Ralf-uwe Syrbe | Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (original) (raw)

Papers by Ralf-uwe Syrbe

Research paper thumbnail of Key criteria for developing ecosystem service indicators to inform decision making

Ecological Indicators

Decision makers are increasingly interested in information from ecosystem services (ES) assessmen... more Decision makers are increasingly interested in information from ecosystem services (ES) assessments. Scientists have for long recognised the importance of selecting appropriate indicators. Yet, while the amount and variety of indicators developed by scientists seems to increase continuously, the extent to which the indicators truly inform decision makers is often unknown and questioned. In this viewpoint paper, we reflect and provide guidance on how to develop appropriate ES indicators for informing decision making, building on scientific literature and practical experience collected from researchers involved in seven case studies. We synthesized 16 criteria for ES indicator selection and organized them according to the widely used categories of credibility, salience, legitimacy (CSL). We propose to consider additional criteria related to feasibility (F), as CSL criteria alone often seem to produce indicators which are unachievable in practice. Considering CSLF together requires a combination of scientific knowledge, communication skills, policy and governance insights and on-field experience. In conclusion, we present a checklist to evaluate CSLF of your ES indicators. This checklist helps to detect and mitigate critical shortcomings in an early phase of the development process, and aids the development of effective indicators to inform actual policy decisions.

Research paper thumbnail of Ascertainment and Assessment of ES

Ecosystem Services – Concept, Methods and Case Studies, 2015

The need for applications and tools of the—frequently mainly conceptually used—ecosystem service ... more The need for applications and tools of the—frequently mainly conceptually used—ecosystem service (ES) ideas has become more and more obvious during the last years. Practical applications are necessary to further develop and improve the conceptual base of ES on the one hand. On the other, tools for environmental and resource management are needed in order to further establish ES in decision making processes. The recognition and the appropriate quantification of ES are fundamentals for their valuation, independently whether the valuation is conducted with biophysical, social or economic methods. Their application and integration is one of the biggest challenges of contemporary ecosystem service science.

Research paper thumbnail of Herausforderungen einer regelmäßigen Ökosystembilanzierung auf Bundesebene auf Basis des LBM-DEs

Eine vollständige Bilanzierung des Zustandes und der Leistungen der Ökosysteme auf Bundesebene, w... more Eine vollständige Bilanzierung des Zustandes und der Leistungen der Ökosysteme auf Bundesebene, wie im Rahmen der EU-Biodiversitätsstrategie gefordert, benötigt Basisinformationen über die Flächenänderungen der unterschiedlichen Ökosysteme. Hierfür bietet sich das Geodatenprodukt Landbedeckungsmodell LBM-DE des Bundesamtes für Kartographie und Geodäsie (BKG) an, welches u. a. aus Satellitendaten produziert wird und Informationen zu Ökosystemen nach der Nomenklatur von CORINE Land Cover (CLC) bereitstellt. In diesem Beitrag werden Flächenänderungen bestimmter CLC-Klassen der Grünland-, Wald- und Gewässerflächen im LBM-DE von 2012, 2015 und 2018 beispielhaft diskutiert. Es wird aufgezeigt, dass bilanzierte Flächenänderungen der Ökosystemtypen derzeit auch auf technische Ursachen bei der Erzeugung und Umstellung des Landbedeckungsmodells zurückgeführt werden können. Diese basieren z. B. auf der unzureichenden zeitlichen Verfügbarkeit oder räumlichen Auflösung von Satellitendaten, sowie...

Research paper thumbnail of Supplementary material 4 from: Grunewald K, Schweppe-Kraft B, Syrbe R-U, Meier S, Krüger T, Schorcht M, Walz U (2020) Hierarchical classification system of Germany’s ecosystems as basis for an ecosystem accounting – methods and first results. One Ecosystem 5: e50648. https://doi.org/10.3897/oneec...

