Ecosystem Services Approach for Decision-Making

The global benchmark sustainability course ‘Ecosystem Services Approach for Decision-Making’ explores the link between ecosystem services and development goals, and demonstrates how to incorporate an Ecosystem Services Approach into existing decision-making processes.

Students will acquire understanding how an Ecosystem Services Approach expands the focus beyond how development affects ecosystems, to how development depends on ecosystems. Rather than focusing on how to protect ecosystems from development, the student will learn how to invest in managing ecosystems for development.

Who should study this course?

Those who wants to gain practical knowledge how to integrate ecosystem services into planning and decision-making. The course of study is particularly compiled for policymakers, senior managers, directors and commission members.

Why study this course?

After completion of the course, you will be able to understand the concepts of an ecosystem services approach as well as apply conceptual thinking to evaluate scenarios and analyse processes and outcomes.

Additionally, the student will be instructed in the various stages of the decision-making process: incl. implementation objectives, key principles of approach, a stepped ecosystem service assessment, effective implementation of strategy direction, valuing ecosystem services, regulatory and non-regulatory approaches. The course will be concluded with reviewing recent efforts, experiments and lessons learned.