Exciting New Project Underway

Posted by: EcoServices Network 4 years, 5 months ago

Quantifying the impact of BMPs on ecosystem services

With funding from the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) Environmental Stewardship and Climate Change - Group program, EcoServices Network (ESN) partners are tackling a new project to quantify the impact and effectiveness of beneficial management practices (BMPs) on ecosystem services (ES) including water quality and quantity, carbon storage and biodiversity. Learn how this approach to quantifying agricultural Beneficial Management Practices will advance the ESN’s efforts to establish conservation markets in Alberta.

BMPs provide an array of public ES including water quality, soil carbon and biodiversity. As large companies such as McDonalds, Harvey’s and Loblaws are building sustainability commitments and incorporating BMPs into the food chain, and as municipalities recognize the importance of BMPs for water quality, flood and drought mitigation, there is a need to better coordinate and leverage investments to fund BMP adoption while maintaining a competitive and sustainable agricultural sector.

What the Project Is About
The goal of the Integrated Modeling to Assess the Ecosystem Service Benefits of Agricultural Beneficial Management Practices project is to develop an integrated assessment platform to quantify the impact and effectiveness of ES (e.g., carbon storage, water quality and quantity, and biodiversity). The intent is to fill a current information gap and help remove barriers for stakeholders to invest in BMPs in the agricultural sector. Quantification and validation of the environmental benefits of BMPs is necessary to sustain and increase public and private support for BMP investments.

The integrated modelling will be run by Wanhong Yang, Ph.D, Professor and Chair of the Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics at the University of Guelph, who has significant experience in resource management, watershed modelling and GIS applications.

The project will result in the development of an IMWEBS (Integrated Modelling for Watershed Evaluation of BMPs) model to assess the impacts of BMPs on ES for two representative agricultural watersheds in Alberta. It will also quantify the impacts of historic, current, and future BMP programs on water quality and quantity and, where feasible, biodiversity and carbon for those watersheds. Through outreach, the project will also engage producers, land managers, government, non‐government and industry stakeholders through meetings, workshops and other methods to mobilize and deepen ES market opportunities.

IMWEBS (Integrated Modelling for Watershed Evaluation of BMPs) is a fully distributed watershed model that evaluates water quantity and quality impacts of over 30 BMPs, including crop and nutrient management, grazing and manure management, irrigation, conservation tillage, marginal land conversion, riparian buffer management and wetland restoration.

Why Is It Important?
Quantifying the impact of BMP adoption on ES will help government and non‐government partners target and evaluate the performance of past and current BMP programs and provide the evidence based framework necessary to leverage and scale up private and social investments in ecosystem services on agricultural landscapes.

The project will benefit agricultural producers by supporting and improving the impact of ES incentive programs and increasing producer and public awareness of BMPs and their positive benefits for society.

ESN will share updates and outcomes on our website and in future issues of e-News as the project progresses.