ECOPOTENTIAL Project

ECOPOTENTIAL is a large European-funded H2020 project that aims to blend Earth Observations from remote sensing and field measurements, data analysis and modelling to assess current and future ecosystem conditions and services.

by Ralph Sonderegger
Ecopotential Logo

Mountain ecosystems provide a broad range of ecosystem services such as climate regulation, protection from natural hazards, recreation, and habitat services, but the provision of these services is increasingly jeopardized by climate change, natural disturbances, and land use change. Spatially explicit assessments of ecosystem services are an important tool for decision makers in conservation, ecosystem management, and spatial planning. Earth Observation is a promising source of data for such assessments, as it provides spatially explicit, area-wide, and timely data on ecosystem characteristics. However, the links between ecosystem properties and services, as well as their response to change scenarios, are subject to many uncertainties.

Within ECOPOTENTIAL, we are developing a modelling approach that integrates EO-based assessments of ecosystem services, their valuation, and scenarios of change into Bayesian networks. These allow us to assess the provision and demand for services, the trade-offs between them, and their potential future development, as well as the associated uncertainties. We will model a set of relevant ecosystem services in the mountain region of Davos, and compare them with the Swiss National Park. The same modelling approach will also be applied in other protected areas in ECOPOTENTIAL.

Project data

Project team

Prof. Dr. Adrienne Grêt-Regamey

Ana Stritih

Partners

Consortium of 47 partners from 17 countries

external pageWSL-Institut für Schnee- und Lawinenforschung SLF

external pageSwiss National Park

Duration

December 2015 - June 2019

Website 

external pagewww.ecopotential-project.euexternal page

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