Research paper thumbnail of Participative scenarios as recipe for success for integrated development? Strategies in the context of tourism, renewable energies, conservation of biodiversity, and climatic adaptation on large-scale conservation areas

Research paper thumbnail of Integrating green infrastructure strategies in post-mining areas

Land Reclamation in Ecological Fragile Areas

Research paper thumbnail of Landschaften als Lebensraum : Analyse – Bewertung – Planung – Management

Research paper thumbnail of Bewertung und Entwicklung der Landschaft : Ergebnisse der Jahrestagung IALE-Deutschland 2002 in Dresden

ABSTRACT Literaturangaben

Research paper thumbnail of Green Infrastructure Planning in Germany and China: A comparative approach to green space policy and planning structure

Green Infrastructure (GI) provides an important life-support system for regions and cities. Inspi... more Green Infrastructure (GI) provides an important life-support system for regions and cities. Inspired by, supported by or copied from nature, GI is intended to deal with issues that traditional grey infrastructure can hardly accomplish. Initiated by the European Union’s (EU) Biodiversity Strategy, Germany was an early adopter and thus a role model for the GI approach. In particular, a systematic GI planning system composed of formal and informal planning instruments has been established and implemented from the national to the local level. In comparison, China has not yet officially issued guidance or laws for GI planning. Instead, GI implementations are mainly concentrated at the urban and local scale in the form of green municipal engineering. Scrutinizing the spatial planning system in China, however, we can identify a top-down “5+1” model as a GI planning framework. This includes five types of statutory and non-statutory planning together with the garden city movement. Germany ma...

Research paper thumbnail of Relationship between land use changes, soil degradation and landscape functions

Landscape changes can be divided into two main groups, related to ecosystem stability. On one han... more Landscape changes can be divided into two main groups, related to ecosystem stability. On one hand there are changes which do not break stability conditions; on the other hand there are those that will start to cause an ecosystem crash. In practice it is often not easy to distinguish between these two because of a the lack of detailed knowledge abaut the systems involved. Most investigations of landscape changes deal with changes of land use and landscape elements. In this way, both important anthropogenic impacts as well as resulting visible changes can be considered. But visible changes are only symptoms of landscape dynamics and do not describe this process. Most of other landscape components also change because of anthropogenic influences. There will also be a lot of functional changes, because of the fundamental interconnection between structure and function. These functional changes can be used to describe and to assess extensive landscape changes (e.g. Bork et al., 1995; Bast...

Research paper thumbnail of The Value of Urban Nature in Terms of Providing Ecosystem Services Related to Health and Well-Being: An Empirical Comparative Pilot Study of Cities in Germany and the Czech Republic

Land

The quality of life in our cities critically depends on the intelligent planning and shaping of u... more The quality of life in our cities critically depends on the intelligent planning and shaping of urban living space, in particular urban nature. By providing a wide range of ecosystem services (ES), urban nature essentially contributes to the well-being of city dwellers and plays a major role in avoiding common diseases through its positive impact on physical and mental health. Health is one of the most important factors underlying human welfare and is, thus, vital to sustainable development. The ES of urban green space provide other social-cultural functions alongside public health, for example by fostering environmental justice and citizenship participation. Thus, they should always be considered when searching for solutions to urban problems. The aim of this research was to determine the impact of green areas in three selected cities on the health and well-being of people by self-reporting of green areas’ visitors. To this end, we posed the research question: which types and chara...

Research paper thumbnail of The Benefits of Combining Global and Local Data—A Showcase for Valuation and Mapping of Mangrove Climate Regulation and Food Provisioning Services within a Protected Area in Pará, North Brazil

Land

Mangrove forests provide a large variety of ecosystem services (ES) to coastal societies. Using a... more Mangrove forests provide a large variety of ecosystem services (ES) to coastal societies. Using a case study focusing on the Ajuruteua peninsula in Northern Brazil and two ES, food provisioning (ES1) and global climate regulation (ES2), this paper proposes a new framework for quantifying and valuing mangrove ES and allow for their small-scale mapping. We modelled and spatialised the two ES from different perspectives, the demand (ES1) and the supply (ES2) side respectively. This was performed by combining worldwide databases related to the global human population (ES1) or mangrove distribution and canopy height (ES2) with locally derived parameters, such as crab catches (ES1) or species-specific allometric equations based on local estimates of tree structural parameters (ES2). Based on this approach, we could estimate that the area delivers the basic nutrition of about 1400 households, which equals 2.7 million USD, and that the mangrove biomass in the area contains 2.1 million Mg C,...

