Database of Environmental Decision Support Tools

Scale of Environmental Management Problems

In a simplified scheme, private and common issues project as local and widespread issues, respectively. Market failure can be explained as the failure of local investments to generate local benefits. For instance, a company which invests in producing atmospheric oxygen will never benefit from ordinary market forces. At the same time, market forces usually fail to hinder a company in the introduction of alien species. However, widespread drivers create also local consequences (See Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Interactions with widespread issues limit the efficiency of local actions (dashed arrow)

Nevertheless, many field-scale investments to natural capital still give significant field-scale benefits. For instance, fertilization of soil is a typical investment to natural capital which gives returns to the field manager. To facilitate environmental management, we created a database of decision support tools which was targeted on activities where local ecosystem management decisions bring direct benefits to the manager via improved ecosystem services. Some ecosystem services, such as genetic resources and primary production, are essentially global. However, services such as provision of materials and pollination have great local significance (Figure 2). To promote health of ecosystems, the database was targeted on the management of ecosystem services which generate local benefits.

Figure 2.

A representation of ecosystem services in the DPSIR framework. Bold font indicates services which generate mostly local effects and therefore where local management applies.

Beyond the “tragedy of the commons’, several other obstacles hinder sustainable management of ecosystem services. Short-term (tactical) interests often compromise long-term (strategic) interests. Ecosystem health is usually a long-term issue, requiring strategic planning. Due to natural buffers, the consequences for ecosystem health of different management scenarios tend to lag. Managers therefore need tools to assess ecosystem health issues strategically. We identified three economic areas where sustainable local ecosystem management might bring immediate benefits: farm-scale agriculture, estate-scale timber production, and on-site management of recreational objects (See Table 1). The aim of the database was to identify information tools for these management challenges across the entire EU.