We'd love your feedback!
Use the following form to send us comments or report any problems you experienced finding information on our website. We read all feedback carefully, but please note that we cannot respond to all immediately.



    Comparison of these three main classification schemes

    Comparison of three main classifications of ecosystem services (only those services supplied by forest ecosystems are shown).

    MA TEEB CICES
    PROVISIONING
    Industrial wood Raw materials Materials / Biomass, fibre
    Fuelwood Energy / Biomass-based energy
    Non-wood forest products Food / Raw materials Nutrition / Biomass
    Materials / Biomass, fibre
    Fresh water (water purification) (also Regulation service) Water supply Materials / Water
    Nutrition / Water
    Genetic resources Genetic resources Materials / Biomass, fibre (genetic resources)
    REGULATION REGULATING REGULATION AND MAINTENANCE
    Pest regulation.
    Disease regulation    		 Biological control Maintenance of physical, chemical, biological conditions / Pest and disease control
    Health protection
    Water regulation Regulation of water flows Mediation of flows / Liquid flows
    Disturbance prevention or moderation Mediation of flows / Air flows (storms)
    Water purification and waste treatment Waste treatment (water purification) Maintenance of physical, chemical, biological conditions / Water conditions
    Air quality regulation Air purification Maintenance of physical, chemical, biological conditions / Atmospheric composition and climate regulation
    Climate regulation (incl. C sequestration) Climate regulation (incl. C sequestration) Maintenance of physical, chemical, biological conditions / Atmospheric composition and climate regulation
    Soil protection (erosion regulation) Erosion prevention Mediation of flows / Mass flow
    Soil formation (supporting service) Maintaining soil fertility Maintenance of physical, chemical, biological conditions / Soil formation and composition
    Pollination Pollination Maintenance of physical, chemical, biological conditions / Lifecycle maintenance, habitat and gene pool protection
    HABITAT
    Biodiversity repository Maintenance of genetic diversity (especially in gene pool protection) Maintenance of physical, chemical, biological conditions / Lifecycle maintenance, habitat and gene pool protection
    Lifecycle maintenance
    CULTURAL CULTURAL & AMENITY CULTURAL
    Spiritual Spiritual experience Spiritual, symbolic and other interactions with ecosystems and landscapes / Spiritual and/or emblematic
    Cultural Inspiration for culture, art & design Physical and intellectual interactions with ecosystems and landscapes / Intellectual and representative interactions
    Historical    
    Ecotourism Recreation & Tourism Physical and intellectual interactions with ecosystems and landscapes / Physical and experiential interactions
    Recreation
    Sports: fishing/hunting    
    Aesthetic values Aesthetic information Spiritual, symbolic and other interactions with ecosystems and landscapes / Other cultural outputs
    Knowledge systems & Education Information for cognitive development Physical and intellectual interactions with ecosystems and landscapes / Intellectual and representative interactions
    SUPPORTING (in MA services necessary for the production of all other ES)    
    Nutrient cycling    
    Primary production    

    For more details about ESS and FES classification see the FOREST EUROPE Final Report on Valuation of Forest Ecosystem Services (2014). From the original classification of ESS from MA, TEEB and CICES a comparison including only FES is shown in the Table . A first look to the comparison of the three classifications suggests that there are important commonalities between them. The main categories of provision, regulation (and maintenance) and cultural (and amenity) are comparable and in many cases the subcategories are also coincident. It is noticeable that CICES is an extendable classification and that a further level of disaggregation (class) is not shown in the Table for the sake of readability. It is worth mention that the last column of this table (FES in CICES) is in line with results of the MAES Forest Ecosystem Services Pilot MAES 2014 that provided an agreed classification of FES derived from CICES up to class level to be used at pan-European level.

    References