Sozial-ökologische Forschung und technologische Innovationen für eine verbesserte Berücksichtigung kultureller Ökosystemdienstleistungen in partizipativen Planungsprozessen (SERVICES)

Social-ecological research and technological innovations for improved integration of cultural ecosystem services in participatory planning processes (SERVICES)

Cultural ecosystem services contribute to a sustainable development of cultural landscapes. Conserving European natural as well as cultural heritage is essential to provide proper habitats for flagship species (wolf, lynx or bear). However, ecosystem services in spatial planning have often been associated to natural experiences, based on floristic or topographical criteria. Against this backdrop, SERVICES pursues the strategy to establish a motivated consortium in order to support the participatory planning process. The project aims to address the following challenges:

• How to involve various research institutes, regional stakeholders and local inhabitants?
• How to integrate species-specific behaviours in spatial planning to control habitat functions?
• How do new modelling approaches improve the participatory planning process at the interface between the ecosystem and land system?

Cross-border cooperation among countries (e.g. Poland or Romania), which harbour potential donors of wildlife population are quite important for the (re-) settlement of flagship species. The main goal of the first phase will be to strengthen the research focus as well as to publish the outcomes in a synthesis paper. In the second phase, the consortium applies for one or more international research funding programs.