Volume 61, Part 1, February 2016, Pages 38–48
Developing and Applying Ecosystem Services Indicators in Decision-Support at Various Scales
Highlights
- •
- Introduces a set of ecosystem service indicators for Germany.
- •
- Proposes adapted ecosystem services terminology.
- •
- Explores potential benefits for policy and planning decision making.
- •
- Identifies research needs and issues for practical implementation.
Abstract
Target
2, Action 5 of the EU Biodiversity Strategy requests member states “to
map and assess ecosystems and their services” (Mapping and Assessment of
Ecosystems and their Services – MAES initiative). The objective of this
paper is to present and discuss the preliminary outcomes of the
approach taken to define indicators for implementing MAES in Germany.
The paper introduces the requirements for using indicators from a
perspective of nature conservation policy, in particular the need to
discern the demand and supply of ecosystem services, including their
potentials, actual and future use, as well as the natural contributions
and human inputs to the generation of ecosystem services. An adapted,
differentiated, ecosystem services terminology is presented and a first
set of indicators is introduced and explained. The paper closes with an
estimate of potential benefits of information produced by implementation
of a national MAES for various fields of policy (e.g. local and
regional landscape planning) and proposes some recommendations for
further research and practical exploration.
Keywords
- Biodiversity;
- Ecosystem services;
- Indicators;
- Policy;
- Landscape planning
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
