ECOPOTENTIAL

Terrestrial and marine ecosystems provide essential services to human societies. Anthropogenic pressures, however, cause serious threat to ecosystems, leading to habitat degradation, increased risk of collapse and loss of ecosystem services. Knowledge-based conservation, management and restoration policies are needed to improve ecosystem benefits in face of increasing pressures. ECOPOTENTIAL makes significant progress beyond the state-of-the-art and creates a unified framework for ecosystem studies and management of protected areas (PA). ECOPOTENTIAL focuses on internationally recognized PAs in Europe and beyond in a wide range of biogeographic regions, and it includes UNESCO, Natura2000 and LTER sites and Large Marine Ecosystems. Best use of Earth Observation (EO) and monitoring data is enabled by new EO open-access ecosystem data services (ECOPERNICUS). Modelling approaches including information from EO data are devised, ecosystem services in current and future conditions are assessed and the requirements of future protected areas are defined. Conceptual approaches based on Essential Variables, Macrosystem Ecology and cross-scale interactions allow for a deeper understanding of the Earth’s Critical Zone. Open and interoperable access to data and knowledge is assured by a GEO Ecosystem Virtual Laboratory Platform, fully integrated in GEOSS. Support to transparent and knowledge-based conservation and management policies, able to include information from EO data, is developed. Knowledge gained in the PAs is upscaled to panEuropean conditions and used for planning and management of future PAs. A permanent stakeholder consultancy group (GEO Ecosystem Community of Practice) will be created. Capacity building is pursued at all levels. SMEs are involved to create expertise leading to new job opportunities, ensuring long-term continuation of services. In summary, ECOPOTENTIAL uses the most advanced technologies to improve future ecosystem benefits for humankind.

Consortium

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy
Universita del Salento, Italy
Accademia Europea per la Ricerca Applicata ed il Perfezionamento Professionale Bolzano (Accademia Europea Bolzano), Italy
Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Spain
Helmholtz-Zentrum fuer Umweltforschung GMBH-UFZ, Germany
Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie, Germany
Universitaet Bayreuth, Germany
Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft – und Raumfahrt EV, Germany
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France
University of Leeds, United Kingdom
Environment Systems Limited, United Kingdom
Universitatea din Bucuresti, Romania
ICETA – Instituto de Ciencias e Tecnologias Agrarias e Agroalimentares, Portugal
Instituto Superior Tecnico, Portugal
Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Information Technologies Institute, Greece
Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Greece
Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority, Israel
PSI Hydrobiological Institute Ohrid, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa
Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale, Italy
Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Centro de Investigacion Ecologica y Aplicaciones Forestales, Spain
Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain
Universidad de Granada, Spain
Umweltbundesamt GMBH, Austria
Universitaet Potsdam, Germany
Museum fur Naturkunde – Leibniz-Institut fur Evolutions- und Biodiversitatsforschung an der Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin, Germany
Fondation Tour du Valat, France
Stichting Deltares, Netherlands
Aratos Technologies S.A., Greece
Starlab Barcelona, Spain
Martin-Luther-Universitaet Halle-Wittenberg, Germany
Stichting Nioz, Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee, Netherlands
Klaipedos Universitetas, Lithuania
Universite Paul Sabatier Toulouse III, France
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization -UNESCO, France
London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom
Universitetet i Bergen, Norway
Terradue UK Ltd, United Kingdom
United Nations Environment Programme, Kenya
University of New South Wales, Australia
Eidgenoessische Technische Hochschule Zuerich, Switzerland
Agencia de Medio Ambiente y Agua de Andalucia, Spain
Universite de Bretagne Occidentale, France
Universite de Geneve, Switzerland