Regional Pilot Case Study Mostviertel – AT: Preliminary Results

An integrated modelling framework (IMF) is developed to analyse impacts of climate andpolicy changes on farm welfare and the environment. The IMF is applied on two contrasting grassland (south) and cropland (north) dominated Austrian landscapes. The IMF combines the crop rotation model CropRota, the bio-physical process model EPIC and the bio-economic farm model FAMOS[space] and applies combined climate change and policy scenarios. Changing policies reduce farm gross margins by -36% and -5% in the two landscapes respectively. Climate change increases gross margins and farms can reach pre-reform levels on average. Climate induced intensification such as removing of landscape elements andincreasing fertilization can be moderated by an agri-environmental program (AEP). However, productivity gains from climate change increase the opportunity costs for AEP participation

Planification stratégique pour la gestion des écosystèmes de rivières alpines

International audienceWithin the framework of the Interreg Alpine Space project "SPARE", project partners from six Alpine countries are working together to advance the harmonization of human use requirements and the protection of Alpine rivers. Five different pilot areas across the Alpine space (Dora Baltea, IT; Drôme, FR; Inn, CH; Soča, SL; Steyr, AT) are committed to integrative river and catchment management, and engaged in participatory processes, to improve existing river management practices and to increase awareness and knowledge about the ecosystem services of healthy rivers. The poster will present preliminary outputs of the three-year project, such as the experiences learnt from the five pilot areas, a pan-Alpine overview of priority rivers with high protection needs and an interactive online platform for knowledge exchange & policy support.Dans le cadre du projet Interreg Alpine Space «SPARE», les partenaires du projet de six pays alpins travaillent ensemble pour faire progresser l'harmonisation des besoins humains avec la protection des écosystèmes aquatiques. Cinq zones pilotes à travers l'espace alpin (Dora Baltea, IT, Drôme, FR, Inn, CH, Soča, SL, Steyr, AT) se sont engagées à gérer leurs rivières et bassins versants de manière intégrative, et à mettre en oeuvre des processus participatifs, à la fois pour améliorer les pratiques de gestion des rivières et pour accroître la sensibilisation et les connaissances sur les services écosystémiques des rivières en bonne santé. Le poster présentera les résultats préliminaires du projet triennal, tels que les expériences acquises dans les cinq zones pilotes, un aperçu pan-alpin des cours d'eau prioritaires ayant des besoins de protection élevés et une plateforme interactive en ligne pour l'échange de connaissances et l'appui aux politique

Contributions of Cultural Services to the Ecosystem Services Agenda

Cultural ecosystem services (ES) are consistently recognized but not yet adequately defined or integrated within the ES framework. A substantial body of models, methods, and data relevant to cultural services has been developed within the social and behavioral sciences before and outside of the ES approach. A selective review of work in landscape aesthetics, cultural heritage, outdoor recreation, and spiritual significance demonstrates opportunities for operationally defining cultural services in terms of socioecological models, consistent with the larger set of ES. Such models explicitly link ecological structures and functions with cultural values and benefits, facilitating communication between scientists and stakeholders and enabling economic, multicriterion, deliberative evaluation and other methods that can clarify tradeoffs and synergies involving cultural ES. Based on this approach, a common representation is offered that frames cultural services, along with all ES, by the relative contribution of relevant ecological structures and functions and by applicable social evaluation approaches. This perspective provides a foundation for merging ecological and social science epistemologies to define and integrate cultural services better within the broader ES framework