New publication: National Ecosystem Services Assessment in Hungary: Framework, Process and Conceptual Questions

Scientific article contribution of the Restoration Ecology Group

Mapping and assessing ecosystem services (ES) projects at the national level have been implemented recently in the European Union in order to comply with the targets set out in the EU's Biodiversity Strategy for 2020 and later in the Strategy for 2030. In Hungary this work has just been accomplished in a large-scale six-year project. The Hungarian assessment was structured along the ES cascade with each level described by a set of indicators. We present the selected and quantified indicators for 12 ES. For the assessment of cascade level 4, human well-being, a set of relevant well-being dimensions were selected. The whole process was supported by several forms of involvement, interviews, consultations and workshops and in thematic working groups performing the ES quantifications, followed by building scenarios and synthesizing maps and results. Here we give an overview of the main steps and results of the assessment, discuss related conceptual issues and recommend solutions that may be of international relevance. We refine some definitions of the cascade levels and suggest theoretical extensions to the cascade model. By finding a common basis for ES assessments and especially for national ones, we can ensure better comparability of results and better adoption in decision making.

Read the whole article here: https://doi.org/10.3390/su141912847

Published by Ágnes Vári, Eszter Tanács, Eszter Tormáné Kovács, Ágnes Kalóczkai, Ildikó Arany, Bálint Czúcz, Krisztina Bereczki, Márta Belényesi, Edina Csákvári, Márton Kiss, Veronika Fabók, Lívia Kisné Fodor, Péter Koncz, Róbert Lehoczki, László Pásztor, Róbert Pataki, Rita Rezneki, Zsuzsanna Szerényi, Katalin Török and Anikó Zölei  in the Journal of Sustainablity.