Improving the management of Atlantic landscapes: accounting for biodiversity and ecosystem services (ALICE)

An integrative, landscape management approach incorporating socioeconomic and climate change scenarios is critical to ensure the delivery of benefits from investments in Blue and Green Infrastructures (BGI) to meet the 2020 EU biodiversity targets and sustainable development in the Atlantic Region.

ALICE aims to develop an integrated approach considering the relationships between human activities (social and economic aspects), ecosystem service provisioning and coastal and terrestrial biodiversity. The project aims at protecting biodiversity while assuring human activities through the implementation of Blue and Green Infrastructures to adapt to climate change. Multi sectoral participation takes place through an innovative participatory process fostering local knowledge and the involvement of relevant stakeholders (institutions, private and public, NGOs, civil society).

The project includes four case studies along the Atlantic coastal area in Spain, Portugal, France, Ireland.

The key objectives of ALICE are:

• develop a full-package of new methods, tools and procedures to assist with coastal and inland landscape management;
• target and stimulate BGI investment within the four case studies by quantifying the benefits for Ecosystem Services including biodiversity conservation,
• identify solutions for the economic and social barriers, which may limit investment in BGI in each of the four case studies,
• provide with stronger scientific and socioeconomic support for the effective implementation of future BGI and environmental policy.

Expected outputs include practical guidance:

• on how investment in Blue and Green Infrastructures (BGI) could be prioritized in coastal, rural and urban planning to increase ecosystem services delivery for better adapting to climate change;
• to identify thresholds controlling ecosystem services delivery under realistic scenarios of global change and policy development across the Atlantic region.