Research paper thumbnail of The current status of orchard meadows in Central Europe: Multi-source area estimation in Saxony (Germany) and the Czech Republic

Moravian Geographical Reports

Orchard meadows are appreciated as an integrated land use of high cultural and biological value. ... more Orchard meadows are appreciated as an integrated land use of high cultural and biological value. While such meadows are typical habitats for temperate Europe, they experienced a decline in their total area during the second half of the 20th century, both in Western and Eastern Europe. In this contribution, we compare their current area and status in terms of semantics, law, public support in general, and the efficiency of public support in both Saxony and the Czech Republic. We estimated the area in Saxony on the basis of three public mapping projects. In the Czech Republic, where no recent mapping included orchard meadows as a specific land-use type, we carried out our own mapping. Hence, we mapped 124 randomly selected plots of 1 km2. To cross-reference results from both countries, we used the pan-EU project LUCAS (Land Use/Cover Area frame Survey). According to various different sources, the orchard meadows cover 0.09–0.55% of Saxony and 0.01–0.72% of the Czech Republic. Interest...

Research paper thumbnail of Landscape indicators – Monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem services at landscape level

Research paper thumbnail of Green infrastructure: a planning concept for the urban transformation of former coal-mining cities

International Journal of Coal Science & Technology

Green infrastructure is a concept aimed at realizing a strategically planned network of valuable ... more Green infrastructure is a concept aimed at realizing a strategically planned network of valuable natural and seminatural areas, designed and managed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services and to protect biodiversity in rural and urban settings. In the general post-mining context of China and Germany, this paper suggests and outlines an approach that combines green infrastructure with specific concepts of post-mining landscapes. While Germany has a long tradition of post-mining restoration, concepts of green infrastructure are still poorly developed. China, on the other hand, has taken its first steps in the restoration of coal regions, and could profit from the new concepts while drawing on Germany's experience. The potentials of relevant strategies are investigated here through two case studies from Germany and China. Although there are significant differences in the post-mining development strategies of these two countries, it is clear that the green infrastructure concept can contribute significantly to a growth in ecosystem services. Four advantages of the green infrastructure concept are seen: First, it enables a systematic and highly objective assessment of mining impacts on the ecosystem. Second, the concept assists in the implementation of urban sustainability goals. Third, it is rooted in the local characteristics of landscapes. And finally, the green infrastructure concept seems to be highly compatible with tools of landscape and regional planning.

Research paper thumbnail of Ecosystem service supply and demand – the challenge to balance spatial mismatches

International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management

Ecosystem services (ESs) are influenced by use intensity. Arising disparities between supply and ... more Ecosystem services (ESs) are influenced by use intensity. Arising disparities between supply and demand are often depending on spatial relationships. We propose to classify the spatial relations into six cases with regard to the relocation of resources to the affected groups of people. Based on these six cases, the paper also identifies the human contributions to service supply and transfer. The classification distinguishes between 'local' (supply and demand in the same area), 'proximity' (close natural transfer), 'process' (distant transfer by natural processes), 'access' (users can get to the ecosystem), 'commodity' (supply contributed and transfer carried out by market players), and 'global'. For the several cases, specific scientific methods and different policy approaches are applicable. A crucial issue is how to deal with the actors who enable, maintain, and restrict ESs. Thus, considerations about landscape maintenance, conservation support, and private solutions are necessary. The contribution suggests a framework to analyse and improve the relationships concerned by uncovering mismatches between supply and demand. We use selected indicators to compare supply and demand in these relations. Four examples show the capability of the approach to limit the overuse of ecosystems and to maintain the according ESs.

Research paper thumbnail of Quality of federal level strategic environmental assessment – A case study analysis for transport, transmission grid and maritime spatial planning in Germany

