On the March 5th in the association "Baltic coasts" office in Riga a meeting were held in order to discuss ecosystem services valuation methodology development for the project "LIFE EcosystemServices". Meeting was attended by the several environmental, tourism and economic experts.

At the beginning of meeting the project environmental economist L.Brūniņa presented project main objectives and activities. Then a discussion among the meeting experts about ecosystem services mapping and evaluation was held. Also were discussed various aspects that are essential for high-quality and reliable data of the ecosystem services assesment.

Experts recommended to collect all the data which are available about the Saulkrasti and Jaunkemeri pilot areas in order to be able to use them in ecosystem services evaluation process. Also experts stressed out that developed ecosystem services evaluation methodology and recommendations should be simple and understandable as well as easy to use for potential target audiences.

The "LIFE EcosystemServices" project will introduce an innovative approach to the conservation of natural values, while balancing those values with social and economic considerations. It will achieve this objective by providing knowledge that can be used in selecting development scenarios for different regions of Latvia and the entire country. This innovative approach will be developed according to best EU practices and the use of environmental economic indicators (including the economic assessment of the ecosystems). In this way, the project will help update existing practice for the implementation of spatial development plans, nature conservation plans and other related planning documents in Latvia, and in the selected pilot areas in particular.

Meeting is held in the framework of project LIFE13 ENV/LV/000839 "LIFE EcoystemServices" which is implemented by the Nature Conservation Agency of Latvia, association "Baltic coasts" and Saulkrasti Municipality. Project is co-financed by the European Union and Latvian Environmental Protection Fund.