Mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services (ES) are core to the EU Biodiversity (BD) Strategy. They are
essential if we are to make informed decisions. Action 5 sets the requirement for an EU-wide knowledge base designed to
be: a primary data source for developing Europe’s green infrastructure; resource to identify areas for ecosystem restoration;
and, a baseline against which the goal of ‘no net loss of BD and ES’ can be evaluated. In response to these requirements,
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 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.
European Community (H2020-SC5-2014- CSA)
See http://www.esmeralda-project.eu/showpage.php?storyid=11816
In Portugal the Partner is the Isntituto Superior Técnico.
The Project BALA led by Paulo A. V. Borges from Azores was selected to be the Island Contribution for this project