Postgraduate Course: Ecosystem Services 2: Ecosystem Values and Management (PGGE11169)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Postgraduate Courses (School of GeoSciences) |
Other subject area | Environmental Courses |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This course focuses on the concept of ecosystem services, its history and rise to prominence. We then explore the ways in which ecosystem services can be valued, measured and monetized by society, across the spectrum from intrinsic values (aesthetics, inspiration, cultural) to extractive (e.g. fisheries, forestry, mining). Both theoretical and practical applications of ecosystem valuation are explored through case studies of policies and projects, as well as fieldwork near Edinburgh. Real-world examples of ecosystem services being valued are presented, and current policy responses are examined including payment for ecosystem services projects, biodiversity offsets, certification schemes and REDD+. Students have the opportunity to explore a case study in depth through both class work and assessment.
Throughout the course we critique the idea of valuing ecosystem services, looking at the importance of governance and power structures, the difficulties in valuing complex and unpredictable ecosystems, and the trades-offs between efficiency and equity that often occur.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Students must have taken Ecosystem Dynamics and Functions (PGGE11170) and passed at MSc level (only applicable to those not on the MSc Ecosystem Services). If you have not, and wish to take this course, you will need to have passed ecosystem science/ecology at honours level as part of a previous degree.
Note that, because the assessment forms and integral part of the course, students are not permitted to sit in or ¿audit¿ this course.
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| Additional Costs | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
1. An appreciation for the role that core ecosystem functions and dynamics play in terms of underpinning critical services for sustainable humanity;
2. Examples by case studies of services e.g. food, coastal protection, carbon capture, water supplies, recreation.
3. Distinctions and diversities of environmental governance mode related to common property and private resource regimes.
4. Capacity to construct and model different applications of non-monetary and monetary economic assessment to ecosystem components and services.
5. Ability to do interdisciplinary scenario analysis examining application of different ecosystem service concepts for different habitat and cultural contexts. |
Assessment Information
A1: Policy brief (4 pages) on key issue in ecosystem services (20%).
A2: Ecosystem service assessment (group assignment) written report and presentation (80%). Various due dates.
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Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Indicative course outline:
W1 Ecosystem processes, functioning, services and values
W2 Theory and practice of measuring ecosystem services
W3 Practical valuation techniques 1: introduction, revealed preferences and cost-based approaches
W4 Practical valuation 2: Stated preferences
W5 Beyond the (classical) economics of valuation
W6 Ecosystem service assessments: Feedback on study design and fieldwork plan
W7 Ecosystem service assessments: Fieldwork
W8 Frameworks for analysing the governance of ES
W9 Instruments for incorporating ES into policies, projects and decisions
W10 Ecosystem service assessments: student presentations
W11 Course overview and feedback
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| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Not entered |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Timeframe (4 hours class contact time / week)
Indicative delivery mode: a) 1 hour lecture on concepts; b) group presentation of case study, c) interactive lecture or practical around case study.
We will also undertake fieldwork to practice various valuation techniques. |
| Keywords | ecosystem services, valuation, PES, REDD |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Casey Ryan
Tel: (0131 6)50 7722
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Christine Wilson
Tel: (0131 6)50 4866
Email: |
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