IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v9y2018i1d10.1038_s41467-018-06538-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Global state and potential scope of investments in watershed services for large cities

Author

Listed:
  • Chelsie L. Romulo

    (University of Northern Colorado
    Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
    George Mason University)

  • Stephen Posner

    (University of Vermont
    COMPASS)

  • Stella Cousins

    (California Polytechnic State University)

  • Jenn Hoyle Fair

    (Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies)

  • Drew E. Bennett

    (University of Wyoming)

  • Heidi Huber-Stearns

    (University of Oregon)

  • Ryan C. Richards

    (Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
    George Mason University
    Center for American Progress)

  • Robert I. McDonald

    (The Nature Conservancy)

Abstract

Investments in watershed services (IWS) programs, in which downstream water users pay upstream watershed service suppliers for actions that protect drinking water, are increasing in number and scope. IWS programs represent over $170 million of investment in over 4.3 million ha of watersheds, providing water to over 230 million people. It is not yet fully clear what factors contribute to the establishment and sustainability of IWS. We conducted a representative global analysis of 416 of the world’s largest cities, including 59 (14%) with IWS programs. Using random forest ensemble learning methods, we evaluated the relative importance of social and ecological factors as predictors of IWS presence. IWS programs are more likely present in source watersheds with more agricultural land and less protected area than otherwise similar watersheds. Our results suggest potential to expand IWS as a strategy for drinking water protection and also contribute to decisions regarding suitable program locations.

Suggested Citation

  • Chelsie L. Romulo & Stephen Posner & Stella Cousins & Jenn Hoyle Fair & Drew E. Bennett & Heidi Huber-Stearns & Ryan C. Richards & Robert I. McDonald, 2018. "Global state and potential scope of investments in watershed services for large cities," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-06538-x
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-06538-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06538-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-018-06538-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qiongrui Zhang & Xuechao Sun & Kebin Zhang & Zhenni Liao & Songjun Xu, 2021. "Trade-Offs and Synergies of Ecosystem Services in the Pearl River Delta Urban Agglomeration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-14, August.
    2. Jones, Kelly W. & Gannon, Benjamin & Timberlake, Thomas & Chamberlain, James L. & Wolk, Brett, 2022. "Societal benefits from wildfire mitigation activities through payments for watershed services: Insights from Colorado," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    3. Yu, Shuying & Peng, Jian & Xia, Pei & Wang, Qi & Grabowski, Robert C & Azhoni, Adani & Bala, Brij & Shankar, Vijay & Meersmans, Jeroen, 2023. "Network analysis of water-related ecosystem services in search of solutions for sustainable catchment management: A case study in Sutlej-Beas River systems, India," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    4. Junran Dong & Desheng Wu, 2020. "An Evaluation of the Impact of Ecological Compensation on the Cross-Section Efficiency Using SFA and DEA: A Case Study of Xin’an River Basin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-18, September.
    5. Agboola, Oluwagbenga David & Yu, Han, 2023. "Neighborhood-based cross fitting approach to treatment effects with high-dimensional data," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-06538-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.