To Measure the Unmeasurable Evaluation of biodiversity and ecosystem services indicators for land use impact accounting

Abstract

In recent centuries, the magnitude of stress humans have put on biodiversity and ecosystems has reached an unprecedented level. Several internationally coordinated environmental efforts have attempted to reduce anthropogenic impacts by setting up common targets and trajectories for achieving them. In order to assess progress towards these targets as well as the efficacy of our policies, methods are needed for quantifying the human impact on the environment. Currently, in the context of measuring anthropogenic impact in land use, the quantification efforts are limited to inventories of greenhouse gases. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to develop a proof-of-concept framework for quantifying biodiversity and ecosystem services in land use. The main research question involved finding and evaluating suitable indicators for this framework. The research began by identifying five essential criteria for evaluating potential biodiversity and ecosystem service indicators in the context of land use accounting: 1) land use appropriateness, 2) relevance, 3) spatial scale and scalability, 4) site-specificity, and 5) practicality and affordability. Then, by conducting a literature review, 117 unique indicators were identified from 34 studies, which were categorised into indicators of biodiversity or 24 different ecosystem services. The indicators were then ranked by scores based on these five criteria. The results include sorted lists of indicators based on their suitability in the context of land use. This serves as a starting point for testing and further sophistication of land use indicators that account for biodiversity and ecosystem services.