Overview

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Overview

• Introduce the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
  (MA)
• Introduce MA subglobals
• Introduce ASB as an example
• ASB users, scales, topics

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What is the MA?

• International assessment of scientific knowledge
• Focus is ecosystem goods and services and the
  consequences of changes in ecosystems on human
  well being
• At multiple scales (local to global)
• Goals
• providing information requested by users
  conventions (CBD), governments, private sector
  and others
• building capacity at all scales to undertake such
  assessments and act on the findings

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WHAT IS AN ASSESSMENT, AND WHAT DOES IT OFFER?

• Assessment a social process to bring the
  findings of science to bear on the needs of
  decision-makers

Assessment

• Stakeholders
• Governments
• Private sector
• etc.

Monitoring
Research
Assessments assist in the process of making tough
choices
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Basic Features of the MA

• Credible
• Meets highest scientific standards (e.g., peer
  review etc.)
• Legitimate
• Involves key stakeholders and viewed by those
  stakeholders to be a legitimate process
• Useful
• Provides information that stakeholders need

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THE MA HAS MULTIPLE USERS AMONGTHE INTERNATIONAL
CONVENTIONSSpecific Assessment Input Requested
From The MA
FCCC Framework Convention on Climate Change
SBSTA Subsidiary Body on Scientific and
Technical Advice SBSTTA Subsidiary Body on
Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice
CST Committee on Science and Technology STRP
Scientific and Technical Review Panel
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THE MA IS AN INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT THAT EXAMINES
MULTIPLE DRIVERS OF ECOSYSTEM CHANGE
Driver
Response
Human Impact
IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
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MA CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Global
Regional
Local

• Indirect Drivers of Change
• Demographic
• Economic (e.g. globalization, trade, market
  policy frameworks)
• Socio-political (e.g. governance, institutional
  legal framework)
• Scientific and technological
• Cultural and religious

• Human Wellbeing Poverty Reduction
• Basic material for a good life
• Health
• Good social relations
• Security
• Freedoms and choice

Life on Earth biodiversity

• Ecosystem Services
• Provisioning (e.g. food, water)
• Regulating (e.g. climate, water, disease
  regulation)
• Cultural (e.g. spiritual, aesthetic)
• Supporting (e.g. soil formation)

• Direct Drivers of Change
• Changes in local land use and land cover
• Species introductions or removals
• External inputs (e.g. fertiliser use, pest
  control, irrigation)
• Natural and biophysical drivers (e.g. volcanoes,
  evolution) uninfluenced by people

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THE MA IS A MULTI-SCALE ASSESSMENTWith Multiple
Layers Of Nesting
Global Assessment Conditions, Scenarios,
Responses
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The Family of MA Subglobal Assessments15
approved many associates
(1) ASB Alternatives to Slash and Burn
multiple local sites worldwide
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ASB-MA Title Forest Agroecosystem Tradeoffs
in the Humid Tropics the MAs only
cross-cutting assessment
Source WWF Global 200 Ecoregions (WWF
2001). Notes The Biomes displayed are only
forest biomes that are present in the warm humid
and subhumid tropics.
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Why sub-global assessments?

• Improve findings across other scales
• Develop new multi-scale assessment methodologies
  that assist in implementing policy and management
  options
• Better meet stakeholders needs
• NOTE Sub-global will inform global, but the
  global is not intended to be the sum of the
  sub-global

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ASB is ...

• a crosscutting sub-global assessment of the MA
  entitled Forest and Agroecosystem Tradeoffs in
  the Humid Tropics
• a global consortium of over 50 research
  institutions, NGOs, government agencies,
  universities, and community groups
• a long-term network of sites spanning the tropics
• a multidisciplinary, integrated approach to
  natural resource management at multiple scales
• Problem focused, driven by user needs

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The challenge
is to identify innovative policies,
institutions, and technologies that can reconcile
forest conservation and poverty reduction.
The Riquez Family, Peruvian Amazon
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ASB/MA spatial scales

• Local (community, landscape, watershed). 8
  existing ASB benchmark sites in Peru (1), Brazil
  (2), Cameroon (1), Thailand (1), Indonesia (2),
  and the Philippines (1) plus Para in the Eastern
  Brazilian Amazon.
• National six countries with existing ASB
  national consortia (Peru, Brazil, Cameroon,
  Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines), with
  scope for outreach.
• Biome. All ASB sites are located within the
  Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forest
  Biome, delineated in the Global 200 Ecoregions
  database of the WWF (WWF 2001), with a human
  population of some 500 million.
• Global chronic mass poverty, habitat loss from
  land cover change, climate change mitigation
• (Note no work is planned in Australasia, the
  fourth biogeographical realm in the tropics.)

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Forest / Agriculture Mosaic Areas South East
Asia the Forest Biome
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ASB MA user needs assessment

• Why assess users needs at the outset to ensure
  usefulness, salience of the whole activity
• Where Peru, Indonesia, Cameroon, plus additional
  work in Brazil, Thailand, perhaps Philippines in
  future
• Who national policymakers / policy shapers and
  local communities (strategic stakeholders) Note
  MA provides links with international stakeholders
  
• How (1) on which topics could ASB do a credible
  assessment? (2) for those topics, what are the
  specific questions that matter to ASB users?

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ASB MA topics human wellbeing ecosystem
services

• Ecosystem goods food, feed, timber, etc
• Regulating services C stocks, GHG fluxes, air
  quality, local climate regulation, water supply
  (various aspects), weeds, pests and diseases
• Resource base soil resources, biological
  resources, human resources (including ecological
  knowledge)
• Human wellbeing, sustainable livelihoods, poverty
  reduction

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The ASB Matrix
TP Tomich
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From plot to landscape
Incorporate a wider range of environmental
issuesspanning local, national, and global
concerns--in analysis and debate on agricultural
development, land use, and natural resource
management
Landscape mosaic in Northern Thailand.
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Why do it? What do ASB partners gain?

• Powerful channels for scientific dissemination,
  public awareness, and policy impact
• Broader context and expanded relevance of ASBs
  global synthesis
• Access to global assessments and datasets
• New opportunities for training and capacity
  building
• Assistance with fundraising
• Scientific basis for design of Rainforest
  Challenge Programme

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http//www.asb.cgiar.org