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MIMES applied to the Massachussets Oceanic Partnership - EBM Webinar Thurs. Oct 13.
The Massachusetts Ocean Partnership is developing and applying several
tools to support decision making during the implementation of and
updates to the Massachusetts Ocean Management Plan. The tools include
the Cumulative Impacts model and an ecosystem services tradeoff model
developed by the University of California at Santa Barbara, the MIMES
ecosystem service model developed by the University of Vermont and
Boston University, and the MIDAS decision support interface developed by
Boston University. This webinar will provide an overview of these
tools, why they were selected, a demonstration of draft and final
products, and how they are being applied in Massachusetts. We will also
provide some lessons and recommendations for their continued
development and potential application within the marine spatial planning
context. Learn more about the Massachusetts Ocean Partnership and its
work at http://massoceanpartnership.org/. |
AFORDable Futures participates in REDD+ Workshop in the Democratic Republic of Congo
In September, AFORDable Futures co-facilitated sessions during a series of REDD+ workshops supported by USAID, Forest Trends and the UN REDD Coordination in Goma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Workshops covered feasibility analysis, carbon revenue calculations, social impact assessment, and the Climate, Community, and Biodiversity Alliance's (CCB) standards. For more details, read on the Forest Trends website. |
Recording of MIMES webinar presented on EBM Tools - Now Available!
A recording of the MIMES demonstration - conducted March 15, 2011 for EBM Tools - is now available for download. You can get the .wmv file from the EBM webpage. |
Center for Ocean Solutions Decision Support Tool Guide
The MIMES is presented as one of nine decision support tools for marine spatial planning in this new guide from the Center for Ocean Solutions. To download the PDF, follow this link. |
AFORDable Futures Supports EPA Modeling Workshop
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) convened this workshop to facilitate the use of integrated modeling to inform and improve local, regional and national policy decisions relevant to climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. The workshop purpose was to:
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NWF Pushes to Abandon GDP as Measure of Economy.
Some good new from the National Wildlife Federation on abandoning GDP as the most important measure of our economy; and some excellent (as always) words from David Korten on learning from the biosphere in structuring our economy. Read more. |
PUMA to Assess Ecosystem Impacts of Business
Puma is looking at both the impact of its direct operations and its supply chain, and plans to issue an environmental profit and loss statement based on its findings. The company commissioned the help of Trucost and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Because the concept of ecosystem services covers such a wide swath, investigating one's impacts on ecosystems and also tying a value to those impacts poses a huge challenge to companies, especially for those that are already struggling with getting greenhouse gas emission data from their suppliers. The benefits to companies, though, can be just as big as the undertaking needed to measure them. A company can be better positioned to alter its most damaging work and even improve other aspects of its supply chain to boost the value of ecosystems it operates in. Such work can also ensure a company secures access to the services it needs — like clean water — for years to come. Read more. |
IUCN Releases Ecosystem Services Tools
"Value: Counting Ecosystems as Water Infrastructure" offered by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature, is a practical guide
explaining the most important techniques for the economic valuation of
ecosystem services, and how their results are best incorporated in
policy and decision-making. The guide explains, step by step, how to
generate persuasive arguments for more sustainable and equitable
development decisions in water resources management. Read more. |
Link between plant biodiversity and ecosystem services.
"The idea
that declining diversity compromises the functioning of ecosystems was
controversial for many years," says marine ecologist, Emmett Duffy of
the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. "This paper should be the
final nail in the coffin of that controversy. It's the most rigorous and
comprehensive analysis yet, and it clearly shows that extinction of
plant species compromises the productivity that supports Earth's
ecosystems." Read more. |
Environmental Sustainability is the New Economic Bottom Line
Read a review of "Accounting for Sustainability" a report summarizing results from a five-year project supported by Prince Charles of England. The goal of the project was to determine the feasibility of factoring industries’ impact on the environment into their economic spreadsheets. Read the full article here. |
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