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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ESMERALDA (Enhancing ecoSysteM sERvices mApping for poLicy and Decision mAking)

Teaser

Summary

Mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services (ES) are core to the EU Biodiversity (BD) Strategy. They are essential if we are to make informed decisions. Action 5 sets the requirement for an EU-wide knowledge base designed to be: a primary data source for developing Europeâ€™s green infrastructure; resource to identify areas for ecosystem restoration; and, a baseline against which the goal of â€˜no net loss of BD and ESâ€™ can be evaluated. In addition, robust and reliable data of ecosystems and ecosystem services collected at multiple scales are also important for the development and implementation of related policies on water, climate, agriculture, forest, and regional planning.

In response to these requirements, ESMERALDA (Enhancing ecoSysteM sERvices mApping for poLicy and Decision mAking) aims to deliver a â€˜flexible methodologyâ€™ to provide the building blocks for national, pan-European and regional assessments. The work will ensure the timely delivery of EU member states in relation to Action 5 of the BD Strategy, supporting the needs of assessments in, for example, planning, agriculture, climate, water and nature policy. This methodology builds on existing ES projects and databases (e.g. the MAES Working Group, MESEU, OpenNESS, OPERAs, national studies), the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), TEEB and IPBES. ESMERALDA has, in its first phase, identified relevant stakeholders and took stock of their requirements at EU, national and regional levels. The following project phases have been more methods-oriented, including methods identification, testing, linking, integrating and improving by using various case studies. The final project phase is devoted to develop guidance for mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services in all EU member states and in the context of the Biodiversity Strategy.

The objective of ESMERALDA is to share experience through an active process of dialogue and knowledge co-creation that will enable member state stakeholders to achieve the Action 5 aims. Appropriate mapping and assessment approaches link and integrate biophysical, socio-cultural and economic mapping and assessment techniques. Flexibility has been achieved by the creation of a tiered methodology that encompasses both simple (Tier 1) and more complex (Tier 3) approaches. The work exploits expert- and land cover-based methods, existing ES indicator data and more complex ES models. As a result, the outcomes are applicable in different contexts. The strength of the ESMERALDA consortium lies in its ability to make solutions for mapping and assessment problems available to stakeholders from all EU member states from the beginning of the project, because existing expertise and the established pan-European network allows ESMERALDA to build on existing research projects, networks, knowledge and data sharing systems.

Work performed

ESMERALDA is a Supporting and Coordination Action aiming at helping EU member states to fulfil their obligations under the EU Biodiversity Strategy Target 2, Action 5. In order to fulfil these tasks, the project is organised in four key activity phases of which the first two â€œNetworking and stakeholder involvementâ€ as well as â€œDeveloping flexible tools for mapping and assessmentâ€ have successfully been started and carried out during the first 18 months of the project.
The second phase of ESMERALDA was mainly dedicated to the identification and reviewing of existing methods, which have been tested at multiple scales for multiple users in the case study-oriented third project phase. The systematically selected case studies referred to various European biomes, scales and decision making themes from policy, business and society. The third phase has been harnessing results from the first two phases by applications in the practical ecosystem services mapping and assessment case studies. In the fourth phase, feedbacks from ESMERALDA stakeholders and other relevant user groups were collected and applied in the fifth project phase, in which flexible solutions for ES mapping and assessment for policy and decision making were developed. In the final phase, ESMERALDA aims at developing and providing guidance and methodologies for tailored solutions for policy implementation of ecosystem services mapping and assessment.

Main results achieved so far include the successful identification of Action 5-relevant stakeholders across Europe, the creation of respective stakeholder support groups in all EU MS and the work on methods and data bases relevant for ecosystem services mapping and assessment. ESMERALDA, as it stands after the consortium enlargement, is now including 37 partners from all 28 EU member states, Switzerland and Norway. This enlargement of ESMERALDA facilitates a cross-European creation of ES mapping and assessment strategies in more EU MS than initially planned. Methods and data bases include conceptual developments such as WP3 and WP4 work on identifying and systematising various European mapping and assessment methods, WP4 conceptual work on the ecosystem services classification scheme CICES as part of an integrated assessment framework, WP5 work on the identification and selection of suitable case studies and WP6 very efficient promotion of ESMERALDA and dissemination of project outcomes (see http://www.esmeralda-project.eu/). WP1 aims at coordinating at integrating the outcomes of the different WPs, their tasks and Deliverables.

Final results

The successful identification of Action 5-relevant stakeholders in all 28 EU member states, Switzerland, Norway, Israel and their integration into the ESMERALDA consortium as well as the work with several EU enlargement countries and EU outermost regions and overseas countries and territories is a huge progress in the process of implementing Action 5 in Europe. Enlarging the consortium to include all EU member states in a single project is a remarkable achievement in a time where the European project is facing severe difficulties. It shows that research and innovation can bring people, institutes and countries together to work on common set of goals. Thus ESMERALDA considers all 28+3 European countries that directly take part in the project. Thereby ESMERALDA has established a cross-European network of ecosystem service mapping and assessment developers and users. This network has not only been used during the different phases of ESMERALDA, but will also be available beyond the duration and activity of the project. Together with the development of the \'flexible methodology for mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services\' and the education of respective experts and stakeholders in related fields, ESMERALDA will have (and already has) significant impact on the implementation of the Biodiversity Strategy and other related European policies, the society, ecosystem-based businesses and the development of nature-based solutions for sustainable resource management.