TOOLKIT FOR APPLICATION OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES APPROACH INTO PLANNING

Toolkit is the web page where LIFE EcosystemServices project elaborated Recommendations for integration of ecosystem services approach into planning processes in Latvia are presented.

The Toolkit provides opportunity of implementing ecosystem services approach in practice – assess the supply, potential and monetary value of ecosystem services, as well as value changes in case of different development scenarios.     

Toolkit consists from three main pages. On the first page instructive video trailer (tutorial) of the Toolkit, review of theory on ecosystem services topic and review of examples and practices are available.

Section Recommendations includes description of preparatory steps have to be done before ecosystem services approach implementation in planning processes. As well as description of planning levels (national, regional, local) role and priority actions for ecosystem services approach implementation is includes.  

The core of the Toolkit is Implementation section. Within the LIFE EcosystemServices project, we have worked out an eight step conceptual framework for integration of ecosystem services approach into planning processes:

1. Assessment of ecosystems (mapping of ecosystems and assessment of ecosystem condition).
2. Assessment of ecosystem services (assessment and mapping of ecosystem services).
3. Economic valuation of the ecosystem services (benefits of ecosystem services, determination of monetary, non-monetary value and trade-offs).
4. Assessment of existing management and alternatives.
5. Involvement of stakeholders.
6. Support mechanisms and
7. Decision-making (support mechanisms, aggregating and integrating of information).
8. Implementation and monitoring (implementation of the concrete land use and management solutions; assessment of implementation).        

Implementation of the ecosystem services approach into planning by following these steps is main principle of Toolkit. All these steps are related with LIFE EcosystemServices project experience and there are available all elaborated ecosystem services assessment tools, indicators, methodologies and other materials elaborated within the project.

The main target users of the Toolkit are spatial planning specialists and Toolkit is in Latvian language.

For more detailed information please see presentation in English below.  

Use it HERE