Collaborative project: Wilde Mulde - Revitalizing river landscapes – assessment and evaluation of ecosystem services and the importance of communication

Riverine landscapes are unique habitats that provide an extraordinary array of ecosystem functions and services on varying spatial and temporal scales. The project “Wilde Mulde – Re-vitalization of a dynamic riverine landscape in Central Germany”, located along the River Mulde near Dessau-Roßlau, is founded by the BMBF and aims to implement several re-vitalization measures.

The overall goal of the project is the enhancement of natural riverbed dynamics through the re-vitalization of hydro-morphological processes and the promotion of existing connectivity between rivers and their adjacent floodplains. Hydraulic, hydro-morphological, biological, and functional parameters will be used as indicators for assessing the success of project measures. Additionally, the implemented measures should be checked for their sense and general ability for securing biodiversity and ecosystem services in similar projects. Moreover, further aims include an evaluation of the measures impacts and the identification of requirements for maximizing synergies and minimizing conflicting goals regarding ecosystem services.

The Institute of Environmental Planning is working on the sub-project “Planning and the Ecosystem Service Approach”. The aim of the project is to support communication relating to the implemented measures and their impacts. Therefore, it is necessary to supplement the already established descriptions of landscape functions by using additional categories from the Ecosystem Service Approach (e.g. monetarization).