Ecological goal functions and the assessment of Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services
| Title of the project | Ecological goal functions and the assessment of Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services. |
| Primary and secondary scientific disciplines | |
| Description of the project | In this project, I aim at applying a biophysical approach to environmental accounting to unfold the role of matter and energy flows exchange in the functioning of ecosystems, with a particular focus on the assessment of natural capital and ecosystem services. The project will focus on implementing the biophysical assessment of natural capital and ecosystem services in selected protected areas and UNESCO-MAB Biosphere Reserves located in Poland and Italy. Three different human managed ecosystems will be investigated: forest and lake ecosystems located in the Tuchola Forest Biosphere Reserve (Poland) and a coastal lagoon ecosystem located in the Marsala Nature Reserve (South Italy). Biophysical environmental accounting methods will be used to assess sustained environmental costs (i.e., matter and energy input flows converging to generate natural capital stocks), received benefits (i.e., ecosystem goods and services flows benefited from humans), and generated impacts (i.e., emissions and their potential impact due to natural resources exploitation).
The project is conducted in cooperation with: The project will be conducted in cooperation with the Department of Science and Technology of Parthenope University of Naples and the UNESCO Chair in “Environment, Resources and Sustainable Development” of which NCU is an official partner (www.unescochair.uniparthenope.it). Principal supervisor: Prof. Agnieszka Piernik |