TY - JOUR
T1 - Mainstreaming ecosystem services into EU policy
AU - Maes, Joachim
AU - Hauck, Jennifer
AU - Paracchini, Maria Luisa
AU - Ratamäki, Outi
AU - Hutchins, Michael
AU - Termansen, Mette
AU - Furman, Eeva
AU - Pérez-Soba, Marta
AU - Braat, Leon
AU - Bidoglio, Giovanni
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - This paper presents a synthesis of the PRESS initiative (PEER. 77PEER is the Partnership for European Environmental Research; www.peer.eu. Research on Ecosystem Services). In support of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, this initiative demonstrated a multi-scale mapping and assessment approach of ecosystem services using three case studies. The water purification case studied the impacts of agricultural and water policy scenarios on the capacity of ecosystems to purify water. The conclusion was that greening the subsidies to farmers in Europe would improve water quality and increase the benefits to society as measured via monetary valuation. Yet, scenario based nitrogen reduction levels differed among the different scales (EU and basin scale) suggesting that the assessment of policy measures is scale-dependent, which, in turn, justifies a multi-scale mapping and assessment approach. The recreation case presented evidence that millions of people visited forests several times per year and they expressed their willingness to pay to continue doing so. The visitor statistics that were used in this study suggested that the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum approach is a useful method to identify areas in terms of their accessibility and potential to provide recreation services. Finally, we demonstrated that the coverage and resolution of current datasets are already sufficient to map the potential of ecosystems to provide pollination services. Further research should contribute to better ecological observations of key pollinator species to include important drivers of pollinator abundance in modelling and mapping approaches.
AB - This paper presents a synthesis of the PRESS initiative (PEER. 77PEER is the Partnership for European Environmental Research; www.peer.eu. Research on Ecosystem Services). In support of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, this initiative demonstrated a multi-scale mapping and assessment approach of ecosystem services using three case studies. The water purification case studied the impacts of agricultural and water policy scenarios on the capacity of ecosystems to purify water. The conclusion was that greening the subsidies to farmers in Europe would improve water quality and increase the benefits to society as measured via monetary valuation. Yet, scenario based nitrogen reduction levels differed among the different scales (EU and basin scale) suggesting that the assessment of policy measures is scale-dependent, which, in turn, justifies a multi-scale mapping and assessment approach. The recreation case presented evidence that millions of people visited forests several times per year and they expressed their willingness to pay to continue doing so. The visitor statistics that were used in this study suggested that the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum approach is a useful method to identify areas in terms of their accessibility and potential to provide recreation services. Finally, we demonstrated that the coverage and resolution of current datasets are already sufficient to map the potential of ecosystems to provide pollination services. Further research should contribute to better ecological observations of key pollinator species to include important drivers of pollinator abundance in modelling and mapping approaches.
U2 - 10.1016/j.cosust.2013.01.002
DO - 10.1016/j.cosust.2013.01.002
M3 - Review
AN - SCOPUS:84875506915
SN - 1877-3435
VL - 5
SP - 128
EP - 134
JO - Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability
JF - Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability
IS - 1
ER -