Science for Evidence-based and sustainabLe decIsions about NAtural capital

Project Information

SELINA

Grant agreement ID: 101060415

DOI

10.3030/101060415

EC signature date 8 June 2022

Start date 1 July 2022

End date 30 June 2027

Funded under

• Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Total cost

€ 12 213 780,00

EU contribution

€ 12 213 773,00

Coordinated by

GOTTFRIED WILHELM LEIBNIZ UNIVERSITAET HANNOVER
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SELINA (Science for Evidence-based and sustainabLe decIsions about NAtural capital)

Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2025-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

SELINA aims at providing robust methodologies, information and guidance for evidence-based decision-making that supports the protection, restoration and sustainable use of ecosystems and their services. The project employs 15 Demonstration Projects of private and public section decision-making at different levels and contexts. The upscaling of the outcomes of these projects, together with the establishment of Communities of Practice shall enable transformative change in EU member states. SELINA brings together experts from all 27 EU member states, associated countries (Norway, Switzerland, Israel, UK) and selected EU Overseas Regions with stakeholders from various public and private sectors. The expertise in the Consortium includes leading experts (ecologists, economists, social scientists) on Ecosystem Services (ES) science, ecosystem accounting and on science-policy-business interfaces from related actions (e.g. OpenNESS, ESMERALDA, MAIA, MAES, IPBES) that can succesfully carry out the defined transdisciplinary tasks. The involvement of these different scientific disciplines, including social sciences, is mandatory when dealing with complex human-environmental systems and questions of sustainability. The Project could start its actions straight-away and successfully address the call’s challenges, provide applicable tools and state-of-the-art models together with the comprehensive Compendium of Guidance on how to use the project outcomes in various integrated ES assessment contexts. The Project delivers real cases for evidence-, ES-based and harmonised decision-making across Europe, enabling transformative change to halt biodiversity decline and to secure the sustainable supply and use of essential ES.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

SELINA's main objective is to integrate the existing knowledge base on ecosystems and their services and to make the scientific outcomes available for evidence-based decision-making in diverse public and private sectors. In order to fulfil these objectives, the Project has been implemented along three Strands: A) Engaging stakeholders, B) Understanding ecosystems and their services, and C) Informing decision. SELINA and its 11 Work Packages have successfully been implemented during the first 36 months. All works are closely interlinked, connecting people with their environment and related decision-making. All scheduled Milestones (including six successful thematic Workshops, each with an attendance of between 80 - 100 people) and planned Deliverables have been achieved. Key achievements include: the establishment of Communities of Practice in EU member states (Strand A); conceptual and methodological developments to define and map ecosystem types and condition (including a concept for reference ecosystem condition assessments), review studies about ecosystem assessment model uptake for decision-support and indicators of ecosystem condition-services-accounting integration, studies on ecosystem disservices and negative externalities (Strand B); the 15 SELINA Demonstration Projects with their specific public and private decision-making contexts and the setting of the co-creation mechanism of the SELINA Compendium of Guidance (Strand C).

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The EU MAES initiative and related projects have provided the concepts, methodologies and the data base for comprehensive integrated ecosystem assessments on different spatial scales, including the first EU-wide assessment 2020. Thus, knowledge and data for different ecosystem types (including protected and marine areas) are increasingly available. The next step necessary for applicable ecosystem assessments is to integrate the different MAES components (mapping of ecosystem types, ecosystem condition and ES, ecosystem accounting) and to enable the uptake of biodiversity- and ES-related information in evidence-based decision-making processes. Key challenges in such integrated assessments include the proof of concrete biodiversity-ecosystem condition-ES relationships and appropriate reference levels and to link them to relevant EU and national policy and business decisions.

SELINA performed excellently in the first 36 Months of the Project's lifetime and the first outcomes from the three Strands look very promising. WP2 (Strand A) provided new guidance material for the establishing of the Communities of Practice in the EU member states, including the initiation of an EU-wide collection of "Seeds of [transformative] change" projects on all possible levels. Within Strand B, the development of key ecosystem condition indicators per ecosystem type took place together with the definition of reference ecosystem conditions - an unsolved problem so far for most ecosystem types and condition levels (WP3). WP4 identified key gaps and key needs to improve the uptake of the ES concept and related models in different decision-making contexts, including guidance on how to improve future ecosystem assessments. Studies on negative externalities and ecosystem disservices are scarce, compared to ES studies. WP5 elaborated how both can be included in ecosystem accounts, providing a solid base for future applications. The systematic literature review in WP6 collected indicators used for ecosystem condition and ES assessments and identified key gaps. The Framework for Integrated Ecosystem Assessments FIEA developed in SELINA Task 6.4 summarises all steps needed for successful integrated ecosystem assessments and can be used by policy- and decision-makers at any level. The FIEA will provide an intuitive structure for the SELINA Compendium of Guidance, where all Project outcomes will be easily accessible.

Infographic illustrating SELINA's main objectives