255
via local extension offices, the transaction costs on the provider side are minimized
as well. To this end, in landscapes where hydropower is a large part of electricity
provision, such as the Shire River Basin in Malawi (Ward et al. 2015), paying to
keep the house cool and the lights on may play a key part in the modern-day solution
to keeping soils on farms and intact.
9.5 Conclusion
Ecosystem services are fundamental to the functioning of the food–energy–water
nexus. In truth, our supplies of freshwater, our foods such as grains, vegetables, fish
and meats, and much of our electricity come to us only through regulatory and provisioning ecosystem services on land and in the water. How we consume and manage these ecosystem services at the nexus has both trade-offs and synergies. In
providing water, food, and energy to our growing global population, there are
increasingly significant environmental impacts.
Despite the critical importance of ecosystem services within the nexus, the environmental trade-offs of our food, energy, and water provisions are often overlooked
or undervalued. Economic valuation of ecosystem services can play an important
role in helping to manage trade-offs, but economic valuations do not adequately
capture the many important contributions of ecosystem services to society, and
hence they do not provide a comprehensive picture for decision-makers.
A comprehensive evaluation framework that accounts for both monetary and
non-monetary benefits throughout the value chain is needed (see the TEEB
Agriculture and Food study for an effort in addressing this).
The pathway to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals provides a critical
space for the sustainable management of the food, energy, and water nexus in relation to ecosystem services. Many of the SDGs, however, have trade-offs and synergies between goals and this leaves decision-makers with difficult decisions as to
how trade-offs will be distributed.
There are many areas where the importance of ecosystem services within the
nexus is brought into sharp focus. Erosion control services and conservation
agriculture, for example, provide a useful space to examine the challenges and
opportunities for ecosystem services provision within the nexus. The case study of
conservation agriculture reminds us that nexus opportunities and challenges may
emerge at different time scales, for example, practicing Conservation Agriculture
can bring benefits to farmers in the mid- to long-term, but potentially more costs and
risks in the short term. Payments for ecosystem services may provide a useful tool
in managing trade-offs and interconnections across food, energy, and water.
In a world of increasing uncertainty punctuated by rapid population growth,
degraded natural resource bases, and climate change all intensifying pressure on the
world’s food, energy, and water systems, there is more need now than ever before to
better understand the interlinkages and properly manage the trade-offs of water,
energy, and food on our ecosystems.
9 Ecosystems and Ecosystem Services
via local extension offices, the transaction costs on the provider side are minimized
as well. To this end, in landscapes where hydropower is a large part of electricity
provision, such as the Shire River Basin in Malawi (Ward et al. 2015), paying to
keep the house cool and the lights on may play a key part in the modern-day solution
to keeping soils on farms and intact.
9.5 Conclusion
Ecosystem services are fundamental to the functioning of the food–energy–water
nexus. In truth, our supplies of freshwater, our foods such as grains, vegetables, fish
and meats, and much of our electricity come to us only through regulatory and provisioning ecosystem services on land and in the water. How we consume and manage these ecosystem services at the nexus has both trade-offs and synergies. In
providing water, food, and energy to our growing global population, there are
increasingly significant environmental impacts.
Despite the critical importance of ecosystem services within the nexus, the environmental trade-offs of our food, energy, and water provisions are often overlooked
or undervalued. Economic valuation of ecosystem services can play an important
role in helping to manage trade-offs, but economic valuations do not adequately
capture the many important contributions of ecosystem services to society, and
hence they do not provide a comprehensive picture for decision-makers.
A comprehensive evaluation framework that accounts for both monetary and
non-monetary benefits throughout the value chain is needed (see the TEEB
Agriculture and Food study for an effort in addressing this).
The pathway to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals provides a critical
space for the sustainable management of the food, energy, and water nexus in relation to ecosystem services. Many of the SDGs, however, have trade-offs and synergies between goals and this leaves decision-makers with difficult decisions as to
how trade-offs will be distributed.
There are many areas where the importance of ecosystem services within the
nexus is brought into sharp focus. Erosion control services and conservation
agriculture, for example, provide a useful space to examine the challenges and
opportunities for ecosystem services provision within the nexus. The case study of
conservation agriculture reminds us that nexus opportunities and challenges may
emerge at different time scales, for example, practicing Conservation Agriculture
can bring benefits to farmers in the mid- to long-term, but potentially more costs and
risks in the short term. Payments for ecosystem services may provide a useful tool
in managing trade-offs and interconnections across food, energy, and water.
In a world of increasing uncertainty punctuated by rapid population growth,
degraded natural resource bases, and climate change all intensifying pressure on the
world’s food, energy, and water systems, there is more need now than ever before to
better understand the interlinkages and properly manage the trade-offs of water,
energy, and food on our ecosystems.
9 Ecosystems and Ecosystem Services