Achievement

Ecosystem services (ES) theory have evolved from early conceptions due to scientific and policy advances. Early applications critiqued decision-making that failed to appreciate the role of natural systems, which grew into interest in market based solutions for environmental problems. These represent ES versions 1.0 and 2.0. New ES models and methods add units of measure beyond economic metrics, to ones based on governance and public involvement. Five Trainees explored novel ways to incorporate social dimensions across diverse settings: ES as a mediating concept between groups on contested policies for marine management; ES as a basis for public-private partnerships in landscape conservation; ES reframing debates in decision making on engineered and natural solutions in urban stormwater; ES incorporating Native American knowledge systems to redefine restoration from Western ecological precepts, and ES serving as a heuristic to facilitate regulatory processes on cultural resources.