About the project
The main objectives of the project are:
- Transferring of general and specific scientific knowledge on ecosystem services which exists in Europe to the process of mapping and assessment of ecosystem services in Poland;
- Increasing the scientific potential to mapp and assess of ecosystem services;
- Increasing the scientific potential and the ability of administration and interested social groups to implement this approach in environmental management.
To achieve the above goals, following activities have been planned: selection relevant ecosystem services (ES) and their indicators for main ecosystem types in Poland; mapping and assessment of ES in national, regional and local scale; cross-cutting analysis of ecological, cultural and economic values of ES; identification of significant ES synergies and trade-offs and relevant ES bundles; dissemination and exchange of knowledge. The deliverables will include list of ES and relevant indicators for main Polish ecosystem types, maps of main ES values, critical literature review for ecological, cultural and economic values of ES, as well as case studies in different spatial scales.
The project results will be communicated to interested stakeholders through: informing the media about the project and its practical social and ecological values; organizing the meetings for administration representatives and expert-practitioners; presentations of project results at conferences as well as in scientific publications; providing information about the project and its results on the project website. The deliverable summarizing the project results will be handbook on ES approach for environmental management.
Project implemetation peroid 01.10.2020 – 01.09.2023
The project ‘Services provided by main types of ecosystems in Poland – an applied approach’ received funding from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway within the EEA Financial Mechanism 2014-2021 in the amount of 1,489,999 EUR, and from budget of Poland in the amount of 262,941 EUR.
the website of the EEA Grants and/or Norway Grants: www.eeagrants.pl
The project’s target groups
The following groups are expected to benefit from the project:
- Scientists – by increasing the capacity of the Polish researchers dealing with main ecosystems to develop ecosystem services (ES) approach;
- Administration on the regional and local levels and experts-practitioners – by developing officials’ awareness of the potential of ES approach from the political, social and ecological point of view, as well as will building their skills for including ES assessment into process of environmental management;
- Interested social groups, including activists – by increasing their awareness of the benefits obtained through the proper management of ecosystems.
Project contractors
Promoter of project: Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Faculty of Human Geography and Planning, Department of Integrated Geography,
Project leader: prof. UAM dr hab. Małgorzata Stępniewska
Project chief scientific coordinator: prof. dr hab. Andrzej Mizgajski
Expert on cross-cutting biodiversity issues – prof. dr hab. Janina Borysiak
Expert on ecosystem services on landscape level – dr hab. Damian Łowicki, prof. AMU
Expert on ecosystem services of degraded areas – dr hab. Katarzyna Fagiewicz, prof. AMU
Expert on ecosystem services of urban areas – dr Iwona Zwierzchowska
Research worker: mgr Daria Łechtańska
Donor project partner: Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA),
The leading Polish scientific institutions dealing with main types of ecosystems and ecosystems and categories of values of ecosystem services in Poland:
- Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation – agroecosystems;
- Consortium: Forest Research Institute and Bureau for Forest Management and Geodesy – forest ecosystems;
- Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish Academy of Sciences – urban ecosystems;
- European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology, Polish Academy of Sciences – freshwater ecosystems;
- Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences – marine water ecosystems;
- Poznań University of Life Sciences – ecological values of ecosystem services;
- University of Warsaw, Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies – cultural values of ecosystem services;
- University of Warsaw, Warsaw Centre for Ecological Economics – economic values of ecosystem services.
Project results
Norwegian experience with the project terms
Mapping and assessment of Ecosystem Services in Norway
Examples as support for implementation of ecosystem accounting
Ecosystem services in agro-ecosystems
ECOSERV-POL workshop on forest ecosystem services
Ecosystem accounting in the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030
Sustainable coasts: Developing a coastal barometer for Northern Norway
Sustainable coasts: Developing a coasta lbarometer for Northern Norway
ECOSERV-POL workshop on urban ecosystem services
Preliminary selection of ecosystem services and their indicators
for the main types of ecosystem in Poland
Agroecosystems – table with indicators,
Forest ecosystems – table with indicators,
Urban ecosystems – table with indicators,
Freshwater ecosystems – table with indicators,
Marine water ecosystems – table with indicators,
Ecosystem services on landscape level – table with indicators,
Ecosystem services of degraded areas – table wiht indicators.
