Achievement

ESUR IGERT core faculty authored the journal article “Growing Cities Depend on Ecosystem Services” in Solutions. The majority of the earth’s population now resides in urban areas with projections for that figure to reach 66 percent by 2050. This concentrated development pattern necessitates careful management of ecosystem services that can support the urbanizing regions. The authors develop a transdiciplinary approach to address these challenges that will serve as a general framework for trainee research projects. An interdisciplinary framework is required because the issues involve complex linkages between natural and human systems that transcend single disciplines. The framework integrates contributions from the natural and social sciences with stakeholders’ intimate knowledge of the issues on the ground. Four novel cases of government, non-profit organization and business firm initiatives on ecosystem management illustrate the principles that underpin the proposed approach.