1. Introduction & Objectives
To effectively integrate ecosystem services into landscape planning and conservation programs, the spatial concordance between areas that support ecosystem functions and biodiversity and those that supply ecosystem services have to be identified and more broadly evaluated. Such evaluation will require the best available data on the distribution of biodiversity, ecosystem functions and ecosystem services. However, to date the spatial estimation of ecosystem service values still remains quite crude.
To move forward, ecosystem service assessments on various temporal and spatial scales must generate better maps of ecosystem services supply, quantify the likelihood of land use conversion and its impact on ecosystem services, and understand the value and flow of benefits to nearby and distant human populations. This will require an interdisciplinary effort which is vital for informed decision-making. An ambitious interdisciplinary research effort is needed to move beyond the current state-of-the-art to fully assess synergies and trade-offs in conserving biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Objective: Our objective is to advance research and implementation of ecosystem services by developping tools, guidelines and standards for improving spatial analysis of ecosystem services (in close collaboration with TWG5 on Modelling Ecosystem Services)
Key research questions:
- What do we need for proper mapping of multiple ecosystem services and respective practical applications?
- How can we provide better ecosystem service supply (and demand) quantifications and maps?
- Are our results appropriate for the different stakeholders and user needs?
- How can the outcomes be used for further analyses (not only visualization but additional analysis, synthesis, metrics to understand complex spatial and temporal patterns of ecosystem services)?
> We would like to know your opinion on how to best develop the Thematic Working Group:
Discussion about the Development of the Thematic Working Group
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2. Lead Team & Members
- Benjamin Burkhard, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany
- Louise Willemen, ITC-UTwente, Netherlands
- Miguel Villoslada, EMU Tartu, Estonia
- Solen le Clech, Wageningen University, Netherlands
If you are interested in becoming a member of the Lead team, please contact the current lead team members.
If you are interested in becoming a member of this Working group, please click here.
3. More Information
For more information about this working group click on one of the following links: