Abstract

PEREVOCHTCHIKOVA, Maria  and  OGGIONI, Julia. Global and Mexican analytical review of the state of the art on ecosystem and environmental services: A geographical approach. Invest. Geog [online]. 2014, n.85, pp.47-65. ISSN 2448-7279.  https://doi.org/10.14350/rig.41239.

Within a strong international movement for conservation of natural resources, the term of Ecosystem Services (ES) which refers to all benefits that nature offers to society, was introduced at Rio Conference, 1992. After this, the first compensation scheme for ES, as one of the tools of the new environmental policy directed towards the principles of sustainable development, was proposed in Kyoto Protocol, 1997. Its objective is to prevent the reduction of natural resources' availability, and to improve human well-being by means of monetary compensation for conservation activities. Since then, the theme of ES found a global response, which was reflected in the implementation of payment programs and development of studies in many countries worldwide, where it's possible to note the different perspectives of analysis and aspects included, as well as methodology used. In this regard, this paper presents the state of art on ES and Environmental Services research (specific term adopted in public policy) in global and Mexican perspectives. It is based on the review of 1 781 scientific papers published in international peer-viewed journals between 1992 and 2012 (twenty years since Rio Conference). Furthermore, the work provides a sound geographical overview of the main ES topics studied and the relative contribution of papers per region, country and Mexican states. The presentation of results is helped by the construction of multi-scale maps and tables to show the evolution of studies in time and space, where a gradual continuous growth in numbers of publications with different focus and theories is detected, and use of distinct techniques from various disciplines, according to the specific objectives of each research. On the other hand, the social and economic standpoints dominate the global scene, with recent interest in integral analysis and ES compensation schemes. Geographically, ES research appears concentrated in North America, Europe, China and Australia, with social and economic focus of analysis predominat; followed by physical and interdisciplinary approaches. In the relation to the ecosystem function, the biodiversity studies prevail, followed by hydrological and carbon. Developing countries have published moderate or low amounts of papers, but are often the areas of interest for outside research. It is important to highlight that half of the papers are focused on one or more study cases, which allows for better understanding and analysis of local issues. Moreover, applied research combines experiments, sampling, surveys and interviews. It all contributes to providing better quality and more quantity of information for a successful study. In Mexico the situation is similar to the global trends, which is reflected in the growth trend of studies (since implementation of federal payment scheme in 2003) with social and physics focuses predominant and biodiversity and hydrological functions prevailing; and their very sharp heterogeneous territorial distribution and few publications about payment programs. Their spatial distribution appears less consistent with the totals than the distribution of article focus; the geographic allocation of ecosystem services seems more related to each area's history and issues. For example, hydrological services are most studied in states that have problems with water scarcity and distribution: Federal District, Mexico, Baja California and Querétaro. Biodiversity is more the object of study in regions with high levels of species richness or a history of conservation programs, as Chiapas, Michoacán and Veracruz. After this revision it is possible to mention the following challenges: the necessity of a mayor analysis of carbon capture function, development of the focus of economic and interdisciplinary researches, more homogeneous space studies, and in collaboration with institutions from other countries and internal. Also it is important to recognize other problems that limit study achievements, and consequently the general knowledge of the ES and ecosystem functions, for instance lack or misuse of information, scarcity of financial, technical or human resources, shortage of time, safe access to study case territories, as in Mexico, as in many others. We believe that the future of ES is in the endorsement of interdisciplinary publications, focused on analysis of socio-ecological system with a l ong-term vision.

Keywords : Environmental and ecosystem services; geographical approach; global level; Mexico.

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