Mapping and assessment of cultural ecosystem services of Latvian coastal areas

Mapping and assessing coastal recreation cultural ecosystem services supply, flow, and demand in Lithuania

Coastal recreation as a cultural ecosystem service (CES) is key to human wellbeing. However, anthropogenic impacts at the coast affect CES supply. Mapping and assessing CES can help achieve better coastal planning and management of the coast. Quantitative approaches for assessing and mapping CES are lacking, especially in coastal areas. We develop three quantitative models to assess and map coastal recreation CES supply, flow, and demand. We applied the developed models in the coastal region of Lithuania. The coastal recreation CES supply model comprises natural (e.g., naturalness) and cultural (e.g., points of interest) components. The input variables were (1) analysed for multicollinearity, (2) normalised and (3) overlayed using ArcGIS 10.8. An online survey was undertaken to assess and map CES flow and demand based on locations chosen by respondents where they perform recreation at the coast and the number of activities performed when visiting the coast. The coastal recreation CES supply model results showed that natural recreation is close to the coastline, forest areas, waterlines, and protected areas, while cultural recreation is highest in coastal urban areas. The supply model was validated (r² = 0.11) based on the respondents' chosen coastal locations for recreation. The low validation allowed us to identify the mismatch between model results and respondents' preferences occurring in Klaipėda urban area. When removing respondents' points in Klaipeda urban area, the model validation increased (r² = 0.36). CES flow results highlighted Palanga, Šventoji, and Nida as the prime coastal recreation locations. The results of CES demand show that respondents living in municipalities near the coastline (Baltic Sea and Curonian Lagoon) perform fewer activities when visiting the coast. For other municipalities, a demand pattern was not observed. Our results yielded important spatial information that can be useful for planners and decision-makers in the context of coastal management.

Management and Mapping Ecosystem Services in a Privately Owned Natura 2000 Site: An Insight into the Stellantis–La Mandria Site (Italy)

The Natura 2000 network is an ecological network covering the whole territory of the European Union to ensure the long-term maintenance of threatened or rare natural habitats and species of flora and fauna, including in metropolitan and rural areas. Some of the Natura 2000 sites have been subject to changes in ownership that have led to a fragmentation of the territory. Private entities may own areas within a Natura 2000 site and must ensure sustainable management of their property, especially from an ecological point of view. The case study is the Stellantis–La Mandria site, a private area owned by Stellantis, within the Natura 2000 site “ZSC IT1110079 La Mandria”, near Turin. The research proposes a participatory methodology, mainly addressed in this first phase to experts and professionals and aimed at the valorisation and management of private Natura 2000 sites previously considered as industrial sites, to allow a careful fruition and safeguarding of the natural heritage. The aim of the research is to provide a methodological approach and the first qualitative results useful to providing the owners with an indication for a more targeted management of the site; mapping the areas that provide ecosystem services (ES, especially cultural ones); mapping the areas that could be subject to future fruition; collaborating with the managing body to collect useful data for the future drafting of a new area plan. Two main research activities were carried out, a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis concerning the management and possible future fruition of the site and a participatory mapping of ES. It should be emphasised that the research allowed the first results to be obtained, which, on the one hand, make it possible to validate the methodology used to achieve the objectives and, on the other hand, the results will have to be implemented over time by involving numerous stakeholders among those who can access the private area. The results of the research highlight opportunities and threats with regard to the conservation of ecological–environmental characteristics and future fruition of the site. The participatory mapping identifies areas with different ecological value and, therefore, different management needs and identifies areas that could be used differently for future fruition. Overall, the results aim to meet some of the European Commission’s wishes regarding Natura 2000 sites, with particular reference to the involvement of different stakeholders and experts for the conservation of biodiversity and the integration of ecological and social aspects into the management and fruition plans.

Sociocultural Dimension of Land–Sea Interactions in Maritime Spatial Planning: Three Case Studies in the Baltic Sea Region

Spatial planning faces challenges in addressing interactions between land and sea. This paper elaborates on land–sea interfaces, which can integrate certain socio-cultural values and related tensions into maritime spatial planning (MSP). In this article, three regional case studies from Estonia, Latvia, and Poland analysed important intersections between the formations of cultural values and spatial dynamics within MSP processes. These cases make it possible to address current challenges, contested boundaries, and spatial planning possibilities to embrace the vibrant and complex ways the sea becomes connected to societal change. The study indicates the multiplicity of land–sea interfaces, which should be involved in MSP through situated places of terraqueous interactions, means of public participation, and meaningful boundaries within mobilised co-existence. The actual and possible tensions in allocating new functions of maritime spaces indicate the importance of coastal landscapes and communities. Thus, MSP practice can employ the land–sea interfaces to advance regional planning through participatory engagements, which reveal sociocultural linkages between society and environment on coastal areas.

