The new improved, interactive Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site-based Assessment (TESSA) was launched this week at the 7th Annual Ecosystem Services Partnership Conference in Costa Rica and is now available online. The updated version makes TESSA even more accessible to anyone involved in assessing and valuing key ecosystem services.

Ecosystem services tools such as TESSA are needed if we are to successfully reduce the global decline in ecosystem services which provide us with an extensive range of benefits such as production of food, clean water and climate regulation. A reduction or loss of these services can have severe economic, social, and environmental impacts.

TESSA addresses the gap in valuation tools available to non-experts. It enables individuals and organizations with less technical skills and resources to derive estimates of the provision of key services at individual sites. TESSA does this by providing guidance and methods to value the ecosystem services currently provided by a site, and allows for a comparison of ecosystem services provision under different land use decisions.

Information on how the value of key ecosystem services will be affected by a land use decision is an essential part of improved decision-making and where TESSA can serve as a useful tool to facilitate this process and help better land-use decisions to be made.

The development of TESSA is a collaborative initiative between UNEP-WCMC, Anglia Ruskin University, BirdLife International, RSPB, Tropical Biology Association, and the University of Cambridge. The interactive development was funded by the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account pilot awarded to Cambridge University and builds on previous funding from other sources. TESSA is an evolving resource and, subject to continued funding, more content will be added in future versions.