Welcome to the ecosystem assessment platform of the Biodiversity Information System for Europe.

This platform introduces the main sources of information on the concepts and methods that are useful for conducting an ecosystem assessment. Furthermore, it documents the case studies (particularly in Europe), and informs about ecosystem assessment related events.

The Millennium Assessment (MA) has highlighted that ecosystems are being degraded and that these degradations have major socio-economics effects. These degradations are further predicted to worsen if no action is taken, with potentially irreversible changes. Increasing knowledge and raising awareness about ecosystems and the socio-economic impacts of their degradation, as well as identifying strategies to reverse the ongoing degradation have therefore been identified as major issues.

Following the MA, a number of international and national initiatives to address these issues have been undertaken at different spatial scales. At international scale, these include, for instance, the study on the economic significance of the global loss of biological diversity (TEEB), the revision of the System of Economic and Environmental Accounting (SEEA) to include measures of natural capital in order to capture the depletion or degradation of these resources, the UNEP-led Green Economy Initiative, the establishment of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), etc.

In Europe, the resource efficiency initiative of the European Commission addresses a range of policies and stresses the need for an integrated approach “to deliver smart, sustainable and inclusive growth”. Ecosystem assessments are needed to identify pathways towards a sustainable development.

In 2011, the European Commission adopted a new EU Biodiversity Strategy which identifies 6 priority targets and 20 actions. Action 5 of this strategy foresees that: “Member States, with the assistance of the Commission, will map and assess the state of ecosystems and their services in their national territory by 2014, assess the economic value of such services, and promote the integration of these values into accounting and reporting systems at EU and national level by 2020”.

In Europe, some countries have already published a national ecosystem assessment. Initiatives are on-going or are in an explorative stage in some other countries.

This platform aims at facilitating the planning and development of ecosystem assessments in Europe (at national and European scales). The targeted audience comprises experts involved in planning or shaping ecosystem assessment at national, subnational or European scale, in policy bodies and research organisations.

This platform will be developed in stages and frequently updated. It does not present any formal opinion of EEA, its member countries, or other contributors, but rather facilitates information sharing and discussion.