3.4 Ecological Triage
In a catastrophe with many wounded persons, in a war for example, medical help is
prioritized to effective and fast measures related to the people with the greatest need
and a realistic chance to survive in a short-term perspective. Triage is a kind of
preselection sorting of people when medical resources are limited and the damage is
huge. If doctors are numerous and medical help relative to the number of sick or
injured people is not limited triage would not be necessary.
Ecological triage aims to use and divide the limited financial resources of nature
conservation activities (cost-) efficiently for the survival of the species. Conservationists have to consider a plethora of factors and processes when assessing ecosystems. Often the understanding of food webs, environmental conditions, and all the
processes involved is highly incomplete. Political, economic and social factors have
to be considered as well (Hobbs and Kristjanson 2003; Burgman et al. 2005; Habib
et al. 2016).
Like the preselection of wounded people in a catastrophe, the decision for one
conservation measure instead of another may often be wrong and ineffective.
However, triage at a lower level of actions might be translated into trial and error
approach to selecting measures, which can often lead to successful developments, at
least at local to regional scales. If the effect is uncertain, the simplest and most costefficient measure should have highest priority.
With respect to the amount of money invested, ecological triage is a common
concept practiced at local and regional scales. On the other hand, with the exception
of the large nature conservation NGOs such as WWF or Conservation International,
there is as yet no institution or administration taking responsibility for ecological
triage at the global scale.
3.5 Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) and Biodiversity
Offset Programmes (BOPs)
The money paid for an apple is an investment also in the environmental conditions of
apple trees, since farmers only survive if they reinvest a certain amount of that
money in maintaining or increasing productivity. Every payment for resources
influences the interest in the exploitation and use of resources. It is thus difficult to
determine exactly when the first programme was established to invest in ecosystem
services. For example, communities began to invest in clean drinking water and
effective wastewater systems already many centuries ago.
However, both the number of publications related to Payments for Ecosystem
Services (PES) and Biodiversity Offset Programmes (BOPs) and the amount of
money invested have shown a dramatic increase and a growing interest in the
investment in public goods and services since the 1970s. Until 2014, at least
56 countries had implemented laws or policies that defined offsets for specific
Environmental Indicators and Biodiversity Conservation Strategies
167
In a catastrophe with many wounded persons, in a war for example, medical help is
prioritized to effective and fast measures related to the people with the greatest need
and a realistic chance to survive in a short-term perspective. Triage is a kind of
preselection sorting of people when medical resources are limited and the damage is
huge. If doctors are numerous and medical help relative to the number of sick or
injured people is not limited triage would not be necessary.
Ecological triage aims to use and divide the limited financial resources of nature
conservation activities (cost-) efficiently for the survival of the species. Conservationists have to consider a plethora of factors and processes when assessing ecosystems. Often the understanding of food webs, environmental conditions, and all the
processes involved is highly incomplete. Political, economic and social factors have
to be considered as well (Hobbs and Kristjanson 2003; Burgman et al. 2005; Habib
et al. 2016).
Like the preselection of wounded people in a catastrophe, the decision for one
conservation measure instead of another may often be wrong and ineffective.
However, triage at a lower level of actions might be translated into trial and error
approach to selecting measures, which can often lead to successful developments, at
least at local to regional scales. If the effect is uncertain, the simplest and most costefficient measure should have highest priority.
With respect to the amount of money invested, ecological triage is a common
concept practiced at local and regional scales. On the other hand, with the exception
of the large nature conservation NGOs such as WWF or Conservation International,
there is as yet no institution or administration taking responsibility for ecological
triage at the global scale.
3.5 Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) and Biodiversity
Offset Programmes (BOPs)
The money paid for an apple is an investment also in the environmental conditions of
apple trees, since farmers only survive if they reinvest a certain amount of that
money in maintaining or increasing productivity. Every payment for resources
influences the interest in the exploitation and use of resources. It is thus difficult to
determine exactly when the first programme was established to invest in ecosystem
services. For example, communities began to invest in clean drinking water and
effective wastewater systems already many centuries ago.
However, both the number of publications related to Payments for Ecosystem
Services (PES) and Biodiversity Offset Programmes (BOPs) and the amount of
money invested have shown a dramatic increase and a growing interest in the
investment in public goods and services since the 1970s. Until 2014, at least
56 countries had implemented laws or policies that defined offsets for specific
Environmental Indicators and Biodiversity Conservation Strategies
167