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In light of the significance that ecosystem service research is likely to play in linking conservation activities and
human welfare, systematic approaches to measuring, modeling and mapping ecosystem services (and their
value to society) are sorely needed. In this paper we outline one such approach, which we developed in
order to understand the links between the functioning of the ecosystems of Tanzania’s Eastern Arc
Mountains and their impact on human welfare at local, regional and global scales. The essence of our
approach is the creation of a series of maps created using field-based or remotely sourced data, data-
driven models, and socio-economic scenarios coupled with rule-based assumptions. Here we describe the
construction of this spatial information and how it can help to shed light on the complex relationships between ecological and social systems. There are obvious difficulties in operationalizing this approach, but by
highlighting those which we have encountered in our own case-study work, we have also been able to suggest
some routes to overcoming these impediments. |
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