Abstract
Ecosystems provide an intrinsic and inevitable link between engineering projects and society, and indeed all human activities are embedded in ecological reality. While the ecosystem services framework is a helpful way of exploring and analyzing potential synergies between engineering projects and wider environmental processes, its focus is on benefits to humans generically without any explicit regard to specific stakeholders and the plurality of nonutilitarian ways in which they may appreciate or suffer from a particular ecological system. An ecosystem services assessment therefore carries certain risks if used as a tool for decision-making or auditing, and a broader approach is needed. This chapter goes on to outline a pluralistic evaluation framework as a tool to facilitate accounting for the importance of diverse natural processes in engineering solutions. Pluralistic evaluation is illustrated in several areas (hydrology, atmospheric dynamics, and agroecosystems), and a step-by-step approach is outlined for implementing a pluralistic evaluation.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Engineering and Ecosystems |
| Subtitle of host publication | Seeking Synergies Toward a Nature-Positive World |
| Editors | Bhavik Bakshi |
| Publisher | Springer Nature |
| Chapter | 23 |
| Pages | 531-548 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 978-3-031-35692-6 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-3-031-35691-9 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 22 Nov 2023 |