A spatial assessment of ecosystem services in Europe : Methods, case studies and policy analysis - phase 2 Synthesis report

Mainstreaming ecosystem services in EU decision making processes requires a solid conceptual and methodological framework for mapping and assessing ecosystem services that serve the multiple objectives addressed by policies. The PRESS-2 study (PEER Research on EcoSystem Services Phase 2) provides such an analytical framework which enables the operationalization of the present scientific knowledge base of environmental data and models for application by the EU and Member States for mapping and assessment of ecosystem services. This study is structured along three strands of work: policy and scenario analysis, mapping and valuation. Linking maps of ecosystem services supply to monetary valuation allows an analysis of the expected impact of policy measures on benefits derived from ecosystem services. The first case study looks at water purification and demonstrates the three-step assessment cycle, investigating the impacts of agricultural and water policy scenarios on the capacity of ecosystems to purify water and on the benefits that are derived from improved water quality at different spatial scales. In general, the conclusion is that greening the CAP, would improve water quality and increase the benefits to society as measured via monetary valuation. Yet, reduction rates differed between the different levels (EU and basin scale) suggesting that the assessment of policy measures is scale-dependent, which, in turn, justifies our multi-scale assessment approach. The second case study (recreation) presents 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 are used in this study confirm the usefulness of the ROS approach (Recreation Opportunity Spectrum) to identify areas in terms of their accessibility and potential to provide recreation services. In addition, PRESS-2 presents a spatial analysis of city population density and green urban areas. The third case study regards pollination. Pollination services offered by insects such as wild bees and bumblebees are essential to maintain crop production, in particular of fruits and vegetables. PRESS-2 demonstrates that the coverage and resolution of current datasets are already sufficient to map the potential of ecosystems to provide this ecosystem service. However, future research should contribute to better ecological observations of key pollinator species to include important drivers of pollinators abundance in modelling and mapping approaches. Europe has ambitious biodiversity and ecosystem services targets. Much of the ambition incorporated in the targets rests on the premise that ecosystem services are dependent on biodiversity for which there is indeed a substantial amount of evidence. Achieving biodiversity targets requires prioritizing investments and making them cost effective based on a sound knowledge base and assessment methods, which PRESS has contributed to. Our approaches show that the inclusion of the ecosystem services concept into policies would allow a systematic review of the consequences of policy measures for services beyond conventional environmental assessments. In order to be able to react and adapt to new circumstances, consequences of policies must be continuously monitored and flexible in design. Therefore, it is necessary to quantify goals and determine baseline levels describing what the situation was before the measure against which progress is verifiable. However, research is only one element of the necessary efforts to restore natural ecosystems and to preserve biodiversity in Europe. Therefore, the PRESS-2 team reiterates the conclusion of the first report and calls for a broad collaboration of all stakeholders involved, including researchers, policy makers, stakeholder groups and citizens, in an integrated ecosystem services approach.

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