Abstract
Mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services (MAES) is a key EU initiative to synthesise vital environmental information and facilitate balanced policy decisions. As MAES integrates across many scientific and policy domains, the development of a common language and shared concepts is essential. Here we present a comprehensive MAES Glossary that was compiled in the ESMERALDA project; it is based on the integration of several previous glossaries and a wide-ranging consultation process. While there are several ecosystem services glossaries available from EU supported work such as Oppla, OpenNESS and ecosystem services related handbooks, the new material presented here focuses on mapping and assessment of ecosystem services and therefore more directly supports the MAES process.
Highlights
Mapping and the assessment of ecosystems and their services (MAES) are core to the EU Biodiversity (BD) Strategy 2020
These definitions were mainly based on an existing Glossary produced by the OpenNESS project, which listed over 200 ecosystem service related terms and their definitions
As a general experience, it can be said that producing a Glossary with working definitions early in the project was valuable because the consultation process within the consortium proved essential to obtain the ‘engagement and approval’ of partners
Summary
Mapping and the assessment of ecosystems and their services (MAES) are core to the EU Biodiversity (BD) Strategy 2020. MAES outcomes are intended to provide primary data for EU Biodiversity policy: for developing Europe’s green infrastructure; to identify areas for ecosystem restoration; and to provide a baseline against which the goal of ‘no net loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services’ can be evaluated In response to these requirements, the EU Horizon 2020 funded project ESMERALDA (Enhancing ecosystem services mapping for policy and decision-making, www.esmeraldaproject.eu) developed a glossary of terms related to mapping and assessing ecosystem services (ES). At an early stage in the ESMERALDA Project which ran between February 2015 – July 2018, a preliminary draft Glossary with 225 working definitions was circulated to the consortium members These definitions were mainly based on an existing Glossary produced by the OpenNESS project (http://www.openness-project.eu), which listed over 200 ecosystem service related terms and their definitions. 'Comment': here we make reference to the ESMERALDA products (e.g. deliverables) where more information and discussion on the specific term can be found
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