Introduction to Ecosystem Services Assessment
To guide policy- and decision-making, tools that allow economic valuation of ecosystem services (ES) are used to assess and measure ecosystem values in a way that will be useful and practical even to non-technical people. One of the tools being used to measure ES is TESSA, which is a practical step-by-step guidance on how to understand, assess, and monitor ES. TESSA involves site managers, stakeholders, and beneficiaries and allows them to value and compare multiple ES, providing them with robust and locally-relevant data. Because it is "generic", it is useful and applicable in all context. From the point of view of decision-makers, it allows them to understand the impacts of management or land use change on ES delivery, for example, through comparisons of current state to an alternative state.