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.