TY - JOUR

T1 - GIS and land cover-based assessment of ecosystem services in the North Karelia Biosphere Reserve, Finland

AU - Poikolainen, Laura

AU - Pinto, Guilherme

AU - Vihervaara, Petteri

AU - Burkhard, Benjamin

AU - Wolff, Franziska

AU - Hyytiäinen, Reima

AU - Kumpula, Timo

N1 - Funding information: We thank Timo Hokkanen, Hannu Luotonen (Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment), Arvo Ohtonen and other experts of the SuoEKO project (Evaluation and valuation of ecosystem services on mires peatlands - from ecosystem approach to practice, funded by Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry). We also thank all the participants who participated in the SuoEKO workshop. This research was supported by the projects FRESHABIT LIFE IP (LIFE14/IPE/FI/023) and IBC CARBON (Strategic Research Council (SRC) at the Academy of Finland (Grant no. 312559).

PY - 2020/1/6

Y1 - 2020/1/6

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Biosphere reserves

KW - Ecosystem services

KW - Expert-based assessment

KW - Land cover mapping

KW - Matrix method

KW - Trade-offs

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85081535742&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.11143/fennia.80331

DO - 10.11143/fennia.80331

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85081535742

VL - 197

SP - 249

EP - 267

JO - Fennia

JF - Fennia

SN - 0015-0010

IS - 2

ER -