| Albert, C; Bonn, A; Burkhard, B; Daube, S; Dietrich, K; Engels, B; Frommer, J; Götzl, M; Grêt-Regamey, A; Koellner, T; Marzelli, S; Moning, C; Müller, F; Rabe, S-E; Ring, I; Schwaiger, E; Schweppe-Kraft, B; Wüstemann, H: Towards a national set of ecosystem service indicators: Insights from Germany, Ecological Indicators, 61(Part 1), 38–48 (2016), online: 2015-09-26, doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.08.050 | |
| Abstract: tTarget 2, Action 5 of the EU Biodiversity Strategy requests member states “to map and assess ecosystemsand their services” (Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services – MAES initiative). Theobjective of this paper is to present and discuss the preliminary outcomes of the approach taken todefine indicators for implementing MAES in Germany. The paper introduces the requirements for usingindicators from a perspective of nature conservation policy, in particular the need to discern the demandand supply of ecosystem services, including their potentials, actual and future use, as well as the naturalcontributions and human inputs to the generation of ecosystem services. An adapted, differentiated,ecosystem services terminology is presented and a first set of indicators is introduced and explained.The paper closes with an estimate of potential benefits of information produced by implementation of anational MAES for various fields of policy (e.g. local and regional landscape planning) and proposes somerecommendations for further research and practical exploration. |
