Case Study Scale

Investigating the feasibility of operationalising a "Payment for Ecosystem Services" (PES) scheme in the sugarcane belt from a political, financial and technical perspective.

Develop and test usable methods for valuation selected ecosystem services at the local and regional level, and promote their incorporation into the spatial planning process and in the broader decision making process in Slovakia.

Enabling more rational farm management and planning space for green corridors in the agricultural land, together with all relevant stakeholders at landscape level. The context of this case study is explained by a short YouTube clip: http://youtu.be/sD0gVUmmwnE

Testing the feasibility of a green infrastructure, instead of a traditional grey infrastructure, to treat sewage overflows, and investigating the multiple benefits that the green infrastructure provides and its relevance for water management.

Place-based studies around peri-urban Edinburgh are working with policy makers to better understand society's socio-cultural values of green space. The exemplar aims to: Understand appreciation of ecosystem services in the Pentland Hills; Understand potential to offset urban development in East Lothian; Identify societal ecosystem services benefits in urban and peri-urban contexts; Assess the socio-cultural values of these ecosystem services; Apply, test and further develop ecosystem service valuation methods.

Constructing and maintaining semi-fixed dunes on heavily used urban beaches to optimize the flows of ecosystem services, through collaboration with administrations and stakeholders. Dunes play a central role in coastal defence and protection against sea level rise linked to climatic change. Stakeholder mapping and social research will be used to learn how to shape social attitudes to make the year-round intensive recreational use of beaches compatible with the protection of the dunes.

Enhancing conservation of biodiversity, sustainable management and the utilisation of forest resources by addressing ecosystem services that are central to local livelihoods.

Enhancing the effectiveness of the integrated and adaptive management planning and its implementation in the area. This will be done by mainstreaming the improved understanding, using operational tools regarding the concepts of natural capital and ecosystem services.

Identifying the ecosystem services and their connections to biological diversity and forest ecosystem functioning, to support local communities and their traditional activities.

Identification of the health of the coral reef of St.Eustatius. The reefs are important drivers for dive tourism, they support local fisheries and they protect against storms.

The wine exemplar seeks to understand how different players in the wine value chain (producers, retailers, consumers) influence wine production and thus the ecosystem services provided by vineyard ecosystems.

Quantifying the links between the ecological status and the provision of ecosystem services for a freshwater lake. Focus is on understanding environmental quality needed to deliver recreation and fishing services provided by the lake, and the value of these two services.

Involving managers and residents in designing an integrated land management plan for biodiversity and tourism. Biodiversity and visiting people.

Analysing the expression of socio-cultural values in a coastal setting, considering the contribution that ecosystem service approaches can make within the land use or spatial planning arena. People attach socio-cultural values to the natural environment just as they do to other aspects of life. Cultural ecosystem services are strongly influenced by these values and provide tangible and intangible benefits to people when they interact with nature. Often in decision making the less tangible cultural ecosystem services benefits are overlooked and unaccounted when considering the overall value...

There were plans for a huge dam for hydro-electric energy production, mainly for export. The study was designed as a standard Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA), including environmental costs and distributional impacts. Cost-benefit-analysis was used to assess the value of the project because it is a widely accepted framework and can combine diverse secondary data about the expected consequences. Despite time pressure and relatively poor data availability, conservative estimates about investment costs, likely returns and environmental damage (along with associated loss of natural assets and...

Establishing a resident-run enterprise to manage Barking Riverside's community assets.

Creating a liveable and resilient community by bringing together technical expertise.

Encouraging collaboration by bringing together diverse perspectives on Dublin and its desired future.

Offering collaborative design processes for the design of individual homes.

Innovative multifunctional green urban space on heavily sealed surfaces of an inner city location.

Exploring the vision for a former sulphur mine in the context of common land ownership and management in Manziana Region.

Converting underused real estate assets into local economic hubs.

Removing sediment from reservoirs is an important part of the costs of hydro-power generation.  Farmers adapt and diversify land-use, based on PES scheme with hydro-power company in Sumberjaya.

