| Popis: |
Within the H2020 ECOPOTENTIAL project, started in 2015, a framework has been developed for applying the ESS concept for improving the management of Protected Areas (PA). Based on the DPSIR approach, storylines have been developed for the most relevant ecosystems in each PA, identifying the critical ecosystem processes, their control factors, threats, drivers/pressures, the state of the environment and the responses, thus contextualizing the workflow of ECOPOTENTIAL in particular ecological, management and policy settings. In the context of the project, Earth Observation data, including in���situ and Remote Sensing (RS) necessary for building an appropriate set of indicators have been identified. One of the targeted PA in ECOPOTENTIAL is the region of Lakes Orhid and Prespa, which extends across Greece, Albania and the FYRof Macedonia, the latter ones aiming to join the European Union. Both lakes are of outmost importance because of their unique geological and ecological characteristics. Lake Orhid, in particular, is a hotspot of freshwater biodiversity, it is the habitat for more than 210 endemic species of high economical and cultural value, and it provides many diverse and valuable ESS, as sustainable tourism, food production and supply of freshwater. Nevertheless, the importance of preserving the ecosystem has never been evaluated before using the ESS approach, while non-market approaches useful for assessing the value of ESS have been identified (Zdraveski et al., 2015). In this presentation, we describe the ECOPOTENTIAL approach for evaluating the link between the biophysical characteristics of the lake and the provision of ESS, illustrating it on selected ESS, and how this tool, based on a causal mapping of the inter-correlations among in situ and RS data, indicators, determinants and ESS, can be a valuable instrument for informing the decision makers for better management of the lake and the preservation of its unique biodiversity and ecosystem services. |
