As part of the NatGuidES project a participatory workshop on mapping ecosystem services was held in Slovenia on 8 March 2022.
The main aim of the NatGuidES project is to establish a protocol for the identification and mapping of ES in valuable nature conservation areas in Slovenia. Consistent with the main project objective, the project team wishes to show that ecosystem services are more abundant and diverse in valuable conservation areas than in other areas. If this hypothesis is confirmed, it will provide evidence that protecting such areas is also important to people because they provide them with various benefits that non-protected areas do not. The hypothesis will be investigated in 5 protected areas across Slovenia. The first step is to identify the specific ecosystems and other spatial units in these areas that enable the provision of ecosystem services. The project team found that the MAES typology of ecosystems is not sufficient for a detailed analysis of ecosystem services at the local level.
These topics were discussed at the first participatory project workshop held on March 8, which was organised by Mateja Šmid Hribar (Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts), Anže Japelj (Slovenian Forestry Institute), Suzana Vurunić (Slovenia Forest Service) and Ilona Rac (Biotechnical Faculty). The workshop also presented the project’s conceptual framework, which is based on a cascade model of ES provision (provision-use-demand of ES), but was expanded with several other elements that cover aspects of: (1) evaluation methods, (2) indicators, (3) ES mapping, (4) comparing protected and un-protected areas. Conceptual framework will serve as a basis for developing methodological approaches that will be employed in the project. It was presented to all workshop attendees and discussed critically.
The workshop was attended by managers of protected areas and experts in nature conservation, ecosystem services and spatial planning, with the aim of establishing a typology of specific ecosystems and spatial units for the provision of ecosystem services. The outcomes of the workshop will be further discussed and refined with the participants in the coming weeks.
The project is co-financed by Ministry of of the Environment and Spatial Planning and Slovenian Research Agency.
Last but not least, part of the organizing group has just published a review paper Systematic Mapping of Studies on Ecosystem Services in Slovenia available here.