GIS and land cover-based assessment of ecosystem services in the North Karelia Biosphere Reserve, Finland

verfasst von

Laura Poikolainen, Guilherme Pinto, Petteri Vihervaara, Benjamin Burkhard, Franziska Wolff, Reima Hyytiäinen, Timo Kumpula

Abstract

Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, ecosystems and their services are key principles behind the establishment of “Biosphere Reserves”. Mapping of ecosystem services is one of the activities that is expected to increase the knowledge of sustainable land use planning. The Biosphere Reserves, established by the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Programme, aims to find the balance between nature conservation, use of natural resources, recreation and other culture-related activities. For this purpose, the ecosystem services approach is a promising tool for examining the relationships between people and nature in practice. This study applies the ecosystem services approach and examines which ecosystem services are perceived to be relevant in the North Karelia Biosphere Reserve in Eastern Finland. The results of a matrix method, with expert-based approach, showed that particularly old-growth forests and undrained open and forested mires have a broader potential to provide different ecosystem services. Water and urban areas are considered important for cultural services. However, these areas cover only a relatively small area altogether. The results of the ecosystem services assessment were compared to areas of high biodiversity, as defined by local biodiversity experts. The areas with high capacity for ecosystem services provision (from now on “high ecosystem services areas”) were found in areas with high biodiversity. In most cases, these areas are already under protection. The results also showed that ambiguity is an issue with the use of the ecosystem services concept in both stakeholder and expert evaluations.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Physische Geographie und Landschaftsökologie
Arbeitsgruppe Physische Geographie

Externe Organisation(en)

University of Eastern Finland
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE)
Leibniz-Zentrum für Agrarlandschaftsforschung (ZALF) e.V.

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Fennia

Band

197

Seiten

249-267

Anzahl der Seiten

19

ISSN

0015-0010

Publikationsdatum

06.01.2020

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Forstwissenschaften, Geografie, Planung und Entwicklung, Ökologie

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 11 – Nachhaltige Städte und Gemeinschaften, SDG 15 – Lebensraum Land

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.11143/fennia.80331 (Zugang: Offen)
https://doi.org/10.15488/11168 (Zugang: Offen)