Environmental Services Project Database
This database contains strategies and outcomes from environmental services programs all around the world (compiled beteween 2006-2009) and illustrates how ecosystem services have already been put to work by the world's two largest conservation organizations, TNC and WWF.
Eventually the aim is to offer that database as a user-friendly, map-based webpage.
Download the ES Project Database in OpenOffice format:
OpenOffice is free and offers more options for manipulating the data (http://www.openoffice.org).
Download the ES Project Database in Microsoft Excel format:
Each conservation project case study included in the database is either explicitly designed to maintain an ecosystem service or use an ecosystem services approach strategically.
A local water supplier, for example, could be persuaded to help WWF fund a reforestation project designed to increase habitat because it would also help keep their water supply clean.
Additional data about each project's structure, funding, and partners were collected and are available upon request.
Publications
For more information about how these data were collected and interpreted, including important limitations, please read these peer-reviewed articles:
Integrating conservation and development in the field: implementing ecosystem service projects
Heather Tallis, Rebecca Goldman, Melissa Uhl, and Berry Brosi
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 7,1: 12-20. (2009)
Rebecca Goldman, Heather Tallis
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1162: 63-78. (2009)
Field evidence that ecosystem service projects support biodiversity and diversify options
Rebecca L. Goldman, Heather Tallis, Peter Kareiva, Gretchen C. Daily.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 105, 27: 9445-9448. (2008)
Database Uses
Each case study in the database includes information about its initial justification, design, implementation, and results. Database users can explore questions such as:
Who else is using the ecosystem services approach in my region?
What kinds of financial strategies are being used most successfully to promote water quality or flood control?
The database not only provides a storehouse of case studies of ecosystem service projects around the world for people to access, but also serves as a tool for new and exciting analyses about the use of ecosystem services in conservation. The database allows researchers to draw lessons learned from the extensive experience of conservation groups.