Measuring and Valuing Ecosystem Services

label Diverse autorenew 2025-09-29, 17:01 history_edu Diana Ignat
The state of the environment and sustainable use of natural resources are the foundations of human wellbeing. Sustainability of food, feed and wood production will claim an ever-increasing significance in a world of rapidly growing population. The role and utilisation of natural, ecological processes for sustained production will receive - and is already receiving - increasing attention from practitioners, policy makers and the public. The ecological processes, dependent in turn on the diversity of life, form a basis for ecosystem services.rnrnEcosystem services (ES) are the goods and services derived from natural and managed ecosystems upon which human welfare depends. Ecosystem services include highly diverse phenomena, from the production of food and wood to recreational and aesthetic benefits. And the range of performance varies from microbes to landscapes. The challenges are therefore to recognise, measure and value the existing ecosystem services and mediate this knowledge for the use of decision making.rnrnThis course is designed to provide students with a solid understanding of the concept of ecosystem services and its use in agriculture and forestry together with the applicability of ecological data in economics and decision making.rnrnThe course will demonstrate how natural processes in 1) agricultural ecosystems and 2) forests support the continuous provisioning of ecosystem services such as food, biomass, carbon sequestration, purification of water and soil, sustainable nutrient cycling, recreational and cultural experiences. On a practical level, the course will equip students with practical skills in the field, in the lab and in interview studies. The data collected by the students will be used to demonstrate how to translate ecological data to aid in economic decisions.

Period
18-08-2014 - 05-09-2014 (3 weeks)

Target group
The European Summer School is open to students from different disciplines of Natural Sciences, Social Sciences and Economics. Appropriate fields include Biology, Agricultural, Environmental, Forest or Soil Sciences, Environmental Policy, Economics and other relevant disciplines. Applicants should be on a master or early PhD level.rnrnThe application period opens on 15 February 2014 and closes on 31 March 2014. Only 30 students will be accepted.

Course aim
Why attend this course?rnrn- To learn to recognise and measure a range of ecosystem servicesrnrn- To understand the concept and use of ecosystem servicesrnrn- To be able to apply ecological data in economic methods of valuing ESrnrn- To acquire working skills in an intercultural, multilingual and interdisciplinary group



Credits
8.0 ECTS credits

Course fee
EUR 0[Convert to USD]All accepted students receive a full scholarship.

Course leader
The European Campus of Excellence

Scholarships
All accepted students receive a full scholarship.

Helsinki Summer School is supported by a consortium of three universities in the Helsinki capital region: the University of Helsinki, Aalto University and Hanken School of Economics.
Address: P.O. Box 3 University of Helsinki
Postal code: FI-00014
City: Helsinki
Country: Finland
Website: http://www.helsinkisummerschool.fi/home/index
E-mail: summer-school@helsinki.fi
Phone: +358 (0)9 191 40255