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Aiming at understanding the role of plural values in decision-making, the IPBES Values Assessment defined nature valuation broadly as including biophysical, economic and socio-cultural assessments, including ecosystem service assessment. IPBES reviews of scientific literature revealed a lack of documentation of uptake by stakeholders across method types. The EU project SELINA aims to contribute to increasing uptake of ES assessments at different governance levels. This paper reviews guidance in national and local applications by compiling study design recommendations for ES assessments from 111 guidance documents on ES assessments covering 12 European languages. Guidance documents are evaluated for seven diagnostic topics suggested to increase relevance and robustness of ES assessments: ecosystem condition variables; capacity-potential; supply-demand; spatial scaling and resolution capability; social and health benefit compatibility; economic valuation compatibility; and uncertainty assessment. The paper develops the guidance recommendations across these topics into a set of checklists for practitioners and contractors of ES assessments. We find synergies between these study design features and gaps in guidance in relation to the policy cycle. Checklists are aimed at projects self-assessing and improving their design and implementation to increase robustness of their ES assessment. From a knowledge supply perspective, this is expected to increase the likelihood of uptake of results by stakeholders. We end the paper with some cautions on limitations to uptake from different perspectives and the demand for and political uses of ES assessment knowledge.

The application of ecosystem service (ES) knowledge to planning processes and decision-making can lead to more effective climate change adaptation. Despite the increased attention given to the ES concept, its degree of integration and use in spatial planning processes are still below the expectations of those who are promoting this concept. Barriers hindering its operationalisation cover a span of aspects ranging from theoretical to procedural and methodological issues. Overall, there is a general lack of guidance on how and at what point ES knowledge should be integrated into planning processes. This study aims to promote the inclusion of ES knowledge into spatial planning practices and decision-making processes to enhance climate change adaptation. A replicable GIS-based methodology is proposed. First, the potential supply of ESs that can support climate change adaptation (ESCCAs) is defined, mapped, and quantified. Then, a need for an ESCCA supply is identified, and territorial capacities to respond to the expected climate change impacts on natural and socio-economic sectors are assessed. The methodology is applied to the Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region (Italy) as an illustrative case study. The results reveal that areas with similar geomorphological characteristics tend to respond similarly. Forest ecosystems, inland wetlands and specifically salt marshes can potentially supply a greater variety of ESCCAs. In the case study area, about 62% of the supplied ESCCAs can contribute to reducing the impacts in more than 50% of the impacted sectors. The territory of the study site generally shows good preparedness for expected impacts in most of the analysed sectors; less prepared areas are characterised by agricultural ecosystems. This reading approach based on land cover analyses can thus assist in developing policies to enhance different territorial capacities, ultimately leading to better and more sustainable decision-making.

Lakes provide essential Ecosystem Services (ES) that support human well-being. However, due to anthropogenic environmental degradation, lake ecosystem conditions and related ES supply are affected. To assess these impacts and ES supply alterations, mapping and assessing lake ES is key. Spatiotemporal lake ES studies are lacking, especially at the national scale. In this study, we mapped and assessed lake ES nationally in Lithuania. In total, 1032 lakes were considered. The supply of five ES were studied in 1990, 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2018: 1) fibres and other materials for construction (fibres ES); 2) water for non-drinking purposes (water ES); 3) the maintenance of nursery populations (nursery ES); 4) the maintenance of freshwater chemical conditions (nutrient regulation ES), and 5) direct and indirect cultural outputs (recreation ES). For fibres ES, an increase over time was observed, following an increase in reed areas around the lakes. The results showed that significant differences among periods were identified in all ES except for water ES supply. Generally, the supply of fibres, nutrient, nursery and recreation ES increased between 1990 and 2018. Spatially, the north-eastern, central and easternmost parts of Lithuania showed a high supply of multiple ES (e.g., fibres ES, nutrient ES), while the western parts of the country were seen as essential for nursery ES supply. Except for water ES supply, all ES showed a clustered pattern. The hot–cold spots identified followed the areas of high and low ES supply. Bundle analysis identified three clusters. Recreation ES supply was not associated with fibres, nursery, nutrient, and water ES supply. Fibres, nursery, and nutrient ES supply were not related to water ES supply. The results obtained in this work are critical for better management and help to identify lakes that supply high and low ES.

The Ecosystem Services (ES) concept has been acknowledged by scientists, policy-makers and practitioners to have the potential to support sustainable policy- and land-use decision-making. Therefore, a growing number of research activities are investigating the integration potential of the ES concept into real-world policy- and decision-making processes. These research activities are often confronted with conceptual challenges and methodological obstacles when applying different ES mapping approaches. This study is reporting those challenges encountered during a research project in Germany. In this research project, two urban regions, Rostock and Munich, were selected as case-study areas. In both urban regions, dynamic urbanisation processes occur across the urban administrative boundaries and threaten the supply of multiple ES in the periurban landscapes. The research project invited local stakeholders from the two urban regions to workshops and online meetings to discuss ES-related topics. For those events, maps visualising the spatial patterns of multiple ES were needed for communication and awareness-raising of the ES concept. We chose commonly used and relatively easy-to-apply mapping methods such as: (1) expert-based ES matrix approach, (2) simple GIS mapping with proxy indicators and data, and (3) simple ES models such as InVEST. We encountered several challenges during the mapping processes: The expert-based matrix approach provided valuable results for ES supply, but had limitations in assessing expert estimates for ES demand. Alongside other factors, evolving barriers related to the conceptual complexity of ES demand. Data unavailability/inaccessibility resulted in difficulties mapping all selected ES with proxy indicators at the targeted regional scale. So far, only a few individual ES can be modelled with InVEST models. Despite these challenges, the resulting maps were helpful for communication with local stakeholders. The discussions with stakeholders pr

