From January 26-28, 2016, around 20 experts from EU enlargement countries and EU member states met at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra, Italy. The enlargement countries were represented by participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Israel, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey.

ESMERALDA was represented by Joachim Maes (Workshop chair), Grazia Zulian, Benjamin Burkhard, Fernando Santos, Davide Geneletti and Markus Erhard. The aim of this workshop was to take stock of the progress made in EU enlargement countries on mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services, to analyse gaps in knowledge and to initiate training activities on mapping and modelling ecosystem services using a tiered mapping approach.

Picture: Joachim Maes is opening the Workshop.

The Workshop aimed at increasing the capacity of enlargement countries to meet their international obligations under the Convention of Biological Diversity and increase the role of the MAES activities as crucial input to the IPBES regional assessments.

More information can be found at the JRC’s website:
https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/event/workshop/mapping-and-assessment-ecosystem-services-enlargement-contries