ECOPOTENTIAL
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.
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 different types of information (including Earth Observation, process based models, and expert knowledge) into Bayesian networks. These allow us to assess the provision and demand for ecosystem services, the trade-offs between them, as well as the associated uncertainties. We are modelling a set of relevant ecosystem services (including avalanche protection, carbon sequestration, recreation, and habitats) in the mountain region of Davos, and compare them with the Swiss National Park. A similar modelling approach will be applied in other protected areas in ECOPOTENTIAL.
Project data
Project team
Prof. Dr. Adrienne Grêt-Regamey
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