RECOVERING ECOSYSTEMS and their SERVICES - KEYS FOR SUCCESS

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1 RECOVERING ECOSYSTEMS and their SERVICES - KEYS FOR SUCCESS Solutions for Sustaining Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services 8 June 2010, Salzau Francis Turkelboom

2 1. Flanders context: Multifunctional landscape Typical features of Flanders: o High population pressure (456/km²) o Dense transport-infrastructure o Residence & business: 20% o Agriculture: 53% o Forest & nature: 16%

3 1. Flanders context: Multifunctional landscape o o Long land-use history: Cultural landscapes Land-use planning from 1970s: Fragmentation Strong human pressures on ecosystems + its services Challenge: Optimize multi-functional landscapes

4 2. Objective of study Research question: How can ecosystem services be enhanced in multifunctional landscapes? Search for success projects : Transforming a degraded ecosystem into a relative healthy ecosystem, with benefits for both nature and people. Contrasting ecosystems. Government and non-government organisations. Focus topics: Ecosystem services: Inventory + Changes + interactions? Success factors of the projects?

5 Case studies in Flanders Coastal estuarium( Ijzer) Polders (Uitkerkse polder & Meerkerkse Moeren) National Park (Hoge Kempen) Peri-Urban (Bourgoyen) Alluvial plane (Dijle valley) Lake restoration (De Vinne) Fruit-growing area (Sint- Truiden)

6 3. Findings Case studies Bottlenecks: 1. Competition: Many stakeholders and limited open space Conflicting demands 2. Policy & institutional fragmentation 3. Administrative burden 4. Distrust between stakeholders Starting point: None started as ESS project

7 Success factors of projects that improved ecosystem services in Flanders 1. Natural disasters: Civil society lobbying Sense of urgency trigger action

8 Success factors 2. Economic reasons for land-use change: Decline profitability of an economic activity (e.g. wet agricultural land) Economic alternatives (e.g. eco-tourism) Engineering infrastructure versus green infrastructure Highly-population: high demand and high value for recreation and environmental quality.

9 Success factors 3. Policy changes: More attention to the protection of open space land-use planning open space protection environmental standards biodiversity conservation More enabling environment for projects to prosper.

10 Success factors 4. Synergies between ecosystem services: One intervention improvement of several other ecosystem services multiple stakeholders can benefit from ANALYSE ECOSYSTEEM DIENSTEN en BATEN van STROOMGEBIED ZUID SINT TRUIDEN Ecosysteem infrastructuur & mangement Ecosysteemdiensten Maatschappelijke Baten Lokaal Maatschappelijke Baten Regionaal Landbouw Landbouwland & landgebruik Productiev agroecosysteem Agrarische werkgelegenheid Landbouw producten Grondwatersysteem Aquifers Evenwichtig en gebufferd hydrologisch en bodem systeem Grondwater voor consumptie Zuiver opervlakte water en reductie modder Beneden stroomse water kwaliteit Groene en blauwe corridors Groene & blauwe corridors erosiebstreidingsmaatregelen KLE bloemrijke akkerranden kleine bossen Biodiversiteit, FAB, wild Landschapskwaliteit Leefkwaliteit & recreatie Jacht Voldoen Europese wetgeving Beleid, interventies, wetgeving

11 Success factors 5. Available resources: Supported with adequate funds Could make use of sources of expertise. Long duration: 5-20 years

12 Success factors 6. Multi-stakeholder process facilitation: Inspiring champion and/or champion organisation Networking and mediation: personal contacts, trust building. bottom-up joint learning signalling to stakeholders that they can influence the process ownership (e.g. connect to past, local identity) Consensus building mediation overcome ideological contradictions commonly-accepted vision and pragmatic compromise solutions

13 Success factors 7. Role of success?: Success attract success (NIMBY -> PIMBY) Success can be self-destructing

14 4. What does this mean for policy makers? Natural disaster = Accelerator Synergies of ecosystem services/benefits Create conducive conditions for improving ecosystem services: Legal tools, resources and economic incentives. Quality of the facilitation of the multistakeholder process!