Displaying 1 - 99 of 99

Urban hybrid dunes in Barcelona

Constructing and maintaining semi-fixed dunes on heavily used urban beaches to optimize the flows of ecosystem services, through collaboration with administrations and stakeholders. Dunes play a central role in coastal defence and protection against sea level rise linked to climatic change. Stakeholder mapping and social research will be used to learn how to shape social attitudes to make the year-round intensive recreational use of beaches compatible with the protection of the dunes.More

Abandoned lands: Agricultural shifts in the Mediterranean

This exemplar examines how changes in the way farmers manage their land in the Mediterranean area lead to changes in sustainable provisioning of ecosystem services. Land management needs to respond to threats such as economic crises, poverty, climate change, changing water availability, increasing dependency on technology, urbanization and pollution. In the countries around the Mediterranean Sea, all of these issues are present. Governments, farmers and land owners are searching for information to make the best decisions possible for the future.More

All eyes on the future; Matching regional supply of and demand for mountain ecosystem services in the Swiss Alps

Exploring which policy strategies can balance the supply of and demand for mountain ecosystem services in the future? Mountains provide many ecosystem services to both, people living in and outside the mountains. In the Swiss Alps study area, the number of farms abandoned is increasing and traditional farming systems are in decline. Therefore, as in many European mountain regions, the provision of essential services is at risk. At the same time, touristic activities and settlement development enhance local demand for ecosystem services. New and integrated strategies in agricultural,...More

Barking & Dagenham: Housing need as a driver for the creation of an ecologically and socially rich and diverse neighbourhood

Barking Riverside: New Community for All.

Building a sustainable and cohesive community based on environmental principals.

In 20 year’s time, Barking Riverside is an ecologically sustainable neighbourhood that provides a range of tenures from social to owner-occupied housing. Community-managed assets are bound up with informal cultural activities and public spaces, the most prominent of which is the community tended network of unique and ecologically valuable green spaces that include the regenerated riverside.More

Bioenergy production in Saxony, Germany

Assessing how current and expected future land use changes affect the synergies or trade-offs between bioenergy provision and other ecosystem services. This will assist Germany in its aim to increase renewable energy provision up to 35% in 2020.More

Brussels Region: Redefining local authorities as bridging organisations to bring economy and environment into symbiosis

Brussels

A grounded economy in symbiosis with the environment at different scales that provides for qualitative jobs anf healthy, inclusive and sustainable lifestyles.

The region will harness local economic opportunities and employment while also addressing environmental challenges. The creation of socioeconomic value will be more closely related to the territorial scale and actively include local stakeholders and assets.More

Cultural seascapes: Social-cultural valuation of ecosystem services in Fingal, County Dublin, Ireland

Analysing the expression of socio-cultural values in a coastal setting, considering the contribution that ecosystem service approaches can make within the land use or spatial planning arena. People attach socio-cultural values to the natural environment just as they do to other aspects of life. Cultural ecosystem services are strongly influenced by these values and provide tangible and intangible benefits to people when they interact with nature. Often in decision making the less tangible cultural ecosystem services benefits are overlooked and unaccounted when considering the overall value...More

Ecosystem Services Community Scotland (ESCom)

This exemplar aims to: Map and describe existing and potential use and non-use community-held values of the estuary; Elicit community-held preferences and willingness to pay for coastal land use and management on landscape-scale; Test impacts of deliberation on preferences for estuarine land in a workshop setting; Contextualise study findings through institutional analysis; Identify ecosystem values held by land-owners and their attitudes towards coastal realignment; Understand future visions for the estuaries from diverse stakeholders; Test operational potential and impact of valuation...More

GIZ ValuES - Aral Sea Wetland Restoration Strategy , Uzbekistan

The  central Uzbek government needed to be convinced that investments in the Amu Darya delta would make social, ecological and economic sense. Ecosystem services of the delta were valued for three situations: the situation before degradation, the present degraded and the potential restored situation.More

GIZ ValuES - Combining flood protection and habitat restoration, USA

The area surrounding the confluence of the north and south branches of Thornton Creek (Seattle) experiences storm water-related flooding more often than other areas. A cost-benefit analysis, which incorporated ecosystem services values, aimed at identifying the best cost-benefit ratio among three possible options. The assessment results were intended to inform the decision of the choice of a project option.More

GIZ ValuES - Enhancing regional tourism demand, Bolivia

A market study of regional tourism demand aimed at providing recommendations to government agencies, including the protected area agency. The main question that guided the study was: What are the attributes that attract tourists to specific locations in the study area?More

GIZ ValuES - Intact ecosystems are robust water infrastructure, Mongolia

This case illustrates how ecosystem service assessments can help to catalyse changes in conservation and development policy and management practice − but are rarely the sole factor. In the Upper Tuul example, the intention was to “make the case” for a higher policy and budgetary priority to be accorded to the UpperTuul ecosystem.More

GIZ ValuES - Protecting mangroves for local benefits, Philippines

Protecting mangroves for local benefits, Philippines

Despite legal protection, mangroves were being cleared for shrimp farming by non-local investors. In a multi-day workshop, the ideas was to learn from local community stakeholders and participating scientists about the problems surrounding the conversion of mangrove ecosystems to shrimp aquaculture.

