Thursdays 1400-1700, starting Jan 9 2025                                                                  Kai M. A. Chan, @KaiChanUBC

 

Ecosystem Services (RES 508):

Exploring Value, Influence, and Transformation

How do ecosystems provide clean water, sustain livelihoods, and inspire cultural connections? How can these benefits guide decision-making in a world shaped by diverse values, worldviews, and relationships with nature?

In RES 508, we’ll explore the concepts of ‘ecosystem services’ and ‘nature’s contributions to people,’ integrating perspectives from ecology, economics, ethics, and other social sciences. This interdisciplinary course delves into the debates, tools, and transformative possibilities of a field at the crossroads of science, policy, and society.

Through weekly seminars and a collaborative project with a partner organization, students will analyze real-world cases and grapple with tough questions: Can the concept of ecosystem services break free from colonial, reductionist roots to become a force for system change?

Dr. Kai Chan brings over two decades of experience in these fields with The Natural Capital Project, People and Nature, IPBES (the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services), and more. Join us on a provocative journey into the science and politics of valuing nature—and reimagining its role in our future.

Learning Objectives and Outcomes

Students who complete this course will be able to:

1. Explain to policymakers and lay people how ecosystems are crucial for human well-being and relevant to many policies;
2. Communicate how social and environmental change might affect several ecosystem services (and thereby human well-being), and how this is known;
3. Critically and constructively review academic papers and research reports pertaining to ecosystem services;
4. Constructively critique programs, policies, and institutions that impact ecosystem services, based on efficiency, equity, and sustainability;
5. Advocate and support their views on the pros and cons of economic valuation of ecosystem services as alternative inputs to decision-making.

 

Course Description

Through participatory lectures, discussions, debates, role-plays, and workshops, students will:

• Learn the history of thinking on ecosystem services and new developments in policy;
• Characterize the ecological dynamics underpinning numerous key services, and their relationship with biodiversity conservation;
• Critique environmental policies to increase benefits relative to costs, or equity;
• Identify opportunities for profit from ecosystem services, and the feasibility of creating markets for them;
• Describe the opportunities and impediments to laws, regulations, and programs for ecosystem services;
• Evaluate decision-making processes and economic valuation in light of social, cultural, and ethical considerations;
• Apply these skills individually and in teams, demonstrating the learning objectives and outcomes through assignments and presentations, including a group final paper.