Environmental Impact Assessment Review

Abstract Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) emerged from Environmental Impact Assessment (E... more Abstract Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) emerged from Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and was developed based on the procedural steps and understanding thereof, but with the goal to fulfil a more ‘strategic’ function. Federal level plans and programmes constitute the highest planning levels in Germany subject to SEA, as SEA for policies is not compulsory. In this article, we analyse the quality and procedural effectiveness of federal level SEA in Germany with the underlying hypothesis that federal level SEA might be more strategic than SEA at other planning levels, as it represents the highest tier. Therefore, we analysed three federal level SEA case studies in Germany according to a set of criteria and indicators based on international research outcomes, including SEA integration into decision-making, tiering, scoping, selection and assessment of alternatives, cumulative effects assessment, public participation, and monitoring. Results demonstrate that the procedural effectiveness of SEA practice at the federal level is limited in Germany, and the making of SEAs proved not to be as ‘strategic’ as its important role prior to subsequent planning processes and outcomes would suggest. Reasons include an alternatives assessment restricted to macro-siting instead of assessing scenarios of demand or system alternatives, tiering limited to general advice without specific guidance for subsequent planning levels, cumulative effects assessment limited to intra-plan effects, a lack of monitoring, and public participation limited to consultation on the environmental report. These findings support results from a variety of international studies. Reasons for limitations have been identified in current SEA regulations, prior policy-making, institutional settings, the institutions' willingness to learn and limited quality management by the German Federal Environmental Agency. Thus, our recommendations aim to improve quality management and learning by initiating a federal level SEA forum to discuss federal level planning and SEA practice and related issues, expanding the federal EIA portal to SEAs, quality management by the German Federal Environmental Agency in every federal level SEA scoping process and for every federal level environmental report, and further research and development to improve SEA practice. However, the general question for SEA research might be whether SEA contributes to long-term institutional learning processes beyond individual SEA processes, and how those learning processes can be supported, for instance by quality management and capacity building.

Research paper thumbnail of Germany’s Ecosystem Services – State of the Indicator Development for a Nationwide Assessment and Monitoring

One Ecosystem

The obligations of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2020 are generating a need to create national map... more The obligations of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2020 are generating a need to create national maps and monitoring systems for the state of biodiversity and ecosystem services (ES) on the basis of indicators. The paper gives an overview of the ecosystem services indicators being developed for Germany in the context of ongoing research projects. Additionally, it provides the indicator specifications, which are aligned with the EU MAES framework concepts (initiative on Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services). We illustrate aspects of data selection, calculation and negotiation procedures, results and target values in general and by way of examples. The German indicator-based approach presents measures and sums up ES in their spatial expression and temporal change and compares them with objectives. As far as possible, this is carried out according to the demand-supply concept. A prioritization of ES classes to be processed was carried out in the framework of an expert-based assessment. The results indicated that 21 of the 48 ‡ ‡ § ‡ ‡ ‡ | © Grunewald K et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. CICES classes (Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services) were most relevant for Germany in recent years. We proposed a total of 51 indicators, of which 14 indicators for 4 ES classes were accepted, implemented and published by the end of 2016. The development of ES maps and the indicator-based assessment on a national scale is a process. Consequently, the necessary further steps are shown.

Research paper thumbnail of Indicators for a nationwide monitoring of ecosystem services in Germany exemplified by the mitigation of soil erosion by water

Research paper thumbnail of Ecosystem services of characteristic biotope types in the Ore Mountains (Germany/Czech Republic)

International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management

ABSTRACT The present transboundary study of ecosystem services (ES) focusses on a section of the ... more ABSTRACT The present transboundary study of ecosystem services (ES) focusses on a section of the Eastern Ore Mountains, a rural low mountain range in Germany and the Czech Republic. Aims of the study were to quantify five biotope types typical for the region (raised bogs, mountain meadows, clearance cairns, near-natural mountain forests, and near-natural streams), to identify some of the specific (not just monetary) values of nature in both countries, and to test appropriate ways to communicate ES aspects to stakeholders and the lay public. The study had to cope with country-specific differences in terms of data availability, valuation methods, landscape pecularities, and relations between supply and demand aspects. The ES were assessed using both expert-based (‘ecological’) assessments and economic valuations (e.g. calculation of prices and costs, revealed preferences). Among the provisioning ES, particularly biomass/fodder from meadows, wild fruit, and timber were taken into consideration; among the regulating ES, carbon sequestration and water regulation; and of the cultural ES, landscape aesthetics and recreation. The values of (near-)natural ecosystems in terms of regulating and cultural ES exceed those of provisioning ES by far. The results were also prepared for environmental education using new media, such as scouting games and virtual nature trails supported by mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, or GPS devices). EDITED BY Peter Schuhmann