Urban areas are mostly highly sealed spaces, which often leads to large proportions of surface runoff. At the same time, heavy rainfall events are projected to increase in frequency and intensity with anthropogenic climate change. Consequently, higher risks and damages from pluvial flooding are expected. The analysis of Flood Regulating Ecosystem Services (FRES) can help to determine the benefits from nature to people by reducing surface runoff and runoff peaks. However, urban FRES are rarely studied for heavy rainfall events under changing climate conditions. Therefore, we first estimate the functionality of current urban FRES-supply and demand under changing climate conditions. Second, we identify the effects of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) on FRES-supply and demand and their potential future functionality and benefits concerning more intensive rainfall events. A district of the city of Rostock in northeastern Germany serves as the case study area. In addition to the reference conditions based on the current land use, we investigate two potential NbS: (1) increasing the number of trees; and (2) unsealing and soil improvement. Both NbS and a combination of both are applied for three heavy rainfall scenarios. In addition to a reference scenario, two future scenarios were developed to investigate the FRES functionality, based on 21 and 28% more intense rainfall. While the potential FRES-demand was held constant, we assessed the FRES-supply and actual demand for all scenario combinations, using the hydrological model LEAFlood. The comparison between the actual demand and supply indicates the changes in FRES-supply surplus and unmet demand increase. Existing land use structures reached a FRES capacity and cannot buffer more intense rainfall events. Whereas, the NbS serve FRES benefits by increasing the supply and reducing the actual demand. Using FRES indicators, based on hydrological models to estimate future functionality under changing climate conditions and the ben

Semi-natural linear landscape elements, such as hedgerows, are vital structures within agricultural landscapes that have an impact on ecosystem processes and support biodiversity. However, they are typically omitted from green infrastructure planning, which could lead to significant undervaluing of landscapes and their multifunctionality in terms of ecosystem service supply. Using the InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs) model suite, we tested the effects of additionally including semi-natural linear landscape elements on the model outcomes for crop pollination, nutrient regulation, erosion regulation and water flow regulation ecosystem services supply. The results showed that linear semi-natural landscape elements contribute positively to the landscape's multifunctionality. Small changes have been identified for water flow regulation, whereas, considering both spatial extent and magnitude of the changes, the greatest changes have been found with respect to the supply of pollination and nutrient regulation. Direct proximity of the linear elements had the greatest effect on ecosystem service supply, in particular with regard to pollination. Based on our results, a more pronounced consideration of semi-natural linear landscape elements as an important element of green infrastructure is advisable.

Marine ecosystems are highly dynamic and complex and contribute immensely to human well-being. Spatiotemporal overlaps of marine uses and human activities are constantly pressuring ecosystems, and that in turn impacts the supply quantity and quality of various ecosystem services (ES). This study is the first attempt to use the ES matrix to link marine uses and the capacity to supply ES. Combining expert- and literature-based evaluations, we assessed the relationships of twelve marine uses and five selected ecosystem services in the German North and Baltic Sea and mapped their spatial distribution. Despite a limited data availability and a higher need for simplification, the matrix approach proved to be applicable for the marine realm. Areas used for tourism and those that provide coastal safeguarding show high values of ES supply in comparison to areas used for sediment extraction and areas previously used as ammunition dumping areas. Nature conservation areas tend to have the highest capacity to supply ES. Differences in the ES supply pattern between the North Sea and Baltic Sea were identified. The results show the influence of anthropogenic activities on the spatial distribution of ES supply and can support future marine planning.

Palsas and peat plateaus are expected to disappear from many regions, including Finnish Lapland. However, detailed long-term monitoring data of the degradation process on palsas are scarce. Here, we present the results of the aerial photography time series analysis (1959–2021), annual real-time kinematic (RTK) GNSS and active layer monitoring (2007–2021), and annual unoccupied aerial system surveys (2016–2021) at two palsa sites (Peera and Laassaniemi, 68∘ N) located in north-west Finland. We analysed temporal trends of palsa degradation and their relation to climate using linear regression. At both sites, the decrease in palsa area by −77 % to −90 % since 1959 and height by −16 % to −49 % since 2007 indicate substantial permafrost degradation throughout the study periods. The area loss rates are mainly connected to winter air temperature changes at Peera and winter precipitation changes at Laassaniemi. The active layer thickness (ALT) has varied annually between 2007 and 2021 with no significant trend and is related mainly to the number of very warm days during summer, autumn rainfall of previous year, and snow depths at Peera. At Laassaniemi, the ALT is weakly related to climate and has been decreasing in the middle part of the palsa during the past 8 years despite the continuous decrease in palsa volume. Our findings imply that the ALT in the inner parts of palsas do not necessarily reflect the overall permafrost conditions and underline the importance of surface position monitoring alongside the active layer measurements. The results also showed a negative relationship between the ALT and snow cover onset, indicating the complexity of climate–permafrost feedbacks in palsa mires.