EcoService Models Library (ESML)

ESML Data and Guiding Concepts

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Read more about CICES

The Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) was proposed in 2009 in a meeting hosted by the European Environment Agency, as part of their work on the development of land and ecosystem accounts (EEA 2011 ? ).  Development of CICES is ongoing; CICES Exit
CICES employs a hierarchical structure for classifying ecosystem services.  At the highest level are three Sections – provisioning, regulation and maintenance, and cultural – made familiar by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA 2005 ? ).  (The fourth major category identified by the MEA, supporting services, is not included to limit double-counting.)  Below these Sections are nested eight principal Divisions, which include 20 Groups and 48 Classes of ecosystem services.  View the CICES Hierarchy (XLSX)(14 KB).

CICES also includes a provisional classification for abiotic products of natural systems other than ecosystems.   Whereas the ecosystem services classification employs four tiers, the abiotic classification uses three tiers (Section, Division, Group).  The Sections parallel those for ecosystem services; i.e., abiotic provisioning, regulation & maintenance by natural physical structures and processes, and cultural settings dependent on abiotic structures.  To avoid confusion, in ESML we always precede the Section name with either “[Ecosystem]” or “[Non-ecosystem].”  All ecosystems contain abiotic components, but we reserve the “abiotic products” classifications to products or services of systems with few living components, or in which those living components do not play a significant role in provision of the service.

An example CICES listing for application of a hydrologic model to a stream network may appear as follows: “[Ecosystem] Regulation & Maintenance/ Mediation of flows/ Liquid flows/ Flood protection.”  A listing for a model of tidal energy may appear as follows: “[Non-ecosystem] Abiotic Provisioning/ Energy/ Renewable abiotic energy sources.”