The Rural, Water and Ecosystem Resources Unit
is providing scientific support to the integration
of biodiversity conservation into sectoral
policies. Research includes a focusing on drivers
of biodiversity loss, the adaptation of
ecosystems and biodiversity to climate change
and the spatial function of green and blue
infrastructure. In this context, agriculture plays
a key role. Indeed, a large part of European
biodiversity is hosted in agricultural areas, and
this biodiversity provides ecosystem services
valued at hundreds of billions of Euros per year.
The research project will complete the mapping
of the components of the EU green
infrastructure, in particular for what concerns
agricultural areas and semi-natural vegetation.
This will be followed by a first assessment of the
role of the EU green infrastructure in terms of
enhancement of ecosystem services, its role in
increasing ecosystem resilience, in the dispersal
of invasive alien species, in enhancing land’s
permeability to migrating species and in
connecting habitats. The research will be carried
out at the EU scale and will be based on the
analysis of digital data with geo-spatial
techniques.
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