Carlos Mario Gomez, Fiona Culhane, Simone Langhans, Manuel Lago, Heliana Teixeira, and Antonio Nogueira at the ESP Conference, photo: Simone Langhans
From 15 to 19 October 2018 at the Kursaal Congress Centre and Auditorium in San Sebastián (Spain), the Ecosystem Services Partnership Europe Regional Conference took place under the broad theme of Ecosystem services in a changing world: moving from theory to practice. The conference welcomed anyone interested in ecosystem services, but especially focussed on the science-policy-practice nexus and uptake within Europe. Around 450 delegates participated in the conference that included keynote speeches and over 40 break-out sessions with a total of around 400 presentations.
On Tuesday 16 October, AQUACROSS organised a break-out session under the Thematic Session TWG 2 – Biodiversity & Ecosystem services with the name Integrating biodiversity and ecosystem services in ecosystem-based management of aquatic systems. The objective of the session was to showcase key results of the AQUACROSS project. Specifically, its policy applications and conceptual elements were presented using concrete examples from one of the project’s case studies. Results from the Aveiro case study were presented and discussed with session participants. The presentations and presenters consisted of:
- Manuel Lago (AQUACROSS project coordinator and Ecologic Institute) Introducing the AQUACROSS project: Knowledge, Assessment, and Management for AQUAtic Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services aCROSS EU policies
- Carlos Mario Gomez (IMDEA-Water) Assessing the water-biodiversity nexus – integrating natural and social sciences: An assessment framework for the complex and adaptive dynamics of social-ecological aquatic systems
- Antonio Nogueira (University of Aveiro) AquaLinksTool - a versatile tool to address causal links involving activities, pressures, biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services in aquatic ecosystems and Improving ecosystem-based management of Natura 2000 sites in the Vouga River, from catchment to coast, Portugal
- Heliana Teixeira (University of Aveiro) Participatory integrated management options using modelling tools
- Simone D. Langhans (IGB/University of Otago) Eight research areas that could foster the uptake of ecosystem-based management in fresh waters, if combined
