Systematic review for a set of indicators supporting the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services

Abstract

Ecosystem services (ES) contribute to human well-being and provide an important contribution to economies at all scales. However, ES are often difficult to measure and quantify, and thus, it is difficult to adequately account for the true value of their contributions. The use of indicators, understood as proxies for estimating the provision of ES, has been proposed as a solution to this obstacle. In this context, indicators are physical elements of the ecosystems that can be relatively easily quantified with available tools and knowledge, and that can usually be easily communicated to decision-makers and practitioners. In this study, we conducted a literature review of peer reviewed publications, aiming to provide a complete and up-to-date list of indicators to measure ES. In total, we generated a list of 85 individual indicators that have been previously used in practice to measure ES, and we linked them to each one of the ES described by the CICES (v5.1) classification system. Moreover, we identified which of those indicators could be derived from remotely sensed (RS) data following three categories: i) RS data in direct relation with the indicator, ii) RS data in indirect relation with the indicator that requires additional information or modelling, and iii) Indicators not derivable from RS data or currently without enough information available. Only a minority of these indicators (6) can be directly derived from RS data, while most of the indicators (46) can be derived indirectly, and some (33) are not derivable from RS data.

Keywords

• Data sources
• Remote sensing
• CICES classification