Ecosystem Services Assessment
Looking at nature to improve human wellbeing
Ecosystem Services Assessment (ESA) at UNU‐IAS analyses the linkages between human well‐being and ecosystem services in addressing poverty reduction and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). ESA conducts follow‐up work on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) and acts as Secretariat for the follow‐up programme of MA Sub‐global Assessments (SGAs), and the implementation of the SGA on Satoyama and Satoumi in Japan (Japan SGA).
UNU‐IAS has hosted the international SGA Secretariat since 2007 in cooperation with UNEP, UNEP‐WCMC, and The Cropper Foundation to coordinate and support the SGA network and assessments worldwide. SGA follow‐up efforts aim to ensure that the lessons learned through the MA are applied in wider contexts, and to harmonise SGA initiatives, catalyse new assessment work, and mobilize resources. As part of this work, an SGA intranet was launched in April 2009, which provides clearinghouse services for the scientists and experts in the network.
Since UNU‐IAS initiated the Japan SGA in 2006, ESA has acted as its Secretariat to support application of the MA conceptual framework to the assessment in Japan. This is the first of its kind in Japan and involves a variety of stakeholders, with contributors organised into five regional clusters and the national working group. Following the first National Meeting held in March 2009, the assessment team has prepared the preliminary draft reports of the multi‐scale assessment. The findings of the assessment will be used in local and national plans and policies, and is being prepared as a contribution to international processes, in particular, the CBD COP10 in 2010.
Furthermore, in April 2009, ESA began a new research project on Ecosystem Services Assessment and New Commons supported by competitive research funds from the Ministry of the Environment of Japan. The project aims to identify the links between ecosystem services and biodiversity using the case of Satoyama and Satoumi, and provide policy options towards a sustainable society.
1. Research and Assessment Projects
The ESA focuses on the following key themes:
2. Seminars and Workshops
3. Publications
For further information:
Maiko Nishi
Scientific Assessment Coordinator
E-mail: nishi@ias.unu.edu
URL: http://www.ias.unu.edu/ESA
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