The area surrounding the confluence of the north and south branches of Thornton Creek (Seattle) experiences storm water-related flooding more often than other areas. A cost-benefit analysis, which incorporated ecosystem services values, aimed at identifying the best cost-benefit ratio among three possible options. The assessment results were intended to inform the decision of the choice of a project option.

A market study of regional tourism demand aimed at providing recommendations to government agencies, including the protected area agency. The main question that guided the study was: What are the attributes that attract tourists to specific locations in the study area?

Rapid urbanisation in the Philippines has given rise to many challenges as increasing infrastructure developments contribute to reduced open spaces and increased energy consumption.

Both the public and private construction sectors are responding by reshaping the cityscape and designing building structures that are as environmentally responsive as they are beautiful and compact. Now, buildings should not only be sturdy and spacious, they should also be efficient in energy consumption and adaptive to the changing environment.

LafargeHolcim Philippines (LafargeHolcim) has...

Collaborating to halt declining biodiversity: Despite designation as a Marine Protected Area, biodiversity in the Faial-Pico Channel is falling. Our aim: to collaborate with local stakeholders and policy-makers and apply the AQUACROSS Assessment Framework to understand social and ecological aspects of the Channel, and identify actions to efficiently and equitably ensure the Channel’s long-run sustainability, balancing the objectives of commercial and recreational fishers, tourism operators, and other local stakeholders.

34 case studies were planned by the H2020 PEGASUS project in different farming and forest systems and along the supply chain in 10 EU countries, to: 

• examine the issues faced in ensuring effective provision of public goods/ecosystem services from farming & forest activities; and 
• find solutions to enable the economic social and environmental sustainability of the EU’s farmed & forest areas.

34 case studies were planned by the H2020 PEGASUS project in different farming and forest systems and along the supply chain in 10 EU countries, to: 

• examine the issues faced in ensuring effective provision of public goods/ecosystem services from farming & forest activities; and 
• find solutions to enable the economic social and environmental sustainability of the EU’s farmed & forest areas.

34 case studies were planned by the H2020 PEGASUS project in different farming and forest systems and along the supply chain in 10 EU countries, to: 

• examine the issues faced in ensuring effective provision of public goods/ecosystem services from farming & forest activities; and 
• find solutions to enable the economic social and environmental sustainability of the EU’s farmed & forest areas.

The aim of this research was to understand how private sector natural capital investments could be increased and diversified in the Spey catchment. The focus of the study was on businesses that do not primarily manage land, but nevertheless rely on the Spey landscape, e.g. for their supply chain or to attract customers. Specifically, the study tried to answer four questions:
1. How do businesses currently invest in natural capital?
2. What motivates and hinders businesses to invest in natural capital?
3. Is there potential for coordinated business investment in natural...

The aim is to map the potentiality of the black truffle production based on the current scientific knowledge already available. To do this, a truffle potential level is assigned to each point of the territory covered with forests. This must eventually allow managers to determine the level of investment in rehabilitating formerly truffle land based on expected potential production.

The environmental factors that play a role in the fructification of black truffle are well known. In particular, low water availability during summer period inhibits fruiting. These elements result from observations and tests under controlled conditions. At the time of the study (late 1970s), there was no field trial to determine experimentally the influence of environmental factors in cultivated truffle conditions. A trial on a truffle farm located in south-eastern France was therefore set up in 1979 to clarify the influence of soil fertility and moisture levels on Black truffle...

In 2013, an association from Périgord launched the collective brand "Cèpes du Périgord". It provides Perigordian owners with a tool to optimize quality and marketing of their production. Organized in this way, the local boletus sector also intends to fight against illegal harvesting. Producers can thus guarantee the origin and the quality of boletus through traceability and thus better meet buyers' expectations.

The Lavandula is an important species due to medicinal and aromatic properties. The local species population is suffering from Anthropozoic pressure improved by cutting and animal scuttling which made it essential to preserve the species population. Our work aims to test some ways of specie propagation.