Critical review of literature on the ecological, cultural and economic
value of ecosystem services
Ecological values of ecosystem services – table wiht indicators,
Cultural values of ecosystem services – table wiht indicators,
Economic values of ecosystem services – table wiht indicators.
Development of maps of relevant ecosystem services on national scale
Agroecosystems – cartographic visualizations with comments,
Forest ecosystems – cartographic visualizations with comments,
Urban ecosystems – cartographic visualizations with comments,
Freshwater ecosystems – cartographic visualizations with comments,
Marine water ecosystems – cartographic visualizations with comments,
Ecosystem services of degraded area – cartographic visualizations with comments.
Ecosystem services on landscape level – cartographic visualizations with comments.
Case Studies
Agroecosystems – summary with cartographic visualizations,
Forest ecosystems – summary with cartographic visualizations,
Urban ecosystems – summary with cartographic visualizations,
Freshwater ecosystems – summary with cartographic visualizations,
Marine water ecosystems – summary with cartographic visualization,
Ecosystem services of degraded area – summary with cartographic visualizations,
Ecosystem services on landscape level – summary with cartographic visualizations,
Ecological values of ecosystem services – summary with cartographic visualizations,
Cultural values of ecosystem services – summary with cartographic visualizations,
Economic values of ecosystem services- summary with cartographic visualizations.
Further results will be shared along with the implementation of the individual project stages.
Events
Presentation of the first results of the project at the SURE Conference – 07.07.2021 – 09.07.2021
On 07.07.2021 – 09.07.2021, the Third World Conference of the Society for Urban Ecology was held in Poznań under name Cities as social ecological systems. TheconferencewasorganizedtheSocietyforUrbanEcology (SURE) andthe Faculty of Human Geography and Planning. That was the third SURE conference and its previous editions took place in Berlin (2013) and Shanghai (2016).
During the conference, ECOSERV-POL participants presented the first research findings of the project:
Services of different ecosystems_an attempt to overcome silo approach,
Restoration of post-mining landscape vs ecosystem services recognition and assessment,
Operationalization of the ES concept for urban ecosystems – challenges from the Polish perspective,
How to measure cultural ecosystem services?
Project kick of meeting – 10.12.2020
The project kick-off meeting was conducted online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The participants were representatives of the project promoter, donor project partner, project contractors, as well as representatives of the Norwegian Environment Agency and the Polish Ministry of Climate and Environment.
The Dean of the Faculty of Human Geography and Planning of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, prof. dr hab. Paweł Churski, welcomed the participants and brought them closer to the Faculty and its research interests.
The core program of the kick-off meeting included:
- Presentation of the project contractors;
- Presentation of the project team of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań;
- Presentation of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research;
- Presentation ‘Ecosystem services approach – attempts to make it operational’ by project promoter;
- Presentation of the project;
- Presentation of Norwegian experiences related to the project by donor project partner.
An important part of the kick-off meeting were Question & Answers sessions devoted to the methodological and technical aspects of the project.
Signing of the project agreement between Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan (AMU) and the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management (NFEP&WM) – 03.12.2020
The project agreement was signed by prof. dr. hab. Przemysław Wojtaszek, Vice-Rector of the AMU and Artur Michalski, Deputy Chairman of the Board of NFEP&WM. The signing of the contract took place at the central office of the NFEP&WM.
Contact
Department of Integrated Geography
Faculty of Human Geography and Planning
Adam Mickiewicz University
st. Bogumiła Krygowskiego 10
61-680 Poznań
Poland
E-mail: małgorzata.stepniewska@amu.edu.pl