Research paper thumbnail of Key criteria for developing ecosystem service indicators to inform decision making

Ecological Indicators

Decision makers are increasingly interested in information from ecosystem services (ES) assessmen... more Decision makers are increasingly interested in information from ecosystem services (ES) assessments. Scientists have for long recognised the importance of selecting appropriate indicators. Yet, while the amount and variety of indicators developed by scientists seems to increase continuously, the extent to which the indicators truly inform decision makers is often unknown and questioned. In this viewpoint paper, we reflect and provide guidance on how to develop appropriate ES indicators for informing decision making, building on scientific literature and practical experience collected from researchers involved in seven case studies. We synthesized 16 criteria for ES indicator selection and organized them according to the widely used categories of credibility, salience, legitimacy (CSL). We propose to consider additional criteria related to feasibility (F), as CSL criteria alone often seem to produce indicators which are unachievable in practice. Considering CSLF together requires a combination of scientific knowledge, communication skills, policy and governance insights and on-field experience. In conclusion, we present a checklist to evaluate CSLF of your ES indicators. This checklist helps to detect and mitigate critical shortcomings in an early phase of the development process, and aids the development of effective indicators to inform actual policy decisions.

Research paper thumbnail of Ascertainment and Assessment of ES

Ecosystem Services – Concept, Methods and Case Studies, 2015

The need for applications and tools of the—frequently mainly conceptually used—ecosystem service ... more The need for applications and tools of the—frequently mainly conceptually used—ecosystem service (ES) ideas has become more and more obvious during the last years. Practical applications are necessary to further develop and improve the conceptual base of ES on the one hand. On the other, tools for environmental and resource management are needed in order to further establish ES in decision making processes. The recognition and the appropriate quantification of ES are fundamentals for their valuation, independently whether the valuation is conducted with biophysical, social or economic methods. Their application and integration is one of the biggest challenges of contemporary ecosystem service science.

Research paper thumbnail of Herausforderungen einer regelmäßigen Ökosystembilanzierung auf Bundesebene auf Basis des LBM-DEs

Eine vollständige Bilanzierung des Zustandes und der Leistungen der Ökosysteme auf Bundesebene, w... more Eine vollständige Bilanzierung des Zustandes und der Leistungen der Ökosysteme auf Bundesebene, wie im Rahmen der EU-Biodiversitätsstrategie gefordert, benötigt Basisinformationen über die Flächenänderungen der unterschiedlichen Ökosysteme. Hierfür bietet sich das Geodatenprodukt Landbedeckungsmodell LBM-DE des Bundesamtes für Kartographie und Geodäsie (BKG) an, welches u. a. aus Satellitendaten produziert wird und Informationen zu Ökosystemen nach der Nomenklatur von CORINE Land Cover (CLC) bereitstellt. In diesem Beitrag werden Flächenänderungen bestimmter CLC-Klassen der Grünland-, Wald- und Gewässerflächen im LBM-DE von 2012, 2015 und 2018 beispielhaft diskutiert. Es wird aufgezeigt, dass bilanzierte Flächenänderungen der Ökosystemtypen derzeit auch auf technische Ursachen bei der Erzeugung und Umstellung des Landbedeckungsmodells zurückgeführt werden können. Diese basieren z. B. auf der unzureichenden zeitlichen Verfügbarkeit oder räumlichen Auflösung von Satellitendaten, sowie...

Research paper thumbnail of Supplementary material 4 from: Grunewald K, Schweppe-Kraft B, Syrbe R-U, Meier S, Krüger T, Schorcht M, Walz U (2020) Hierarchical classification system of Germany’s ecosystems as basis for an ecosystem accounting – methods and first results. One Ecosystem 5: e50648. https://doi.org/10.3897/oneec...

