Policy support tool

Multi-scale integrated models of ecosystem services (MIMES)

MIMES is an ecosystem-based management tool. It integrates georeferenced datasets, with diverse information sources on human and natural systems to create systems models. These systems models assess the value of ecosystem services at different spatial levels under different future scenarios. These are bespoke models for particular cases.

The MIMES approach has been applied in New Zealand and Massachusetts. It is also under development for use by the Ministry of Fisheries in Cambodia in managing the Tonle Sap Lake. 

Aim of the resource

To incorporate stakeholder input and biophysical datasets for valuation of ecosystem services and decision-making.
To simulate coupled socio-ecological systems over time and space.
To provide economic arguments for land use managers to approach conservation of ecosystems as a form of economic development.

Potential benefits from using the resource
It addresses the links between natural and human capital, and enables the integration of site-specific information with spatial data. This makes it suited to examine trade-offs under various economic, policy and climate scenarios.
The MIMES approach can engage a wide diversity of collaborators from different disciplines.
Researchers can reproduce the results and sample the processes in the model to make sense of causal relationships, allowing the testing of management scenarios that may be infeasible or socially unacceptable to test in practice.
Potential limitations from using the resource
The complexity of outputs can be challenging to understand.
Sub/region where used
Central Africa
Central and Western Europe
North America
South-East Asia
Scale of application
Global
Regional
Sub-regional
National
Subnational
Local
UN languages in which the resource is available
EN
Roelof M Boumans
[email protected]
[email protected]
Phone number
8022418044
Website
http://www.afordablefutures.com/
Links
Boumans et al. (2015) - The Multiscale Integrated Model of Ecosystem Services (…
Do you want to add more details?
Yes

Assessment

06/08/2019

Fourth National Climate Assessment

Assessment

31/07/2019

Assessment of Climate Change in the Southwest United States

Policy support tool

30/07/2019

Global change and conservation triage on National Wildlife Refuges

Policy support tool

29/07/2019

Management to mitigate and adapt to climate change

Policy support tool

15/07/2019

Informing Strategic Efforts to Expand and Connect Protected Areas Using a Model of Ecological Flow, with Application to the Western United States

Policy support tool

09/07/2019

Sustainable Climate Change Adaptation in Indian Country

Policy support tool

02/07/2019

Economic and environmental implications of alternative landscape designs in the Walnut Creek Watershed of Iowa

Policy support tool

01/07/2019

A sustainable biomass industry for the North American Great Plains

Policy support tool

25/06/2019

Designing Impact Assessments for Evaluating Ecological Effects of Agricultural Conservation Practices on Streams

Policy support tool

20/06/2019

Ecosystem resilience to disruptions linked to global climate change: An adaptive approach to federal land management

Comments