Progress made in managing and valuing ecosystem services: a horizon scan of gaps in research, management and governance

Sustaining functional ecosystems that provide services for human well-being is a global challenge. This makes valuing ecosystem services and managing them important to ensure benefits to the environment and livelihoods. Strides have been made in research and knowledge development, policy formulation and the implementation of natural resource management (NRM) programs and investment into ecological (green) infrastructure globally. However, further funding is needed for such programs to be scaled up and adapted to local contexts. Horizon scanning is a useful approach to identify future trajectories, and to guide research, policy formulation and management implementation, as well as to identify gaps. Past achievements, gaps and future needs in relation to “optimising and unlocking investment in ecological infrastructure and valuing ecosystem services” were identified through a free listing questionnaire and a group workshopping exercise by 44 participants involved in an international workshop. The 10 key needs raised were all closely interlinked and fall under the overarching themes of research and assessment, policy formation and implementation, strategic planning as well as management and governance of the policy/adaptive management cycle. We discuss the need to overcome these gaps in the context of South Africa and in relation to other countries globally.