Overview

1. Overview • Introduce the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) • Introduce MA ‘subglobals’ • Introduce ASB as an example • ASB users, scales, topics

2. What is the MA? • International assessmentof scientific knowledge • Focus isecosystem goods and services and the consequences of changes in ecosystems on human well being • At multiple scales (local to global) • Goals: • providing informationrequested by users conventions (CBD), governments, private sector and others • building capacity at all scales to undertake such assessments and act on the findings

3. WHAT IS AN ASSESSMENT, AND WHAT DOES IT OFFER? Assessment = a social process to bring the findings of science to bear on the needs of decision-makers Assessment • Stakeholders • Governments • Private sector • etc. Monitoring Research Assessments assist in the process of making tough choices

4. Basic Features of the MA • Credible • Meets highest scientific standards (e.g., peer review etc.) • Legitimate • Involves key stakeholders and viewed by those stakeholders to be a legitimate process • Useful • Provides information that stakeholders need

5. CCD Ramsar CBD FCCC STRP SBSTA SBSTTA CST IPCC MA Research, UN Data, National and International Assessments THE MA HAS MULTIPLE USERS AMONGTHE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONSSpecific Assessment Input Requested From The MA FCCC: Framework Convention on Climate Change SBSTA: Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technical Advice SBSTTA: Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice CST: Committee on Science and Technology STRP: Scientific and Technical Review Panel

6. IPCC – focused on effect of a single driver on specific areas MA – examines impact of multiple drivers on whole ecosystems Climate Change Climate Change Land Cover Change Biodiversity Loss Nutrient Loading Energy Sector Bio-diversity Food Supply Water Ecosystems Health Economics Social Health Economics Social THE MA IS AN INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT THAT EXAMINES MULTIPLE DRIVERS OF ECOSYSTEM CHANGE Driver Response Human Impact IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

7. = Strategies and Interventions MA CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Global Regional Local • Indirect Drivers of Change • Demographic • Economic (e.g. globalization, trade, market & policy frameworks) • Socio-political (e.g. governance, institutional & legal framework) • Scientific and technological • Cultural and religious • Human Wellbeing & Poverty Reduction • Basic material for a good life • Health • Good social relations • Security • Freedoms and choice Life on Earth: biodiversity • Ecosystem Services • Provisioning (e.g. food, water) • Regulating (e.g. climate, water, disease regulation) • Cultural (e.g. spiritual, aesthetic) • Supporting (e.g. soil formation) • Direct Drivers of Change • Changes in local land use and land cover • Species introductions or removals • External inputs (e.g. fertiliser use, pest control, irrigation) • Natural and biophysical drivers (e.g. volcanoes, evolution) uninfluenced by people

9. Users Regional Regional Banks, etc. e.g. Southeast Asia National National Government Sub- Global e.g. Thailand Local Local Community e.g. Mae Chaem THE MA IS A MULTI-SCALE ASSESSMENTWith Multiple Layers Of Nesting Global Assessment: Conditions, Scenarios, Responses

10. Norway Sweden Local Altai-Sayan BC coast Central Asia Portugal Western China Himalayas ASB sites(1) Morocco Caribbean Sinai Arabia Vietnam Mekong Costa Rica Trinidad India Local Philippines Colombian Andes Indonesia/ Arafura Timor PNG islands Southern Africa Fiji Sao Paulo Atacama, Chile 2 Major Basins multiple local Approved assessments Associated assessments The Family of MA Subglobal Assessments15 approved + many associates (1) ASB: Alternatives to Slash and Burn – multiple local sites worldwide

11. ASB-MA Title: “Forest & Agroecosystem Tradeoffs in the Humid Tropics”the MA’s only ‘cross-cutting’ assessment Source: WWF Global 200 Ecoregions (WWF 2001). Notes: The Biomes displayed are only forest biomes that are present in the warm humid and subhumid tropics.

12. Why ‘sub-global’ assessments? • Improve findings across other scales • Develop new multi-scale assessment methodologies that assist in implementing policy and management options • Better meet stakeholders’ needs • NOTE: Sub-global will inform global, but the global is not intended to be the ‘sum’ of the sub-global

13. ASB is ... • a crosscutting sub-global assessment of the MA entitled “Forest and Agroecosystem Tradeoffs in the Humid Tropics” • a global consortium of over 50 research institutions, NGOs, government agencies, universities, and community groups • a long-term network of sites spanning the tropics • a multidisciplinary, integrated approach to natural resource management at multiple scales • Problem focused, driven byuser needs

14. The challenge … is to identify innovative policies, institutions, and technologies that can reconcile forest conservation and poverty reduction. The Riquez Family, Peruvian Amazon

15. ASB/MA spatial scales • Local(community, landscape, watershed). 8 existing ASB benchmark sites in Peru (1), Brazil (2), Cameroon (1), Thailand (1), Indonesia (2), and the Philippines (1) plus Para in the Eastern Brazilian Amazon. • National: six countries with existing ASB national consortia (Peru, Brazil, Cameroon, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines), with scope for outreach. • Biome. All ASB sites are located within the Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forest Biome, delineated in the Global 200 Ecoregions database of the WWF (WWF 2001), with a human population of some 500 million. • Global:chronic masspoverty, habitat loss from land cover change, climate change mitigation (Note: no work is planned in Australasia, the fourth biogeographical realm in the tropics.)

16. Forest / Agriculture Mosaic Areas – South East Asia the Forest Biome

17. ASB MA user needs’ assessment • Why: assess users needs at the outset to ensure usefulness, salience of the whole activity • Where: Peru, Indonesia, Cameroon, plus additional work in Brazil, Thailand, perhaps Philippines in future • Who: national policymakers / policy shapers and local communities (strategic stakeholders); Note: MA provides links with international stakeholders • How: (1) on which topics could ASB do a credible assessment? (2) for those topics, what are the specific questions that matter to ASB users?

18. ASB MA topicshuman wellbeing & ecosystem services • Ecosystem goods: food, feed, timber, etc • Regulating services: C stocks, GHG fluxes, air quality, local climate regulation, water supply (various aspects), weeds, pests and diseases • Resource base: soil resources, biological resources, human resources (including ecological knowledge) • Human wellbeing, sustainable livelihoods, poverty reduction

19. The ASB Matrix TP Tomich

20. From plot to landscape Incorporate a wider range of environmental issues—spanning local, national, and global concerns--in analysis and debate on agricultural development, land use, and natural resource management Landscape mosaic in Northern Thailand.

21. Why do it? What do ASB partners gain? • Powerful channels forscientific dissemination, public awareness, and policy impact • Broader context and expanded relevanceof ASB’s global synthesis • Access toglobal assessments and datasets • New opportunities for training and capacity building • Assistance withfundraising • Scientific basis for design of Rainforest Challenge Programme

22. http://www.asb.cgiar.org