H10. Quantifying ecosystem services for sustainability appraisal

Broad definition of sustainability assumes complex multi-dimensional considerations of human environment interactions with respect to inter-generation equity. Ecological systems generate diverse services that are vital for human well-being, economic development and even survival. Sustainable environmental management can be achieved if multiple goods and services produced by the ecosystems are properly identified, quantified, valuated and incorporated into the decision-making process. The latter involves a set of non-trivial tasks and requires adequate theoretical concepts, methods, models and tools, including such issues as stakeholder involvement, evaluation of the tools and uncertainty analysis. The session invites papers focusing on development and application of simulation models, techniques and tools for quantifying and valuating ecosystem services including their natural and anthropogenic dynamics in applications for sustainable environmental management. Contributions on data requirements, uncertainty estimates, stakeholder involvement and evaluation of the tools are also within the scope of the session.