How Ecosystem Services Have Found Their Way in European Policies

Abstract

Over the past decade, ecosystem services (ESS) have found their way into European Union (EU) policies in a process that is unprecedented in the world. In 2011, the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 highlighted the critical role of healthy ecosystems in providing food, pollination of crops by wild insects, clean air and water or flood control. In 2019, the European Green Deal, aimed at combating environmental degradation and promoting a sustainable resilient Europe, further reinforced this role and incorporated ESS into policies that extend beyond natural resource management. A landmark of the European Green Deal, and the EU’s long-term policy adoption process, is the entering into force of the Nature Restoration Regulation in August 2024, the first continent-wide law of its kind. Scientific advances in ecosystem science have been the primary driving force behind this EU policy pathway, though the coherent implementation of diverse policy approaches remains challenging. This paper outlines key policy and science-for-policy milestones from the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2020 through to the European Green Deal, along with future challenges. Specifically, it focuses on the integration of ecosystem services into EU policies concerning agriculture, forests, soil, inland and marine waters, and urban areas. The paper details how ecosystem services have been gradually incorporated into these policy themes and how the focus has evolved within each policy theme. It concludes with reflections on the next science-for-policy challenges for ecosystem services in the EU.

Keywords: Ecosystem condition, ecosystem accounts, policy instruments, science-policy interface.