Ecosystem services are the direct and indirect contributions of the ecosystems to the human well-being.
Changes in the natural capital’s properties influence soil processes, which support the provision of ecosystem services. The benefits produced by these ecosystem services are explicitly or implicitly valued by individuals and society. This can influence decision- and policymaking at different scales, potentially leading to a societal response, such as improved land management.
The IRNAS researcher, Teodoro Marañón, has contributed to the development of a new framework for soil-related ecosystem services that is suited for practical application in the prevention and remediation of soil degradation.
This framework will be applied to the evaluation of remediated soils in the Guadiamar Green Corridor (Sevilla), which is one of the 17 study sites within the European project RECARE.
It will assist in singling out the most beneficial land management measures and in identifying trade-offs and win–win situations. At the same time, the framework is simple and robust enough for practical application in assessing soil threats and their management with stakeholders at various levels.
The article has been published in the August 2016 issue of the journal Ecological Indicators.