Research paper thumbnail of Participative scenarios as recipe for success for integrated development? Strategies in the context of tourism, renewable energies, conservation of biodiversity, and climatic adaptation on large-scale conservation areas

Research paper thumbnail of Integrating green infrastructure strategies in post-mining areas

Land Reclamation in Ecological Fragile Areas

Research paper thumbnail of Landschaften als Lebensraum : Analyse – Bewertung – Planung – Management

Research paper thumbnail of Bewertung und Entwicklung der Landschaft : Ergebnisse der Jahrestagung IALE-Deutschland 2002 in Dresden

ABSTRACT Literaturangaben

Research paper thumbnail of Green Infrastructure Planning in Germany and China: A comparative approach to green space policy and planning structure

Green Infrastructure (GI) provides an important life-support system for regions and cities. Inspi... more Green Infrastructure (GI) provides an important life-support system for regions and cities. Inspired by, supported by or copied from nature, GI is intended to deal with issues that traditional grey infrastructure can hardly accomplish. Initiated by the European Union’s (EU) Biodiversity Strategy, Germany was an early adopter and thus a role model for the GI approach. In particular, a systematic GI planning system composed of formal and informal planning instruments has been established and implemented from the national to the local level. In comparison, China has not yet officially issued guidance or laws for GI planning. Instead, GI implementations are mainly concentrated at the urban and local scale in the form of green municipal engineering. Scrutinizing the spatial planning system in China, however, we can identify a top-down “5+1” model as a GI planning framework. This includes five types of statutory and non-statutory planning together with the garden city movement. Germany ma...

Research paper thumbnail of Relationship between land use changes, soil degradation and landscape functions

Landscape changes can be divided into two main groups, related to ecosystem stability. On one han... more Landscape changes can be divided into two main groups, related to ecosystem stability. On one hand there are changes which do not break stability conditions; on the other hand there are those that will start to cause an ecosystem crash. In practice it is often not easy to distinguish between these two because of a the lack of detailed knowledge abaut the systems involved. Most investigations of landscape changes deal with changes of land use and landscape elements. In this way, both important anthropogenic impacts as well as resulting visible changes can be considered. But visible changes are only symptoms of landscape dynamics and do not describe this process. Most of other landscape components also change because of anthropogenic influences. There will also be a lot of functional changes, because of the fundamental interconnection between structure and function. These functional changes can be used to describe and to assess extensive landscape changes (e.g. Bork et al., 1995; Bast...

Research paper thumbnail of The Value of Urban Nature in Terms of Providing Ecosystem Services Related to Health and Well-Being: An Empirical Comparative Pilot Study of Cities in Germany and the Czech Republic

Land

The quality of life in our cities critically depends on the intelligent planning and shaping of u... more The quality of life in our cities critically depends on the intelligent planning and shaping of urban living space, in particular urban nature. By providing a wide range of ecosystem services (ES), urban nature essentially contributes to the well-being of city dwellers and plays a major role in avoiding common diseases through its positive impact on physical and mental health. Health is one of the most important factors underlying human welfare and is, thus, vital to sustainable development. The ES of urban green space provide other social-cultural functions alongside public health, for example by fostering environmental justice and citizenship participation. Thus, they should always be considered when searching for solutions to urban problems. The aim of this research was to determine the impact of green areas in three selected cities on the health and well-being of people by self-reporting of green areas’ visitors. To this end, we posed the research question: which types and chara...

Research paper thumbnail of The Benefits of Combining Global and Local Data—A Showcase for Valuation and Mapping of Mangrove Climate Regulation and Food Provisioning Services within a Protected Area in Pará, North Brazil

Land

Mangrove forests provide a large variety of ecosystem services (ES) to coastal societies. Using a... more Mangrove forests provide a large variety of ecosystem services (ES) to coastal societies. Using a case study focusing on the Ajuruteua peninsula in Northern Brazil and two ES, food provisioning (ES1) and global climate regulation (ES2), this paper proposes a new framework for quantifying and valuing mangrove ES and allow for their small-scale mapping. We modelled and spatialised the two ES from different perspectives, the demand (ES1) and the supply (ES2) side respectively. This was performed by combining worldwide databases related to the global human population (ES1) or mangrove distribution and canopy height (ES2) with locally derived parameters, such as crab catches (ES1) or species-specific allometric equations based on local estimates of tree structural parameters (ES2). Based on this approach, we could estimate that the area delivers the basic nutrition of about 1400 households, which equals 2.7 million USD, and that the mangrove biomass in the area contains 2.1 million Mg C,...

