A revised version of the interactive Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site-based Assessment (TESSA) is now available online.
TESSA, developed by a consortium and with input from over 150 experts, provides guidance and methods to value ecosystem services currently provided by sites compared to their likely provision under different management decisions, thus allowing the consequences of alternative management decisions to be assessed. It promotes the collection of locally-relevant field data and the combination of qualitative and quantitative data analysis.
The target users for TESSA are non-experts from an ecosystem services perspective, but technical practitioners who want to better understand and use ecosystem services data for informing site-based decisions. This includes for example: conservation practitioners, land use planners and businesses. TESSA has been applied across the world by practitioners in Africa, Asia, South America, Caribbean and Europe.
In Version 2.0 we have expanded the suite of services to include coastal protection, pollination services and cultural services.
The development of TESSA is a collaborative initiative between Anglia Ruskin University, BirdLife International, RSPB, Tropical Biology Association, UNEP-WCMC the University of Cambridge and University of Southampton. Production of V2.0 was funded by the OPERAs project and supported by studentships at the University of Southampton and University of Cambridge. This builds on previous funding from other sources. TESSA is an evolving resource and, subject to continued funding, more improvements will be added in future versions.
Find out more about TESSA here
Download TESSA here