A framework for ecosystem services and resilience (ESSR)

Why focus on ecosystem services in rural communities?
Agricultural development has progressed in leaps and bounds to feed the global population, but not without environmental and production costs. These environmental costs have limited the ecosystem services on which we depend, including agricultural production as well as access to clean water, protection from natural disasters and fertile soils. An ecosystem service-based approach reconsiders these decisions and aims to move beyond agriculture that ‘does no harm’, to an integrated approach that boosts agricultural production concurrently with other benefits such as soil and water quality, biological conservation, and increased resilience of rural communities. The principles of the framework act as a guide for ecosystem service-based approaches to development interventions. Louise Willemen, member of the Ecoagriculture Working Group and the ESSR team presented co-led a session on the framework at the Ecosystem Service Partnership conference in Bali, Indonesia, in August, 2014.

To read more about the framework, read the full post on the Landscapes for People, Food and Nature Blog.