Challenges for environmental action
According to one of the milestone targets adopted as part of Sweden’s system of environmental objectives, the importance of biodiversity and the value of ecosystem services are, by 2018, to be generally known and integrated into economic positions, political considerations and other decisions in society, where it is relevant and reasonable to do so. Follow the first link below to find out more.
Priorities
In the framework of this milestone target, applications are invited for projects that will show how better account can be taken in decision-making situations of the importance of biodiversity and the value of ecosystem services. The value of ecosystem services can be expressed in both monetary and non-monetary terms.
Proposed projects should take as their starting point tangible decision-making situations (e.g. by means of case studies) and should make clear what knowledge regarding the structures, functions and resilience of ecosystems is needed to determine the value of ecosystem services and, where relevant, integrate it into the evidence base for decision making.
Projects should result in proposals for generalisable approaches that can be used in reaching different types of decisions.
Projects are to consider how ecosystem services should be valued at different organisational levels in society and on different ecological scales (in time and space).
Projects should offer significant practical benefits for decision making at different levels and should communicate information on ecosystem services in a readily accessible manner.
Projects are expected to build on relevant existing knowledge and research, both national and international, in different disciplines, and to draw on experience gained, for example, from the EU Biodiversity Strategy, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) and the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (see links below).
Considerable weight is attached to the proposed research being interdisciplinary in approach and seeking to integrate knowledge from different disciplines, such as natural sciences, social sciences, economics, law and communication.
Resources should be set aside within projects for communication with other relevant projects funded by the Swedish EPA. This may be in the form of annual meetings/conferences.
Read more:
Milestone target regarding the importance of biodiversity and the value of ecosystem services. See paragraph 3.5.2, pages 161–164, in Svenska miljömål – preciseringar av miljökvalitetsmålen och en första uppsättning etappmål (Sweden’s environmental objectives – specifications of the environmental quality objectives and a first set of milestone targets, in Swedish):
http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c6/19/64/69/db3699d7.pdf
Steg på vägen – Fördjupad utvärdering av miljömålen 2012 (Steps along the way: In-depth evaluation of the environmental objectives 2012; in Swedish, with a summary in English):http://www.naturvardsverket.se/Documents/publikationer6400/978-91-620-6500-3.pdf
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA):
http://www.maweb.org/en/Index.aspx
EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/biodiversity/comm2006/2020.htm
MAES – Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services:
https://circabc.europa.eu/faces/jsp/extension/wai/navigation/container.jsp
Select Environment > Ecosystem assessment
TEEB – The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity:
http://www.teebweb.org
The UK National Ecosystem Assessment: Synthesis of the Key Findings. UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge, 2011:
http://uknea.unep-wcmc.org
Swedish Government inquiry into making the value of ecosystem services visible:
http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/108/a/207731
Preliminary timetable
18 June 2013 – Closing date for applications
October 2013 – Decision on funding
October 2013 (prelim.) – Projects start
Contact
Kerstin Jansbo
Phone: +46 10 698 1456
Email: Kerstin.Jansbo@naturvardsverket.se