The main objective of the present investigation is to explore the knowledge and the best practices of resin extraction technics in rural areas and marginal environment in order to promote the live condition of the population in these different regions by providing secure incomes and good working conditions. This could lead to the best evaluation of the good performance of the three most important pine species in North-western of Tunisia to resin extraction.

In light of the great global interest in PAM as a source of active ingredients. So, it is important to investigate the impact of seasonal variation on Rosmarinus officinalis, Erica Multiflora and Cistus monspeliensis by evaluating of some biochemical responses in three sites Mount of Zaghouan (DZ), Mount of Mansour (DM) and Mount of Sarej (DS) and to compare their behavior in the three seasons (spring, summer and autumn).

The main objective was the structuring of the sectorial productive system in one of the main chestnut growing regions in Spain, El Bierzo (Castilla y León).  As secondary objectives: Improvement of the phytosanitary status of the chestnut groves. Quantitative and qualitative increase of the production, productivity and profitability. Creation of employment. Normalization of the productive activity. Creation of wealth and equitable distribution. Corporate social responsibility.

In 2005, Kanela & Garyfallo was founded in the village of Vitsa, in the mountainous region of Zagori in NW Greece, as a thematic restaurant specializing in edible mushrooms. Considering that Greece is a country where mushrooms are considered largely unsafe and / or unsavory, this was a bold move. The objective difficulties in turning this bold move to a success story were acknowledged from the start and the proprietor set out as his objective to educate the public and rely on the positive personal experience of his clients to overcome prejudice and recognize the value of an important...

In the Doñana National Park in Andalusia, short-rotation coppice eucalyptus plantations occupy large areas and belong to private forest owners.

« Esencias Garcia-Palomo » distillery uses 5,000 kg of eucalyptus branches and leaves every day for its production of 10 to 40 kg of essential oil. Not being a forest owner, this resource is a cost to the company.

Mr. Palomo has organized with his neighbors to work in symbiosis and limit the costs of their respective operations : the collection of his raw materials contributes to the silviculture of coppices of eucalyptus.

Private forest is often very fragmented: forestry operations  and forest products marketing  are difficult on small areas. Owners have organized themselves into a forest management association (ASLGF) to group their plots into a single management unit. Their objective is to jointly lead the development of their forests. In addition to harvesting wood, they also registered collective production of essential oils of Scots pine. They wish to label themselves as a Forest Economic and Ecological Interest Group (GIEEF).

One of the preconditions for successful cultivation and increase of production of medicinal and aromatic plants in Croatia is in any case knowledge of their ecological characteristics. However, previous studies of medicinal and aromatic plants in Croatia have not systematically included the islands of Krk, Cres and Pag, despite the fact that these islands are areas of plant richness. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to determine the abundance and diversity and ecological characteristics of wild medicinal and aromatic plants of the rocky pastures of these islands.

In 2008, we installed 14 mushroom inventory plots of 100 m2 size in Pinus pinaster forests. The plots were selected to include a range of geographical features (altitude, slope, aspect) as well as variation in tree density and basal area in the conservation area of Poblet. A second set of plots were installed in 2009 paired to the first set of plots. The second set of plots was thinned removing 26 to 77% of the basal area. Mushroom yields were monitored on a weekly basis in the Autumn Season of the years 2008 to 2010 to analyze the effects of forest thinning on the yields of ...

The purpose of the study was to develop empirical models for predicting the fresh weight yield of the target species Boletus edulis, one of the most appreciated fungal species worldwide. The objective of the models is to identify the influential factors that drive the sporocarp emergence.  The modeling process was applied to the “Pinar Grande” area (Soria province, Spain), where we analyzed fifteen years of mushroom data continuously recorded in eighteen permanent plots.    

The objectives of the Krka National Park hypogeous fungi research project are: (1) To determine the diversity of hypogeous macro-fungi in forest ecosystems of the Krka National Park, (2) To identify collected hypogeous fungi samples to species level by morphological and molecular methods, (3) To determine relationships between fungi, plants, soil, geological background, climatic and other significant ecological factors in the studied habitat, (4) Develop material for an educational trail, (5) Develop materials for holding thematic workshops on fungi in the Krka National Park.

