Ecosystem services and land use

A synoptic approach

Land management for the future needs to take a holistic or synoptic view, a joined-up thinking that covers all the ‘ecosystem services’ we require from the land. These range from food production, to biodiversity, to recreation. This article draws on evidence from the Rural Economy and Land Use (Relu) programme to examine how such an approach might be achieved.

Anne Liddon

Land needs to be managed for the many services we want from it, for example farming, leisure and tourism, water supply and biodiversity

Ecosystem services describes the ways in which the environment produces resources that can be used by humans. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment classified ecosystem services into four groups:

◼ Supporting services These processes underpin all other ecosystem services and include soil formation, primary production of the organic compounds that support life (for example photosynthesis), nutrient cycling and water cycling.