Abstract
Nature provides a wealth of services (ecosystem services - ES) to our economy and society, from the supply of food, clean air and water, to the regulation of the climate and protection against natural disasters. Without those services, life as we know it would not be possible. However, nature also has value in its own right, independent of human uses. This “intrinsic value” means that nature has value even if it does not directly or indirectly benefit humans. The concept of ES (IPBES 2019) was developed to embrace a fuller and more symmetric consideration of diverse stakeholders and world views, and a richer evidence base for action, i.e., the knowledge base offered by the natural and social sciences, the humanities, and the knowledge of practitioners and indigenous and local communities. Nature underpins quality of life by providing basic life support for humanity (regulating), as well as material goods (material) and spiritual inspiration (non-material). Most of ES are co-produced by biophysical processes and ecological interactions with anthropogenic assets such as knowledge, infrastructure, financial capital, technology and the institutions that mediate them. Humanity’s environmental challenges have grown in number and severity ever since the Stockholm Conference in 1972 and now represent a planetary emergency (UNEP 2021). Environmental changes are undermining hard-won development gains by causing economic costs and millions of premature deaths annually. Society needs to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 compared to 2010 levels and reach net-zero emissions by 2050 to limit warming to 1.5 °C as aspired to in the Paris Agreement, while at the same time conserving and restoring biodiversity and minimizing pollution and waste. We also need to include natural capital in decision-making, eliminate environmentally harmful subsidies and invest in the transition to a sustainable future. Europe’s ecosystems, on which we depend, suffer from unrelenting pressures caused by intensive land or sea use, climate change, pollution, overexploitation and invasive alien species. Ensuring that ecosystems achieve or maintain a healthy state or a good condition is thus a key requirement to secure the sustainability of human activities and human well-being (Maes et al. 2020). Knowledge about ecosystem condition, the factors that improve or decline that condition, and the impacts on ES, with the benefits they deliver to people, is key to effective management, decision-making and policy design. Such an understanding helps target actions for conservation or restoration and more broadly sustainable use. Despite the wide coverage of environmental legislation in the European Union (EU), there are still large gaps in the legal protection of ecosystems. On land, 76% of the area of terrestrial ecosystems, mainly forests, agroecosystems and urban ecosystems, are excluded from a legal designation under the Birds and Habitats Directives. The condition of ecosystems that are under legal designation is largely unfavourable. The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 presents an ambitious agenda on bending the trend in biodiversity loss with increasing emphasis on ecosystem restoration. Ecosystems are seen as solutions, not only to protect biodiversity but also to enhance carbon uptake and contribute to climate change mitigation as well 6EXECUTIVE SUMMARY as to deliver essential benefits to people, agriculture, and the economy. A key objective of the 2030 Biodiversity Strategy is to set up an EU Nature Restoration Plan. This plan proposes to carry out an impact assessment for legally binding EU nature restoration targets. The impact assessment will also look at the possibility of an EU-wide methodology to map, assess and achieve good condition of ecosystems so they can deliver benefits such as climate regulation, water regulation, soil health, pollination and disaster prevention and protection (Maes et al. 2020). Policy-makers around the world are increasingly considering ES assessment and its associated analyses to inform their policies, decisions, and management practices (Preston & Raundsepp-Hearne 2017). ES assessment requires consideration of ecosystem functions, how those functions generate the services to produce benefits, and how those benefits are distributed to society. It is therefore a broadly interdisciplinary, technical activity, requiring an interdisciplinary expert team to complete. This approach identifies the consequences of environmental change and how environmental management decisions can enhance, diminish or maintain the flow of ES benefits. The intent of ES assessment is to provide comprehensive information regarding the costs and benefits to assist in environmental management decisions