ESOS-C

What is ESOS-C?

The Ecosystem Services Observatory System for Canada (ESOS-C) is an interactive platform for exploring how Canadian landscapes support human well-being through ecosystem services, including carbon storage, agricultural production, and nature-based recreation; how these services interact with one another; and how they change with land management and environmental factors.

ESOS-C brings together national-scale models and datasets so you can view individual ecosystem services, compare one service to another, and see the inputs and drivers behind the supply of services.

How do I use ESOS-C?

The home screen shows individual ecosystem services. Click any service to reveal which others are directly connected to it, shown by the lines that appear. Click a line to read about how those two services are connected based on scientific literature. From there, toggle to the map view to explore where these services are provided across Canada.

Click on any ecosystem service to explore it in depth: see its spatial model and understand what drives it. Not sure where to start? Choose a service you care about to learn more about its facets and the other services that relate to it.

A note on values

ESOS-C illuminates ecosystem services that arise from human-nature relationships and identifies some of the important ways nature contributes to human well-being. Often in the scientific community, we classify the importance of nature as instrumental, intrinsic, or relational values. These classes of values are not exclusive categories, and most people value nature for multiple reasons.

As you explore ESOS-C, we invite you to think about the many ways the services and model inputs could be valued. How would human well-being be influenced if these services disappeared?

Who built this?

ESOS-C was developed by ResNet, an NSERC-funded national strategic research network dedicated to monitoring, modelling, and managing ecosystem services for long-term sustainability and resilience. The project was led by Yehui Zhong, Natalia Aristizábal Uribe, Jackie Hamilton, Ágnes Vári, and Elena Bennett.

Platform development was made possible through the collaboration of two consulting teams: Becky Chaplin-Kramer and Richard Sharp from SPRING Innovate contributed to the scientific and analytical back-end, and Curbcut built the interactive front-end interface.

Data layers for specific ecosystem services have been produced and shared by several individuals, researchers, and organizations beyond ResNet, including Matthew Mitchell (University of British Columbia), and Gabriela Duarte and Richard Schuster (Nature Conservancy of Canada).

The ESOS-C platform is maintained by the Social-Ecological Workshop at McGill University and Curbcut.