Proposals for a virtual library for ecosystem assessments in Europe

1. Proposals for a virtual library for ecosystem assessments in Europe First draft: presented at MAES working group, Brussels, 11 January 2013 Updated draft: EEA/Alterra meeting, Copenhagen, 31 January 2013 • Last update (following internal discussions) : 22 February 2013 • Valérie LAPORTE

2. Content • The Project • Context • Objective and scope of the virtual library • Functionalities of the virtual library • Users and development • Incentives for populating the virtual library • Beta version and linking with BISE • Reaching out and further development • Details of the information to be collected in the virtual library • Proposed interface for uploading information (7 slides) • Examples of questions for the testing phase

3. Context • International studies have highlighted that ecosystems are being degraded with major socio-economics impacts, that are predicted to worsen, with potentially irreversible changes, if no action is taken • The EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 calls for increasing knowledge and awareness-raising and for strategies to reverse these trends:Target 2, action5: “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”

4. Objective and Scope of the virtual library Objective • Support the development of a knowledge base for ecosystem assessment in Europe, to inform the policy decisions and the implementation of many policies (incl. Nature and Biodiversity, territorial cohesion, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, transport, energy…) • Provide a public, long-term, and adaptive repositoryof fact-sheets, describing relevant and available resources (documents, experts, organisations) for ecosystem assessment in Europe Scope • The library will cover the whole ecosystem assessment process, according to the MA manual for ecosystem assessment practitioners. • It will address all key elements highlighted in the Conceptual Framework for the “Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services” (MAES) in Europe.

5. Functionalities of the virtual library The library will consist in the following set of tools • A collaborative tool For uploading specific information (in English) on relevant documents for ecosystem assessment in Europe (including grey literature, tools, events, websites and maps, in any language) • A searching tool to query for • Documents relevant for ecosystem assessment in Europe • Experts that produced these documents • Organisations that produced these documents • A processinginstrument for the generation of simple statistics on the documents uploaded, per country, ecosystems or issues…

6. Users and development • Expert users Targeted users are scientific and policy experts involved in planning or shaping ecosystem assessments at national, subnational or European scale • Populating the virtual library with information The virtual library will be populated by the expert users Uploading information to the virtual library will require user identification Users that are not (yet) registered in the system can submit information, subject to review and approval • Using the library for searching for information The searching tool is available to all (except during the testing phase) and does not require any login

7. Incentives for populating the library Fulfilling EU requirements One main incentive could be for countries to fulfil the Commission requirements related to action 5 target 2 of the EU Biodiversity Strategy Personal interest, ease of use, efficient recording of information The development of the virtual library will only be possible through collaborative investment in sharing expert information Experts are expected to share information on documents on which they have a deep expertise, so filling one factsheet should not require any additional investment and take a maximum of 10 minutes Acknowledging contributors The list of experts contributing to the virtual library will be visible and permanently updated

8. Beta version and linking with BISE A beta version of the uploading tool will be available in April, with restricted access • Objectives • Phase 1:  Expert testing of the uploading tool (e.g. see last slide) A minimum of 100 factsheets are documented • Phase 2:  Test the searching tool, in terms of functionalities and performances • Who is involved? 15-20 experts representing a diversity of users • ~10-12 experts directly involved in Target 2 of the EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy • MAES working group (incl. DG ENV, JRC, EEA, ETC BD, countries) • MESEU (DG ENV supporting contract to MAES) • Other EU working groups and supporting contracts (restoration, no net loss) ? • ~5-8 experts from EEA informal network on ecosystem assessment • Timing and duration • Phase 1 will start in April 2013 (for MAES meeting). • The test will aim at ending in June 2013 • A one-day meeting will end the test phase, bringing together IT developers and experts. This event may be synchronised with MAES/BISE meeting in June 2013

9. Reaching out and further development Once the library is functional and has reached a minimum load, it will be advertised to the broader scientific community, e.g. through • publication in scientific journals, e.g. new journal “Ecosystem services”, • presentations at annual meetings of scientific networks, e.g. • SGA, • ESP, • ALTERNET, ….

10. Information to be collected in the virtual library The interface for uploading information on one document is organised in 9 modules (labelled A to I) All modules need to be filled in Modules A-E collect generic information, Modules F-H collect ecosystem assessment related information > More information: http://biodiversity.europa.eu/ecosystem-assessments/concepts-and-methods/ In module I, you can indicate how you came to know the document on which you have just provided detailed information

11. Generic information A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H A- Media (support) of the document • Literature (report, paper…) • Maps (GIS, image...) • Tool (for analytical or communication purposes) • Website (e.g. UK NEA…) • Event (conference…)

12. Generic information A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I B- Document identification (to be adapted to each type of document) • Title in original language: …….. • Title in English: ………. • Organisations involved:  Organisation 1:…  Organisation 2: …  … • Authors or experts involved:  Author 1: …  Author 2:… … • (For literature only): Year of publication: … • (For events only):  Date:…  Place: … C- Accessibility of the document • Languages of publication: …….. • URL to the document: ... • Availability:  Free of charge  With costs • Upload (only for documents that are available free of charge): …

13. Generic information A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I D- Spatial specificity of the document • No • Yes > Spatial scale:  international  regional  national  local > countries:  Austria  Belgium…  Other countries E- Main content or purpose of the document • Theoretical material (methods, concepts, guidance…) • Produce/Evaluate data (measured, observed, modelled) • Analytical material (Case-studies…) • Produce maps • Policy (Strategies, Directives…) • Mandatory reporting to EU or international body • Communication material (video, flyers...) • Other:…..

14. Ecosystem assessment related information -A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I F- Which key elements of ecosystem assessment are documented? • (1) Setting the assessment process (incl. governance, stakeholder engagement, funding, communication, …) • (2) Conceptual framework • (3) Biophysical baseline of ecosystems and their services (mapping and assessment of state & trends) • (4) Valuation of ecosystem services (links between ecosystem services and human well-being) • (5) Scenario development and analyses • (6) Policy analyses or response options

15. Ecosystem assessment related information -A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I • G- Are ecosystems addressed in the document? Yes  No • Please indicate which issues and methods are addressed, per type of ecosystem

16. Ecosystem assessment related information -A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I • H- Are ecosystem services addressed in the document?  Yes  No • Please indicate in which categories of ecosystem services were addressed, and in which types of ecosystem these were addressed

17. Information on the contributor -A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I I - How did you came to know this document? • You have been using this document for your own work on ecosystem assessment • You were involved in reviewing the document • You commissioned this document • You were involved in the production of the document (author of a paper, organiser of an event…) • Other: …..

18. Examples of questions for the testing – phase 1 • Is it possible to upload full information for one document within 10 minutes? • Map/mapping appears as a ticking option in many places: modules A, E, G (also mentioned in module F): are all these options necessary and adequate? • Do you consider that the information collected through each module is useful and adequate? • Is the list of proposed issues and methods in module G adequate? Do we need to add any other issue, e.g. IAS? • Only 3 main categories of ES are documented in module H: is that ok or do we need more details? • Do we need to develop additional and specific module(s) for documenting in more details any specific issue/method, e.g. mapping, valuation, scenario…? • Which statistics, that could be derived from the library, could be of interest? • No. of documents addressing a given country? • No. of documents addressing a given ecosystem (per country), issue (per country), …? • Which additional functionalities would be useful? • See “my contributions” to the virtual library?