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Lecture 10 - Ecosystem Services in Water Management and Climate Change Adaptation

Lecturer:

Dr. Gül Özerol
Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences (BMS),
Department of Governance and Technology for Sustainability (CSTM)
University Twente,
Enschede, Netherlands

Ecosystem services (ESS) are the various benefits that natural ecosystems provide to humans. ESS can be divided into four broad categories: provisioning services, regulating services, cultural services and supporting services. There is an increasing awareness of about the value of the ESS in water management and climate change adaptation, for instance through the implementation of green infrastructure measures and nature-based solutions. However, the valuation and utilization of the ESS in decision-making is still limited due to several reasons. In this session we will elaborate on the four ESS categories and the valuation of the relevant ESS in WASH and CSA sectors. Then we will review approaches to the integration of ESS in these sectors. We will conclude with a discussion on the governance implications of ESS in terms of the role of different actors and the type of strategies and instruments that ESS can be integrated.

Practical assignment (45 mins)

A group assignment that will be completed by three teams, each of whom will focus on one of the following non-conventional water resources:

The teams will identify and categorize the main ESS that can be derived from these water resources, and then characterize the data that would be needed to value them. The exercise will end with a plenary discussion of the results by each team.   

Presentation:

Ozerol_water_valuation_TMT_July_2021_final.pptx