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Ecosystem services in environmental policy and decision-making in the Czech Republic

Publication at Faculty of Humanities |
2017

Abstract

Aim of the PhD thesis is to analyse current state and explore challenges and opportunities for integrating the concept of ecosystem services (ES) into nature protection policy and decision-making in the Czech Republic, focusing on stakeholder attitudes and values, perceived benefits (nature's contributions to people - Pascual et al., 2017) and power relationships (Felipe-Lucia et al., 2015). Further four specific goals have been identified: 1) Review of the national environmental policy to describe current (explicit and implicit) use of ecosystem processes, services and benefits; 2) Analysis of stakeholder's preferences and attitudes towards ES; 3) Identification of power relationships among stakeholders which influence flow of ES, barriers for full use of ES; 4) Identification of barriers and opportunities for integration of the ES concept into nature protection policy and decision-making, role of formal and informal institutions.

Research is based on the following methods: 1) Literature review; 2) Document analysis - environmental policy documents; 3) Stakeholder analysis - institutional (organized groups) stakeholders; 4) Interviews. Expected outcomes of the research include: 1) List of preferred/neglected ES for each stakeholder group; 2) Arguments for/against practical use of the concept of ES and valuation of nature; 3) Identification of opportunities and challenges for effective integration of ES into policy and decision-making (role of formal and informal institutions); 4) Map of power relationships among key institutional stakeholders to explore the effect of power asymmetries on access to ES.