The valorisation of local natural resin in high added value niche markets is a pillar of the French strategy for the revival of the sector. Local natural resin has many advantages over competing products: better quality, generates local jobs, enhances the value of the local forest resource, has a lower environmental impact, etc. These advantages are compatible with the markets sought after but they must be recognised. Can a label allow the local natural resin to stand out from the competition?   

During the last years there has been a growing interest from young people to get involved in the AMP exploitation business. The rich Greek flora and the plenty of abandoned agricultural fields in rural areas offer a great potential in this direction. However, most of the young farmers/entrepreneurs didn’t have a relative experience in the field and there has been many fails and disappointments.

The objective of the project was to create a Corsican beer that could be recognised by fine beer lovers, a high-end product that is also thirst-quenching in order to adapt to the Mediterranean climate. This beer had to be with character and to be brewed with a mixture of malt and Corsican chestnut flour, insular raw material. To do this, a brewery had to be built in Corsica and had to reach 10,000 hectolitres of production capacity.

The main objective of the project is the creation of a mycological reserve with a demonstrative and informative purposes as well as to guarantee the fructification of  a wide fungal cortex through the application of waterings. Parallel to this main objective and taking advantage of synergies, an experimental device has been established aiming to evaluate the evolution of fungal ecosystems under climate change scenarios. Specifically, the incidence of rainfall variations on wild mushroom production is evaluated for further analysis on future climate change scenarios.

For more than 20 years, plantation and natural regeneration trials have been set up by the CRPF PACA in the Maures massif with the collaboration of volunteer forest owners. The age of some of the trials now makes it possible to obtain transferable results, to guide the management of areas favourable to the cork oak, to allow continuity of monitoring and to develop the setting up of new trials in a context of climate change to be considered.

Tzoumakers is an open lab for communities to cooperatively design and manufacture tools for small-scale agricultural production. Our vision is to create such sites in both villages and cities where citizens may seize technology into their own hands. These sites may be supported by municipalities and/or by multi-stakeholder cooperatives.

This case study from the SINCERE project had the goal to:

• Develop a new online platform or smart phone application to improve the commercialization of the permits and the pickers’ experience.
• Expand the type of users and demands: to reach younger customers; to orient pickers to areas specific to their permit category; and to improve visitor security.

This case study from the SINCERE project had the goal to:

• Set up a partnership between the regional park and local poplar plantations to increase the sustainable management of the plantations while increasing funding for restoration of crucial areas within the regional park.
• Bring together farmers into a certification group, facilitating certification and reducing costs, while benefitting the natural environment of the regional park.
• The innovative mechanism (IM) consists of a
...

This case study from the SINCERE project had the goal to:

• Include forests and forestry in a joint strategic planning tool with participatory design of a local forest fund.
• The innovative mechanism (IM) consists of a payment for ecosystem services (PES) scheme focused on forests and water, strengthening governance for joint forest-water planning and on finding new resources to support forest owners to provide water-related services.

This case study from the SINCERE project had the goal to:

• Develop several scenarios for payments of forest ecosystem services (FES) - health benefits - and empower future management of the park.
• Raise funds, monitor all sport events, and ensure that these are held sustainably. The innovative mechanism (IM) consists of one-time concession permits implemented in the Medvednica Nature Park.
• Raise money for new content and infrastructure to support human health and wellbeing via a second IM consisting of
...

Application of the pilot version of the Standard Protocol for the Classification of Cultural Ecosystem Services through Social Media data to the urban park of Kishon in Haifa, Israel.

Application of the 3rd version of the Standard Protocol for the Classification of Cultural Ecosystem Services through Social Media data to the urban parks of Rome, Italy.  The protocol was applied to compile a dictionary for automatizing the analysis of tweets geocoded within the UGS and, on this basis, assess their quality.

Application of the 5th version of the Standard Protocol for the Classification of Cultural Ecosystem Services through Social Media data (Flickr) to Mount Carmel National Park (IL).