Routledge handbook of ecosystem services

Amid the rapidly growing literature on ecosystem services, a handbook is a welcome addition both for the newcomer and for anyone who intends to navigate such waters. The editors, having published extensively on different aspects of ecosystem services, now gathered a team of 156 contributors – many of them also having authored several papers – to provide a survey of the state-of-the-art in the field.

The academic credentials of this group of authors do not tell the full story, because the handbook aspires to help both researchers and practitioners to meet two challenges, those of ‘mainstreaming’ and ‘operationalising’ the concept. The aim is to insert ecosystem services in ‘other debates’ and, arguably, in decision-making.

Most current issues in ecosystem services appear in the handbook’s 52 chapters. It is structured in four parts. Firstly, ‘Concepts and frameworks’ are developed in nine chapters, starting with the ‘appropriately broad and appropriately vague definition’ of ecosystem services proposed by the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment. The ‘cascade model’ proposed by two of the editors to explain the flow from ecosystem structure and processes to benefits and value for humans is also featured. Ecosystem structure and functions, services beneficiaries and benefits are then discussed.

The second part presents ‘Methods and techniques for decision support’, comprising themes such as modelling, mapping, indicators and valuation. Stakeholder participation and non-monetary valuation are just two of the fourteen chapters here. A common characteristic of most chapters is a pluralistic view of tools and techniques. A detailed, hands-on description of the contents of this heterogeneous toolbox, however, is not to be found in this handbook, as it would require much more space.

Part III, named ‘Ecosystem services in an applied context’, starts with dedicated chapters for each group of services, namely provisioning, regulating and cultural services. This presentation is followed by selected types of ecosystems: marine and coastal, freshwater, forest, dry lands, grasslands and cultivated lands, while services provided by urban green infrastructure are also featured.

‘Linking and informing agendas’ is the last part, focused on applying the ecosystem service body of knowledge to ‘wider agendas across science and policy’. Here, mainstreaming comes back alongside diverse contemporary policy issues such as climate change, food security, water scarcity, poverty alleviation and health.

Most chapters are short (4–6 pages), but many feature up to 15 pages. An interesting addition are ‘briefing notes’, 2–3 page invited contributions that add a complementary or contrasting view to some chapters.

For the impact assessment community, the index reveals only two entries, one of which takes the reader to a two pages summary in the format of a ‘briefing note’. So short a mention does not seem justifiable, given the potential of ecosystem services to contribute to better and possibly more influential impact assessment, both a project and at strategic levels. Hopefully, another handbook, also recently published and reviewed earlier in this journal (Hugé 2017), deals extensively with the theme. Impact assessment certainly deserves a somewhat more prominent place in a comprehensive treatise on ecosystem services. Its absence is perhaps a sign that both communities of practice (and research) need to talk more to each other.

Notwithstanding the above critique, indispensable for a review in an impact assessment journal, the Handbook of Ecosystem Services is commended as an important sourcebook highly valuable to advanced students, researchers and professionals.

Luis E. Sánchez
University of São Paulo
[email protected] http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6779-8481
© 2018 Luis E. Sánchez
https://doi.org/10.1080/14615517.2018.1445182