Linking biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services: advancing insights in tradeoffs and synergies between biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and ecosystem service values for improved integrated biodiversity policy – CONNECT

Biodiversity policy is increasingly influenced by evidence about the role of biodiversity in the provision of ecosystem services. However, the current state of scientific knowledge and empirical evidence is inconclusive and does not provide a sufficiently robust basis to make definite statements about whether securing the provision of specific ecosystem services will also guarantee biodiversity conservation, and vice versa. Conserving land for biodiversity purposes is often beneficial for some ecosystem services but at the expense of other ecosystem services. This is especially the case in many European landscapes where human activities have since long shaped biodiversity and landscapes. There is a need to improve and integrate existing research methods from different natural and social science disciplines for the analysis of potential synergies, conflicts and associated tradeoffs in support of effective policy and management.

The objectives of CONNECT are twofold. First, to scientifically investigate the relationship between biodiversity, ecosystem service provision and socio-economic values in European landscapes. Secondly, to effectively translate and embed the scientific research findings in the existing biodiversity and ecosystem services policy community and public debate. The main outcomes are: 1) an empirically tested decision-support framework for analysis of synergies and tradeoffs between biodiversity, ecosystem services and associated socio-economic benefits, and 2) practical guidelines for the design of effective conservation policies based on improved scientific understanding of the relationship between ecosystem services and biodiversity.

Drawing upon cutting-edge scientific biodiversity research, CONNECT will examine which dimensions of taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity contribute to ecosystem functioning and hence to ecosystem service provision. Assessment of synergies and tradeoffs between biodiversity and ecosystem services conservation will be based on improved spatial modelling and mapping procedures and socio-economic valuation methods that are grounded in a better understanding of the complex interaction between ecosystem functioning and societal demand for ecosystem services. Improved theoretical and empirical insights will be translated into generic understanding that can support the development and implementation of policy instruments aimed at biodiversity conservation and the sustainable provision of ecosystem services. Synergies and tradeoffs between ecosystem services and biodiversity will be explored in regional scale case studies and in an EU wide assessment in the context of NATURA2000 and High-Nature Value farmlands. Case studies will include an interactive stakeholder process to reveal the role of current policies. The effectiveness of alternative strategies and policies to conserve biodiversity will be assessed while accounting for the tradeoffs and synergies between biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Best-practice guidelines for more effective integrated biodiversity and ecosystem services policy and decision-making will be provided grounded in the identified synergies between biodiversity and ecosystem services, while avoiding tradeoffs and policy strategies that lead to perverse incentives. The results and their implications for biodiversity governance will be discussed during a policy workshop and contributed to science-policy networks such as TEEB and IPBES.