Abstract
The ecosystem services (ES) concept is embedded in all new European directives but its integration in the Water Framework Directive (WFD) is absent, despite the latter being the major legislative tool. The research aims to assess the knowledge of ES that lies within the River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) in Greece so as to further depict their representation in the relevant planning tools, to support policy making and express the implementation experience to Member States for assisting EU reloading processes. The information on the ES’ status was extracted by the official RBMPs, processed and grouped following Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) classification. The prioritization of ES included in the programs of measures (PoMs) further showed the targeting for each River Basin District (RBD). The results were not homogenous for the RBDs, revealing different needs in measures and indicating there is a lack in “communication” between the relevant EU and national regulations. Moreover, a wide suite of water-related ES is hindered in addressing multiple benefits coming from provisioning, regulating and cultural ES. For a proper WFD reload and continuation, the infusion of the ES concept and prerequisites in its objective, and the reviewing of the RBMPs’ target and the suggestion of integrated PoMs are necessary steps that could deliver added value in such legislation.
Highlights
Human society is extremely dependent on aquatic ecosystems as part of the global water–energy–food [1,2]
The 2012 Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Waters [9] provided an overview of the state of ecosystems and their capacity to supply services, showing that the ecosystem services approach can be useful at different stages of European Union (EU) water policy implementation as the Water Framework Directive (WFD) [10]
This study focused on the linkages between the ecosystem services (ES) and the River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) of one EU Member State, but the findings may be relevant in the European context since they raise the issue of whether the ES could either be incorporated or even assist the implementation of the WFD for the years to come through a “reload” process
Summary
Human society is extremely dependent on aquatic ecosystems as part of the global water–energy–food [1,2]. Water-related ecosystems provide multiple benefits and services to society, making them essential for reaching several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [3] They offer significant economic, cultural, aesthetic, recreational and educational value while they help to sustain the global hydrological, carbon and nutrient cycles. They support water security and biodiversity, regulate flows and extreme conditions, purify water and replenish aquifers providing water for drinking, agriculture, energy generation, navigation, recreation and tourism. Their sustainability and their resilience depend upon social, economic and environmental strategies [4]. The resource document “Support Policy Development for Integration of Ecosystem Service Assessments into WFD and FD Implementation” reported by European Commission (EC) [11] provided inputs on how to use the ecosystem services approach to improve or support the implementation of the WFD and Floods Directive (FD) [12]
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