The Final Ecosystem Goods & Services (FEGS) Approach: A Beneficiary-Centric Method to Support Ecosystem-Based Management

Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) and other social-ecological environmental management frameworks recognize that most environmental problems are ultimately social problems, requiring the reconciliation of human needs with the limits of ecosystem productivity and resilience. Using a social-ecological perspective in management practice can be greatly facilitated by identifying the attributes of ecosystems that are directly used, enjoyed, or appreciated by people connected to the environmental issue at hand. These are the final ecosystem goods and services (FEGS), which are specific to ecosystem types and how people use or appreciate ecological attributes of those ecosystems. This article: (1) reviews the conceptual basis of a FEGS approach for linking people’s well-being to ecosystems; (2) describes how FEGS are identified, organized, and measured using classification systems, and metrics and indicators; and (3) presents examples of how the FEGS approach can be integrated into EBM and other decision-making frameworks.