Quantifying interregional flows of multiple ecosystem services – A case study for Germany. (March 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kleemann, Janina; Schröter, Matthias; Bagstad, Kenneth J.; Kuhlicke, Christian; Kastner, Thomas; Fridman, Dor; Schulp, Catharina J.E.; Wolff, Sarah; Martínez-López, Javier; Koellner, Thomas; Arnhold, Sebastian; Martín-López, Berta; Marques, Alexandra; Lopez-Hoffman, Laura; Liu, Jianguo; Kissinger, Meidad; Guerra, Carlos Antonio; Bonn, Aletta
• Is Part Of: Global environmental change. Volume 61(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-03
• Subjects: Telecoupling -- Interregional ecosystem services -- Flow -- Assessment -- Quantification; Environmental policy -- Periodicals; Human ecology -- Periodicals; Nature -- Effect of human beings on -- Periodicals; Environment -- Periodicals; Environnement -- Politique gouvernementale -- Périodiques; Écologie humaine -- Périodiques; Homme -- Influence sur la nature -- Périodiques; Environmental policy; Human ecology; Nature -- Effect of human beings on; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 333.7
• DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102051
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0959-3780

Abstract

Highlights: We assess interregional flows of four ecosystem services used in Germany. Germany´s prosperity depends on ecosystem services supplied abroad. Governance mechanisms need to operate at multiple scales. Abstract: Despite a growing number of national-scale ecosystem service (ES) assessments, few studies consider the impacts of ES use and consumption beyond national or regional boundaries. Interregional ES flows – ecosystem services "imported" from and "exported" to other countries – are rarely analyzed and their importance for global sustainability is little known. Here, we provide a first multi-ES quantification of a nation's use of ES from abroad. We focus on ES flows that benefit the population in Germany but are supplied outside German territory. We employ a conceptual framework recently developed to systematically quantify interregional ES flows. We address four types of interregional ES flows with: (i) biophysical flows of traded goods: cocoa import for consumption; (ii) flows mediated by migratory species: migration of birds providing pest control; (iii) passive biophysical flows: flood control along transboundary watersheds; and (iv) information flows: China's giant panda loan to the Berlin Zoo. We determined that: (i) Ivory Coast and Ghana alone supply around 53% of Germany's cocoa while major negative consequences for biodiversity occurred in Cameroon and Ecuador; (ii) Africa´s humid and sub-humid climate zones are important habitats for the majority of migratory bird species that provide natural pest control services in agricultural areas in Germany; (iii) Upstream watersheds outside the country add an additional 64% flood regulation services nationally, while Germany exports 40% of flood regulation services in neighboring, downstream countries; (iv) Information flows transported by the pandas were mainly related to political aspects and - contrary to our expectations - considerably less on biological and natural aspects. We discuss the implications of these results for international resource management policy and governance.