Research paper thumbnail of The current status of orchard meadows in Central Europe: Multi-source area estimation in Saxony (Germany) and the Czech Republic

Moravian Geographical Reports

Orchard meadows are appreciated as an integrated land use of high cultural and biological value. ... more Orchard meadows are appreciated as an integrated land use of high cultural and biological value. While such meadows are typical habitats for temperate Europe, they experienced a decline in their total area during the second half of the 20th century, both in Western and Eastern Europe. In this contribution, we compare their current area and status in terms of semantics, law, public support in general, and the efficiency of public support in both Saxony and the Czech Republic. We estimated the area in Saxony on the basis of three public mapping projects. In the Czech Republic, where no recent mapping included orchard meadows as a specific land-use type, we carried out our own mapping. Hence, we mapped 124 randomly selected plots of 1 km2. To cross-reference results from both countries, we used the pan-EU project LUCAS (Land Use/Cover Area frame Survey). According to various different sources, the orchard meadows cover 0.09–0.55% of Saxony and 0.01–0.72% of the Czech Republic. Interest...

Research paper thumbnail of Landscape indicators – Monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem services at landscape level

Research paper thumbnail of Green infrastructure: a planning concept for the urban transformation of former coal-mining cities

International Journal of Coal Science & Technology

Green infrastructure is a concept aimed at realizing a strategically planned network of valuable ... more Green infrastructure is a concept aimed at realizing a strategically planned network of valuable natural and seminatural areas, designed and managed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services and to protect biodiversity in rural and urban settings. In the general post-mining context of China and Germany, this paper suggests and outlines an approach that combines green infrastructure with specific concepts of post-mining landscapes. While Germany has a long tradition of post-mining restoration, concepts of green infrastructure are still poorly developed. China, on the other hand, has taken its first steps in the restoration of coal regions, and could profit from the new concepts while drawing on Germany's experience. The potentials of relevant strategies are investigated here through two case studies from Germany and China. Although there are significant differences in the post-mining development strategies of these two countries, it is clear that the green infrastructure concept can contribute significantly to a growth in ecosystem services. Four advantages of the green infrastructure concept are seen: First, it enables a systematic and highly objective assessment of mining impacts on the ecosystem. Second, the concept assists in the implementation of urban sustainability goals. Third, it is rooted in the local characteristics of landscapes. And finally, the green infrastructure concept seems to be highly compatible with tools of landscape and regional planning.

Research paper thumbnail of Ecosystem service supply and demand – the challenge to balance spatial mismatches

International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management

Ecosystem services (ESs) are influenced by use intensity. Arising disparities between supply and ... more Ecosystem services (ESs) are influenced by use intensity. Arising disparities between supply and demand are often depending on spatial relationships. We propose to classify the spatial relations into six cases with regard to the relocation of resources to the affected groups of people. Based on these six cases, the paper also identifies the human contributions to service supply and transfer. The classification distinguishes between 'local' (supply and demand in the same area), 'proximity' (close natural transfer), 'process' (distant transfer by natural processes), 'access' (users can get to the ecosystem), 'commodity' (supply contributed and transfer carried out by market players), and 'global'. For the several cases, specific scientific methods and different policy approaches are applicable. A crucial issue is how to deal with the actors who enable, maintain, and restrict ESs. Thus, considerations about landscape maintenance, conservation support, and private solutions are necessary. The contribution suggests a framework to analyse and improve the relationships concerned by uncovering mismatches between supply and demand. We use selected indicators to compare supply and demand in these relations. Four examples show the capability of the approach to limit the overuse of ecosystems and to maintain the according ESs.

Research paper thumbnail of Quality of federal level strategic environmental assessment – A case study analysis for transport, transmission grid and maritime spatial planning in Germany

