Coasts and estuaries provide a great variety of material (e.g. food, water, energy) and non-material (e.g. recreation, cultural heritage) ecosystem services. As an increasing number of people choose these ecosystems for their recreational activities (e.g. beaches, water sports, boat trips) they become under threat requiring new holistic and adaptive environmental management approaches. This work focuses on regional assessments of the recreation and tourism magnitudes in relation to ecosystem services using GIS mapping tools combined with the InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs) and/or ESTIMAP models. Model predictions are compared with available tourism data in order to produce indicators that can improve decision-making to better tackle sustainability problems.
Build a sustainability indicator integrating biophysical, social and management aspects of Ecosystem Services (ES) and evaluate the ES potential for recreational activities in selected regions.
Data analysis and mapping using ArcGIS techniques, European and national datasets and available user-friendly geo-technologies.
Compensation:
Erasmus + grant available depending on eligibility criteria of your home university
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
