Methodological innovations within the RAWES framework for use in development scenarios

Built development changes the nature of land and its ecosystems, with diverse ramifications for human well-being and the resilience of the socioecological system. Robust and replicable approaches are required to assess ecosystem services generated by sites both predevelopment and for evaluation of postdevelopment options, to assess change and to support a paradigm shift from a "do less harm" to a "regenerative" approach. The Rapid Assessment of Wetland Ecosystem Services (RAWES) approach provides an internationally recognized methodology for systemic assessment of the ecosystem services generated by a site, taking account of all ecosystem services and service categories across multiple spatial scales. The RAWES assessments of constituent ecosystem services can be combined into Ecosystem Service Index scores. This article outlines innovations in RAWES methods to assess changes in ecosystem services likely to result from differing development scenarios in the context of a case study site in eastern England. These adaptations of the RAWES approach include revised methods for the analysis of ecosystem service beneficiaries across multiple spatial scales, the establishment of a common baseline against which to compare likely ecosystem service outcomes under a range of development scenarios, and a standardized method for accounting for supporting services through their contributions to other more directly exploited services. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2024;20:189-200. © 2023 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

Reassessing the multiple values of lowland British floodplains

Ecosystem services provided by lowland British floodplains respectively under semi-natural conditions and converted for intensive maize production were assessed. Floodplains across lowland Britain have been extensively disconnected from river channels, depleting habitat for wildlife and other beneficial ecosystem services. Conservation measures are often regarded as costly constraints on economic and development freedoms whilst, conversely, conversion for intensive agricultural production is rewarded by markets despite many often-overlooked externalities. Maize growing has increased in Britain since the 1970s, initially for feedlot production of livestock and now increasingly for grant-aided biofuel production for anaerobic digestion. Comparative literature-based ecosystem service assessments using the RAWES (Rapid Assessment of Wetland Ecosystem Services) approach reveal that lowland British floodplains in semi-natural condition provide a wider range of provisioning services than those converted for monocultural intensive production of maize, in addition to a diversity of regulating, cultural and supporting service benefits that are lost or transformed into disservices when floodplains are converted for intensive maize growth. Benefits and disbenefits of floodplains managed under the two scenarios (semi-natural versus monocultural maize) are presented graphically as an intuitive means to support decision-makers. Monetisation of benefits would be risky, not merely due to uncertainties but as this may skew conclusions and subsequent decision-making towards maximisation of marketed or near-market services, consequently misrepresenting the diversity of values of whole socioecological floodplain systems. Management solutions protective of the societal values provided by floodplain ecosystem may include buffer zoning as a mitigation measure, but a more strategic solution may be zonation of land use based on suitability not only for crop production but recognising the full spectrum of societally beneficial ecosystem services demonstrated by RAWES assessment. A variety of drivers for a changing approach to floodplain farming - statutory, fiscal and self-beneficial - are highlighted, and are generically applicable beyond Britain with context-specific modification.

Can nature-based solutions contribute to water security in Bhopal?

Bhojtal, a large man-made lake bordering the city of Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh state, central India), is important for the city's water supply, connoted the lifeline of the city. Despite the dry though not arid and markedly seasonal climate, soil impermeability hampers infiltration into the complex geology underlying the Bhojtal catchment. Rural communities in the catchment are nonetheless high dependent on underlying aquifers. This paper develops baseline understanding of trends in the ecology, water quality and uses of Bhojtal, discussing their implications for the long-term wellbeing of the Bhopal city region. It highlights increasing dependency on water diverted from out-of-catchment sources, and also abstraction across the Bhojtal catchment in excess of replenishment that is depressing groundwater and contributing to reported declining lake level and water quality. Despite some nature-based management initiatives, evidence suggests little progress in haltering on-going groundwater depression and declines in lake water level and quality. Significant declines in ecosystem services produced by Bhojtal are likely without intervention, a major concern given the high dependency of people in the Bhopal region on Bhojtal for their water supply and socio-economic and cultural wellbeing. Over-reliance on appropriation of water from increasingly remote sources is currently compensating for lack of attention to measures protecting or regenerating local resources that may provide greater resilience and regional self-sufficiency. Improved knowledge of catchment hydrogeology on a highly localised scale could improve the targeting and efficiency of water harvesting and other management interventions in the Bhojtal catchment, and their appropriate hybridisation with engineered solutions, protecting the catchment from unintended impacts of water extraction or increasing its carrying capacity, and also providing resilience to rising population and climate change. Ecosystem service assessment provides useful insights into the breadth of benefits of improved management of Bhojtal and its catchment.