The ecosystem services and natural capital concepts explicitly acknowledge the dependence of humanity on nature, and therefore the need to better protect and manage ecological resources. Although increasingly adopted in policy frameworks, these concepts have limited use in conservation practice. The OPERAs project explores how and under what conditions these concepts can move beyond the academic domain towards practical implementation in support of sustainable ecosystem management. OPERAs produces, refines and integrates cutting edge ecosystem science into policy and practice. It does this by providing stakeholders with user-friendly tools that enable them to benefit from ecosystem science and knowledge. OPERAs works across a range of ecosystems, in ‘exemplar’ case studies, to test tools and to transform knowledge into practice.
Policy Brief
Download a PDF of the OPERAs Policy Brief
How to link ecosystem services knowledge, tools and practice?
Links and resources
- LANDPREF - Interactive tool to assess and visualise land use preferences on the Oppla Marketplace
- LANDPREF project website
- Ecosystem Services Community Scotland (ESCom) Case Study
- Pentland Hills Case Study
- Creating Space, Aligning Motivations, and Building Trust: Key Elements of Stakeholder Engagement in 12 Ecosystem Services Case Studies
- OPERAs Video - Ecosystem Services; turning research into practice
Webinar: Natural capital and ecosystem services in research, policy and practice
The first in the six-part series of OPERAs' webinars, took place on Monday 11th September 2017. You can watch the recording of the webinar below or on the Oppla YouTube channel.