediments

• Overgrazing decreases protection
• Deforestation removes anchors
• Construction disturbs more
• Damning Reduces source
• Agriculture disturbs

More water

• Boulders roll
• Is suspended

Pollution from roads

• Contain oils and metals
• Damage to breeding patterns
• Pollute faster flooding
• Decreased capacity to absorb and limited growth

Urban alterations

• Changes nutrients and movements signfically
• Leads to great concentrations of phosphates
• Runoff is accelerated due to less absorption and is easily eroded

Urban wetlands

• Filter pollutants
• Trap sediment
• Act as protective carriers

Sediment impacts

• Changes ecosystems
• Leads to many harms

Dissolved matieral

• Carried by water flow
• Removed for agriculture
• Can implement best management to prevent
• Can be conservative: abundant
• Non: less but essential, easily harmed and trigger eutrophcation

Block burnin

• Break into sectors for control

Land management

• Narrow vs broad leafing crops to reduce the waterloss
• Switch more suitable for dryer

The water system

• Protect conservation for the entire system and that which supports it
• Maintain riparian for water retention that protects and feeds more

Maintain nature

• Enforce the natural system to protect

Catchment

• All areas must work at protecting the ecosystem
• Input source maintains biodiversity
• Manage and conserve
• Improve
• All factors that influence

Threates to surfival fish

• Habitat distruction
• Abstraction
• Alien spices

Habitat distruction

• Physical with alteration of systems
• Bridges etc can interfere

Pollution

• From many source impact heavily
• Theermal can drop the temperatures rapidly
• Low oxygen

Mining/biological

• Mining has several major impacts with toxicity and pollution
• Invading spices
• Can change or block

Alien terrestrial plants

• Can take over riparian area
• Sterilizing it even
• Too much abstraction takes from small amounts

Dsalanizations

• Can remove and clean salt

Alliens spiecs

• Harm genetic with bad traits
• Can be angling, invasive outcompete more
• Spoil bed or other functions

Conservation

• Base on scientific plan and strategy, adaptable
• Restock population under managed breeding to build
• Establish the safety net
• Support local and inform more
• Protect legsilatiion and ban
• Conserve thogrouth
• Erradicate plant life non compliant
• Establish water and budget

Freshwater species

• LC: low concern
• DD: data not enough

Cape Floristic Region

• Limited
• Alien
• Abstraction
• Habitation
• Encroached to headwaters with bass in USA to help
• Water obstruction reduces
• Pollutes and is not tracked well