Towards Intangible Freshwater Cultural Ecosystem Services: Informing Sustainable Water Resources Management

Rivers provide a range of Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) such as aesthetic values, sense of place and inspiration, which remain insufficiently studied due to challenges associated with the assessment of their subjective and intangible attributes. However, the understanding of CES remains important as they are strongly linked to human wellbeing. This study utilizes a questionnaire-based survey to capture views from two villages along the mainstream of the Beas River in India, to identify the CES it provides, to assess how local communities appreciate their importance and how they relate to river flows. In total, 62 respondents were interviewed. Findings show that the Beas River provides several CES but among these, spiritual/religious ceremonies and rituals, aesthetic values and inspiration benefits were indicated as absolutely essential to the local communities. Results also demonstrate that people’s perception of the quality of CES is sometimes linked to river flows. It can be concluded that the Beas River is crucial in the functioning and livelihoods of local communities as it lies within the core of their cultural, religious and spiritual practices. This study reinforces the need to consider the full suite of ecosystem service categories in sustainable water resources development, planning and decision making.

Ecosystem services mapping and assessment for policy- and decision-making: Lessons learned from a comparative analysis of European case studies

This paper analyses and compares a set of case studies on ecosystem services (ES) mapping and assessment with the purpose of formulating lessons learned and recommendations. Fourteen case studies were selected during the EU Horizon 2020 “Coordination and Support Action” ESMERALDA to represent different policy- and decision-making processes throughout the European Union, across a wide range of themes, biomes and scales. The analysis is based on a framework that addresses the key steps of an ES mapping and assessment process, namely policy questions, stakeholder identification and involvement, application of mapping and assessment methods, dissemination and communication and implementation. The analysis revealed that most case studies were policy-orientated or gave explicit suggestions for policy implementation in different contexts, including urban, rural and natural areas. Amongst the findings, the importance of starting stakeholder engagement early in the process was confirmed in order to generate interest and confidence in the project and to increase their willingness to cooperate. Concerning mapping and assessment methods, it was found that the integration of methods and results is essential for providing a comprehensive overview from different perspectives (e.g. social, economic). Finally, lessons learned for effective implementation of ES mapping and assessment results are presented and discussed.

Graphical Abstarcat in Fig. 1.

Mapping and assessing ecosystem services: Methods and practical applications

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Mapping and assessing ecosystem services in the EU - Lessons learned from the ESMERALDA approach of integration

The European Union (EU) Horizon 2020 Coordination and Support Action ESMERALDA aimed at developing guidance and a flexible methodology for Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) to support the EU member states in the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy’s Target 2 Action 5. ESMERALDA’s key tasks included network creation, stakeholder engagement, enhancing ecosystem services mapping and assessment methods across various spatial scales and value domains, work in case studies and support of EU member states in MAES implementation. Thus ESMERALDA aimed at integrating various project outcomes around four major strands: i) Networking, ii) Policy, iii) Research and iv) Application. The objective was to provide guidance for integrated ecosystem service mapping and assessment that can be used for sustainable decision-making in policy, business, society, practice and science at EU, national and regional levels. This article presents the overall ESMERALDA approach of integrating the above-mentioned project components and outcomes and provides an overview of how the enhanced methods were applied and how they can be used to support MAES implementation in the EU member states. Experiences with implementing such a large pan-European Coordination and Support Action in the context of EU policy are discussed and recommendations for future actions are given.

Identifying representative case studies for ecosystem services mapping and assessment across Europe

A key task in the ESMERALDA project dealt with identifying appropriate case studies to test the 'flexible methodology' in its different stages of development. Case studies consist of working examples in which mapping and assessment of ecosystem services were applied to address specific decision-making problems. Testing is understood as an iterative process of co-learning that involves project partners and stakeholders, enabling the refinement of the 'flexible methodology' and the development of guidelines to support its application. Testing is conducted through a series of workshops in different European contexts, each addressing a different set of themes and regions.

This paper illustrates the selection of case studies for testing the ESMERALDA 'flexible methodology' in its different stages of development. Particularly, case studies had to be selected in such a way that they are representative of: (i) the variety of existing conditions across the EU, in terms of data availability, spatial scale, levels of implementation of EU 2020 targets and expertise and experience in ES mapping and assessment; (ii) the geographical regions and biomes of the entire EU, including marine areas and the outermost regions; (iii) the variety of cross-EU themes relevant for ecosystem services, such as the Common Agricultural Policy, Green Infrastructure, Natura 2000 network, forestry strategy, water policy, energy, business and industry sectors and health; (iv) the variety of policy and planning processes that can be used to mainstream ecosystem services in real-life decisions, such as spatial and land use planning, water resource management, flooding under the EU climate adaptation action, energy policy, strategic environmental assessment, protected area planning.