Environmental Impact Assessment Review

Abstract Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) emerged from Environmental Impact Assessment (E... more Abstract Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) emerged from Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and was developed based on the procedural steps and understanding thereof, but with the goal to fulfil a more ‘strategic’ function. Federal level plans and programmes constitute the highest planning levels in Germany subject to SEA, as SEA for policies is not compulsory. In this article, we analyse the quality and procedural effectiveness of federal level SEA in Germany with the underlying hypothesis that federal level SEA might be more strategic than SEA at other planning levels, as it represents the highest tier. Therefore, we analysed three federal level SEA case studies in Germany according to a set of criteria and indicators based on international research outcomes, including SEA integration into decision-making, tiering, scoping, selection and assessment of alternatives, cumulative effects assessment, public participation, and monitoring. Results demonstrate that the procedural effectiveness of SEA practice at the federal level is limited in Germany, and the making of SEAs proved not to be as ‘strategic’ as its important role prior to subsequent planning processes and outcomes would suggest. Reasons include an alternatives assessment restricted to macro-siting instead of assessing scenarios of demand or system alternatives, tiering limited to general advice without specific guidance for subsequent planning levels, cumulative effects assessment limited to intra-plan effects, a lack of monitoring, and public participation limited to consultation on the environmental report. These findings support results from a variety of international studies. Reasons for limitations have been identified in current SEA regulations, prior policy-making, institutional settings, the institutions' willingness to learn and limited quality management by the German Federal Environmental Agency. Thus, our recommendations aim to improve quality management and learning by initiating a federal level SEA forum to discuss federal level planning and SEA practice and related issues, expanding the federal EIA portal to SEAs, quality management by the German Federal Environmental Agency in every federal level SEA scoping process and for every federal level environmental report, and further research and development to improve SEA practice. However, the general question for SEA research might be whether SEA contributes to long-term institutional learning processes beyond individual SEA processes, and how those learning processes can be supported, for instance by quality management and capacity building.

Research paper thumbnail of Germany’s Ecosystem Services – State of the Indicator Development for a Nationwide Assessment and Monitoring

One Ecosystem

The obligations of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2020 are generating a need to create national map... more The obligations of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2020 are generating a need to create national maps and monitoring systems for the state of biodiversity and ecosystem services (ES) on the basis of indicators. The paper gives an overview of the ecosystem services indicators being developed for Germany in the context of ongoing research projects. Additionally, it provides the indicator specifications, which are aligned with the EU MAES framework concepts (initiative on Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services). We illustrate aspects of data selection, calculation and negotiation procedures, results and target values in general and by way of examples. The German indicator-based approach presents measures and sums up ES in their spatial expression and temporal change and compares them with objectives. As far as possible, this is carried out according to the demand-supply concept. A prioritization of ES classes to be processed was carried out in the framework of an expert-based assessment. The results indicated that 21 of the 48 ‡ ‡ § ‡ ‡ ‡ | © Grunewald K et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. CICES classes (Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services) were most relevant for Germany in recent years. We proposed a total of 51 indicators, of which 14 indicators for 4 ES classes were accepted, implemented and published by the end of 2016. The development of ES maps and the indicator-based assessment on a national scale is a process. Consequently, the necessary further steps are shown.

Research paper thumbnail of Indicators for a nationwide monitoring of ecosystem services in Germany exemplified by the mitigation of soil erosion by water

Research paper thumbnail of Ecosystem services of characteristic biotope types in the Ore Mountains (Germany/Czech Republic)

International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management

ABSTRACT The present transboundary study of ecosystem services (ES) focusses on a section of the ... more ABSTRACT The present transboundary study of ecosystem services (ES) focusses on a section of the Eastern Ore Mountains, a rural low mountain range in Germany and the Czech Republic. Aims of the study were to quantify five biotope types typical for the region (raised bogs, mountain meadows, clearance cairns, near-natural mountain forests, and near-natural streams), to identify some of the specific (not just monetary) values of nature in both countries, and to test appropriate ways to communicate ES aspects to stakeholders and the lay public. The study had to cope with country-specific differences in terms of data availability, valuation methods, landscape pecularities, and relations between supply and demand aspects. The ES were assessed using both expert-based (‘ecological’) assessments and economic valuations (e.g. calculation of prices and costs, revealed preferences). Among the provisioning ES, particularly biomass/fodder from meadows, wild fruit, and timber were taken into consideration; among the regulating ES, carbon sequestration and water regulation; and of the cultural ES, landscape aesthetics and recreation. The values of (near-)natural ecosystems in terms of regulating and cultural ES exceed those of provisioning ES by far. The results were also prepared for environmental education using new media, such as scouting games and virtual nature trails supported by mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, or GPS devices). EDITED BY Peter Schuhmann