The Challenges...

There is growing global recognition of the importance of protecting ecosystems, not just for the variety of life they contain, but also for the contribution they make to improving or maintaining human well-being.

Despite emerging recognition of the enormous benefits people get from wild nature - ranging from food and fibres, to climate stability and clean water - decision-makers continue to behave as if ecosystems have little or no value.

Efforts to reverse losses of wild habitats and wildlife populations by integrating so-called ecosystem services into mainstream decision-making face real challenges: a lack of data at relevant scales; the fact that many beneficiaries (such as downstream water users) live far from the places where services are produced; and the tendency of the market to reward short-term, private gains and so encourage the conversion rather than conservation of remaining natural capital.

Thanks to The Leverhulme Trust, we've embarked on a five-year programme to explore novel solutions to these problems. This work is conducted in collaboration with the Natural Capital Project and the KITE project.

Sunset In The Mountains

Our field research focuses on the Eastern Arc Mountains, Tanzania...

There are few places in the world that are as important as the Eastern Arc Mountains in terms of numbers of unique and endangered species, as well as providing direct human welfare benefits locally, nationally and globally. This is one of the richest areas for biological diversity on the entire planet. Together, 13 disjunct mountain blocks contain around 200 vertebrate species of conservation concern and around 500 plant species found nowhere else.

But the mountains are vital for people too. Collectively, they provide water for farming, hydroelectric power, and almost 3 million domestic water users in Dar es Salaam; fuel, food, medicine, and timber for nearby villagers; and carbon storage and sequestration for the global community.

To date, arguments based on biodiversity alone have failed to halt the conversion of the Eastern Arc to farmland: less than 30% of the original forest cover now remains. We will investigate whether including ecosystem service values can bolster the case for conservation of these important mountains.

Latest Progress 2010/2011...

Most of 2010 was spent completing outstanding field work, analyzing data, and working towards the finalization of the respective biophysical and socio-economic models describing the production, flow, use and value of services across the EAMs. During this period fieldwork was undertaken for the biodiversity module (April to June), the nature-based tourism module (August), and the carbon module (July to November).

All service-related modules are generating spatially-explicit models describing their current production across the EAMs, which we can then link to our scenarios of change to explore how development decisions may influence the provision of ecosystem services into the future. Our GIS database continues to be refined and represents the most comprehensive such dataset for this region of Tanzania. As a result of the VtA analysis a new boundary map of the EAMs has been derived according to quantitative rules for landform classification, data on the distribution of mountain vegetation and the established phytogeography of the region.

Eleven VtA publications appeared in the peer-reviewed literature in 2010, adding to those already published by the programme (23 prior to 2010), and there are currently 13 manuscripts published or in press for 2011. It is expected that the final total of scientific publications will be in excess of 50.

The VtA programme continues to enjoy a high academic profile for its work in ES evaluation, and to contribute at the policy level in Tanzania - for instance by providing guidance and data for helping with the country′s early implementation of the UN′s REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) scheme. The first half of 2011 will be spent finalizing each of the ecosystem service modules, to enable the eventual synthesis of all modules in the second half of the programme′s final year.

A Baobab Tree