Esmeralda

ESMERALDA aims to deliver a flexible methodology to provide the building blocks for pan-European and regional assessments. The work will ensure the timely delivery to EU member states in relation to Action 5 of the BD Strategy, supporting the needs of assessments in relation to the requirements for planning, agriculture, climate, water and nature policy. This methodology will build on existing ES projects and databases (e.g. MAES, OpenNESS, OPERAs, national studies), the Millennium Assessment (MA) and TEEB. ESMERALDA will identify relevant stakeholders and take stock of their requirements at EU, national and regional levels.

The main objective

The objective of ESMERALDA is to share experience through an active process of dialogue and knowledge co-creation that will enable participants to achieve the Action 5 aims. The mapping approach proposed will integrate biophysical, social and economic assessment techniques. Flexibility will be achieved by the creation of a tiered methodology that will encompass both simple (Tier 1) and more complex (Tier 3) approaches. The work will exploit expert- and land cover-based methods, existing ES indicator data and more complex ES models. As a result the outcomes will be applicable in different contexts. The strength of the ESMERALDA consortium lies in its ability to make solutions for mapping and assessment problems available to stakeholders from the start of the project, because our expertise allows us to build on existing research projects and data sharing systems.

Project targets:

• Ecosystem Services (ES) mapping and assessment strategies for EU member states
• Deliver a ‘flexible methodology’ for pan-European, national and regional ES mapping and assessment
• Support the timely delivery by EU member states of Action 5 of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2020 by supporting EU MS stakeholders (i.e. nationalAction 5 authorities)
• Promote local ES assessments required for spatial planning, agriculture, climate, water and nature policy
• Transmit experience through active dialogues and co-creation of knowledge
• Mobilise all relevant actors, increase participation of citizens in science and decision making
• Develop a Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) for ES mapping and assessment throughout and beyond Horizon 2020

Political relevance:

• Bringing ES into application at the science-policy-society interface is not only dependent on raising awareness
• ESMERALDA will provide tools to demonstrate how ES approaches can make a difference
• Creating a network of stakeholders, practitioners, researchers and policy makers
• ESMARALDA will substantially enhance and support work under Action 5 in EU
• Increase ES approach’s applicability in EU and national policies having impact on natural resources