Ecosystem services in environmental impact assessment

• Main Authors: Paulo Sousa, Daniela Gomes, Nuno Formigo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2020-02-01
• Series: Energy Reports
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352484719305268

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is an environmental management tool, whose function is to predict and manage possible impacts arising from a given project. With the emergence of new European legislation, there is a need to implement new procedures that make environmental impact assessment more efficient, particularly from an ecological point of view. Incorporation of Ecosystem services (ES) into EIA is an example of this new procedures, since they mirror the functioning of ecosystems and reflect on the socio-economic well-being of populations.This work is divided into two phases, the first of which consisted in a review of previously carried out environmental impact studies, to assess the use of ES. The second phase will consist on the creation of a methodological guide that allows the integration of ES in EIA, focused on Quercus sp. Forests. In this paper the focus will be the first phase of the work. Keywords: Ecosystem services, Environmental impact assessment, Oak trees forest