The aim was to develop potential solutions to the problems and communicate results to the authorities to take action. The main questions to be answered were: How to compare the value attached to shrimp farming with the value of maintaining mangroves? How can the economic, social and...More

GIZ ValuES - Taï National Park sustains regional agriculture, Ivory Coast

ValuES

Several training and scoping workshops with stakeholders guided an assessment of the Taï Park’s multiple ecosystem services, and helped align it to the purpose of drumming-up support for conservation. This case illustrates the importance of intensive initial scoping prior to examining ecosystem services in more depth. Study results are now being used by park authorities to motivate increased government budget allocations, and to interest the international cocoa industry in co-financing the Taï Park – in their own best interest.More

Land use legacies: Land use and ecosystem service scenarios in the Grenoble Urban Area

Analysing future land use trajectories and their effects on networks of biodiversity and ecosystem services for the Grenoble urban area. It will offer a better knowledge of mechanisms underpinning ecosystem services as well as analysing trade-offs and synergies between biodiversity, critical ecosystem services and territorial management. Further it will facilitate appropriation of tools and concepts by stakeholders and support the integration of the complexity of ecological functioning into debates on territorial planning and management.More

Ljubljana Region: Dealing with flood risk and mobility challenges

Ljubljana

Green engine of development, metropolitan region of knowledge.

The vision was developed by key stakeholders in the process of preparation of the Regional Development Programme for the period 2014 – 2020.The Ljubljana urban region will respect the natural and cultural environment and its carrying capacity and will build its future on knowledge, innovation, creativity and the synergy between all important players and sectors. The region will be a healthy, attractive and safe place for high-quality living. The overhauled transport infrastructure will be in line with...More

More than Cork: Cultural Landscapes in the Montado

Cork oak montado

Promoting the improved management of the "montado" multifunctional ecosystem, reconciling resources use with conservation interests. This will be achieved by bringing the ecosystem services and natural capital concepts into practice.More

Nottingham: Sustainable housing in times of climate change and resource scarcity

Nottingham

Provision of innovative energy efficient homes within resilient communities.

Our vision for Nottingham is to provide high-quality affordable homes within communities that promote the health, happiness and wellbeing of their occupants and encourage the efficient use of resources as a means of stimulating long term social, physical and economic renewal of urban neighbourhoods in the city.More

Novi Iskar Agri-Business Incubator

Novi Iskar Agri-Business Incubator

Setting-up an agri-business incubator that aids local economy by creating new enterprises, improving competitiveness and responding to local agricultural market.More

Pan European Policy: Conflicts and synergies across Europe

Evaluating how recent and forthcoming EU policy developments affect the levels of ecosystem services (ES) and natural capital (NC) in Europe. Many of Europe's natural habitats and species are in decline. While the EU has a number of policies in place to safeguard habitats and species, losses are ongoing for many habitats, species and associated ecosystem services.More

Planning with Green Infrastructure

Incorporating social learning in collaborative decision making processes within which the development of multifunctional, multi-services delivering Green Infrastructure is included in local level planning.More

Reusing Dublin

Reusing Dublin

Discovering and sharing information about vacant or underused spaces in Dublin.More

Scotland: Inner Forth Coastal Realignment

This exemplar aims to: Map and describe existing and potential use and non-use community-held values of the estuary; Elicit community-held preferences and willingness to pay for coastal land use and management on landscape-scale; Test impacts of deliberation on preferences for estuarine land in a workshop setting; Contextualise study findings through institutional analysis; Identify ecosystem values held by land-owners and their attitudes towards coastal realignment; Understand future visions for the estuaries from diverse stakeholders; Test operational potential and impact of valuation...More

Socio-cultural valuation of green space in peri-urban Edinburgh

Place-based studies around peri-urban Edinburgh are working with policy makers to better understand society's socio-cultural values of green space. The exemplar aims to: Understand appreciation of ecosystem services in the Pentland Hills; Understand potential to offset urban development in East Lothian; Identify societal ecosystem services benefits in urban and peri-urban contexts; Assess the socio-cultural values of these ecosystem services; Apply, test and further develop ecosystem service valuation methods.More

Sofia Region: Resilience and attractiveness by introducing innovative approaches for the governance of better regulated urbanisation

Sofia City

Resilient growth of peripheral settlements.

 SUPPORT FOR CONCENTRATED DECONCENTRATION. Sofia General Master plan with timescale 2030 has as one of its major goals to alleviate the investors’ development pressure to the capital City. It creates spatial preconditions for transition to a polycentric municipal urban structure by allocating considerable terrains for extension of the settlements around Novi Iskar.More

Tradeoffs between adaptation and mitigation in climate policies

Climate adaptation and mitigation (Photo Bruno Locatelli)

We have explored the opportunities and trade‐offs of managing ecosystems for both climate change mitigation and adaptation. We have also analyzed how policy development integrated adaptation and mitigation in Brazil, Indonesia, Vietnam, Peru, and the Philippines.More

Tradeoffs between ecosystem services in Costa Rica

Reventazon watershed

We mapped ecosystem services at different scales in Costa Rica and analyzed the spatial congruence and tradeoffs between biodiversity and several services, by considering the biophysical potential of service provision and socioeconomic demand. We also analyzed tradeoffs over time.More

Traversing waters : Recognizing Wetland Ecosystems Value in the Lower Danube

Persina Nature Park has high conservation value but is also of importance to local economies through its fish resources, climate regulation and biomass production. However, the societal, economic and environmental value of this wetland is not well recognized by local and national stakeholders and decision-makers. This exemplar aims to explore the link between Danube ecosystems and a range of environmental benefits for local and Danube-region communities, given the application of an appropriate set of instruments to safeguard or improve them.More

Valuation of urban ecosystem services in Oslo

Conducting an integrated assessment and valuation of urban ecosystem services, which supports urban management and decision-making in Oslo. This scrutinises the potential and limitations of the concepts of ecosystem services and natural capital in an urban and Norwegian context.More