Monthly Archives: September 2013

ONES endorsed by the Ontario Biodiversity Council

The Ontario Biodiversity Council has endorsed the Ontario Network on Ecosystem Services (ONES) as a working group of the council, with the purpose of advising the council about the role and relevance of ecosystem services in implementing Ontario’s Biodiversity Strategy. ONES will be represented on the council by Eric Miller, who is a member of the ONES Steering Committee.

The Ontario Biodiversity Strategy was updated in 2011 with a target that by 2020, programs and policies are in place to maintain and enhance ecosystem services.

The strategy sees the integration of the economic value of biodiversity and ecosystem services into decision-making as an action undertaken by all sectors in order to mainstream biodiversity.

The strategy has an outcome that ecosystem services are maintained and have been restored or enhanced in previously degraded habitats.

The strategy’s targets, actions, and outcomes will fulfill a vision that people value, protect, and enhance biodiversity and the ecosystem services essential for human health and wellbeing.

An upcoming 2013 ONES Strategic Planning Session will detail how ONES can fulfill this new role of serving as an ecosystem services working group of the Ontario Biodiversity Council.

Approach for reporting on ecosystem services: Incorporating ecosystem services into an organization’s performance disclosure

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In cooperation with the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and consultancy CREM, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has been assessing opportunities to translate emerging thinking around ES into sustainability reporting indicators and approaches that can be used as a starting point by organizations in all sectors.

A Guide to Biodiversity Conservation

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Document by the Canadian Business and Biodiversity Council

This Guide has been prepared to advise Canadian businesses of all sizes, and from all sectors, on how they can benefit from reducing the adverse effects of their operations on biodiversity, and participate in its conservation and sustainable management, regardless of whether they use biological resources directly or not.

Province of Ontario: Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity Analysis

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The Ecological Footprint is a tool that assesses the demand for natural resources and provides information on whether our collective consumption levels are approaching or exceeding the Earth’s ecological limits. It can be directly compared to biocapacity, a metric that accounts for available resource supply of specific products (food, fibre, timber and carbon storage) that are provided by ecosystems. The Ecological Footprint and biocapacity provide a partial ecological balance sheet for the world. This report calculates humanity’s and Canada’s Ecological Footprint, as well as the Ecological Footprint and biocapacity of Ontario.

Natural Heritage Reference Manual for Natural Heritage Policies of Ontario’s Provincial Policy Statement, 2005

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The manual provides technical guidance for implementing the natural heritage policies of Ontario’s Provincial Policy Statement (PPS), 2005, specifically the recommended technical criteria and approaches for being consistent with the PPS in protecting natural heritage features, areas, and systems. In addition to providing details of the PPS policies, the manual describes each of the natural heritage features and areas identified in PPS policies including identification and evaluation procedures, discusses municipal planning techniques and tools to consider when establishing protection approaches, and provides guidance for assessing the potential impacts of development and site alteration on natural heritage features and lands and performance indicators.

Great Lakes Conservation Blueprint for Aquatic and Terrestrial BIodiversity

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The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) and the Nature Conservancy of Canada collaborated on the Conservation Blueprint for Biodiversity, a shared vision for natural heritage conservation in the Great Lakes region. The Conservation Blueprint assembles, catalogues, classifies, maps and analyzes the aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity in the Great Lakes region, and identifies high quality aquatic and terrestrial areas that can support a broad range of natural biodiversity. Summary reports of the tertiary watersheds and eco-districts include data and maps.

Economic Value of Protecting the Great Lakes: Literature Review Report

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This review of the literature on the economic value of the goods and services provided by the Great Lakes includes the direct, indirect, option and non-use values associated with Great Lakes protection. The report discusses the main stressors to the Great Lakes ecosystem, contextualizes the value estimates by reviewing cost benefit analyses, and summarizes economic valuation data.

(Note: Click on “Assessing the Economic value of Protecting the Great Lakes Ecosystem” to be directed to the document)

Estimating Ecosystem Services in Southern Ontario

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This study uses a spatially explicit ecosystem service valuation technique to estimate ecosystem service values and geographic variation in the values for southern Ontario. It also discusses the current challenges with research in ecosystem services valuation and how ecosystem services could support decision-making in policy and planning.

Assessing the Economic Value of Protecting the Great Lakes: A Cost-benefit Analysis of Habitat Protection and Restoration

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This study provides information on the magnitude of the economic benefits from the habitats of the Great Lakes basin ecosystem. A total economic valuation (TEV) framework is used to undertake a cost-benefit analysis of two intervention strategies – wetland protection and restoration – aimed at protecting and restoring habitats. The costs and benefits of these habitats and the intervention strategies are estimated for Credit River – 16 Mile Creek, the Toronto Area and Prince Edward Bay.

(Note: Click on “Assessing the Economic value of Protecting the Great Lakes Ecosystem” to be directed to the document)

Assessing the Economic Value of Protecting the Great Lakes: Rouge River Case Study for Nutrient Reduction and Nearshore Health Protection

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This study undertakes an economic welfare analysis using a cost-benefit framework that assesses the total impacts to societal welfare. Using the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority’s Rouge River Watershed: Scenario Modeling and Analysis Report, 2007 as a case study and a total economic value (TEV) framework as the valuation approach, the costs and benefits of two future land development scenarios – sustainable communities and full build-out – are analyzed. These results are extrapolated to the Golden Horseshoe area and then used to estimate the impacts of the two development scenarios on Lake Ontario.

(Note: Click on “Assessing the Economic value of Protecting the Great Lakes Ecosystem” to be directed to the document)