European Landscape Dynamics by Jan Tomas Gerard Gabriel & Feranec Soukup Hazeu Jaffrain

Author:Jan Tomas Gerard Gabriel & Feranec Soukup Hazeu Jaffrain
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group
Published: 2016-02-20T16:00:00+00:00

21

Ecosystem Mapping and Assessment

Markus Erhard, Branislav Olah, Gebhard Banko, Stefan Kleeschulte, and Dania Abdul-Malak

CONTENTS

21.1 Policy Background

21.2 Land Cover and Ecosystems

21.3 Producing a European Ecosystem Map

21.4 Application and Outlook

References

21.1 Policy Background

In May 2011 the European Commission and Council adopted the “Communication for the Implementation of a Biodiversity Strategy to 2020” (European Commission [EC], 2011), in line with the time lines to meet the Aichi targets of the Convention of Biodiversity (CBD, 2010). The Headline target for 2020 states “Halting the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services in the European Union (EU) by 2020, and restoring them in so far as feasible, while stepping up the EU contribution to averting global biodiversity loss.” The Strategy translates this central objective into six specific targets, “Conserving and restoring nature,” “Maintaining and restoring ecosystems and their services,” “Sustainable agriculture and forestry,” “Sustainable fishery,” “Combatting invasive alien species,” and “Addressing the global biodiversity crisis” and 20 concrete actions to achieve them.

The Strategy implies two timelines for its targets. For the medium term it states: “By 2020, ecosystems and their services are maintained and enhanced by establishing green infrastructure and restoring at least 15% of degraded ecosystems.” As a long-term target, it declares “By 2050, EU biodiversity and the ecosystem services it provides—its natural capital—are protected, valued and appropriately restored for biodiversity’s intrinsic value and for their essential contribution to human wellbeing and economic prosperity, so that catastrophic changes caused by the loss of biodiversity are avoided.”

Action 5 of Target 2 “Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services” (MAES) foresees that “Member States (MS), with the assistance of the Commission, will map and assess the state of ecosystems and their services in their national territory by 2014, assess the economic value of such services, and promote the integration of these values into accounting and reporting systems at EU and national level by 2020.” It is currently implemented by the Working Group MAES (a joint body of Commission Services and MS with support of the European Environment Agency [EEA]). Assessments and valuation of Action 5 are closely linked to the other Actions of Target 2, mainly Actions 6a: Restoration Prioritization Framework; 6b: Green Infrastructure Strategy; 7a: Biodiversity Proofing Methodology; and 7b: No Net Loss Initiative. There is also need to establish links to the other five Targets of the Communication. This is important for an integrative view in decision-making processes and key to address synergies and trade-offs of policy impacts on ecosystems and their services. EEA and Joint Research Centre (JRC) committed to provide an EU-wide assessment complementary to the MS activities. EEA is focusing on mapping and assessing ecosystems, their condition, the pressures they are subjected to, and the impacts on their biodiversity, while JRC is mapping ecosystem services. Both parts will then be merged to analyze how ecosystem condition affects biodiversity and ecosystem services. The activities are based on existing data and information making use of the reporting obligations of the European environmental legislation, namely the Nature and Habitat Directives, the Water

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.