“Ecosystem services of Lithuanian lakes: impacts of climate and land use change (LACLAN)”, Nr. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712-23-0215

Project No. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712-23-0215
Project title: „ Ecosystem services of Lithuanian lakes: impacts of climate and land use change (LACLAN)”
Project duration:  2021-06-22 to 2023-06-21
Postdoctoral trainee – dr. Miguel Angelo Raposo Inacio
Postdoctoral supervisor – prof. dr. Paulo Alexandre da Silva Pereira

Summary: The project aims to improve the knowledge of ecosystem services (ES) and their contribution to human well-being in Lithuania by assessing and mapping the most important ecosystem services (ES) in different lakes at different spatio-temporal scales.The project also investigates how future climate and land use changes affect the supply of lake ES in the scenarios studied. The project is divided into two activities: 1) Literature review, identification of the most important Lithuanian lake EPs together with stakeholders, identification of indicators, scenario development, selection of methodology and data collection; 2) Mapping and assessment of national scale EPs from a temporal perspective (including future scenarios); High-resolution UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) imagery at case study level for lakes with significant socio-economic activities related to provisioning, regulatory and cultural ES; providing suggestions and recommendations for environmental policy and management. The results of the project will contribute to the advancement of the EPs of lake totems and to the understanding of the complex interactions within socio-ecological systems. Also, the impact of the analysed future climate and land use scenarios on the EP tetom is of great relevance for authorities, decision-makers and plafromers to shed light on the role of lake tetom EPs and to support the implementation of various national and international environmental policies (e.g. the Lithuanian National Environmental Strategy, the Water Framework Directive, the European Union’s Biodiversity Strategy 2030, the Green Deal for Europe, the Paris Climate Agreement, and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals). The final geodatabase will be made available to stakeholders, decision-makers and the general public to raise awareness of the role of lake ecosystems in the provision of ecosystem services and their importance for human well-being.

Outcome: LACLAN aims to create a unified database for accessing the results of lake EP studies. This database will be integrated as a separate segment in the existing Lithuanian EP geoportal LINESAM (http://linesam.mruni.eu), which is currently available to the general public and decision-makers. Three conference presentations, two scientific papers, two popular science papers are being promoted.

The project is funded by the European Social Fund under the measure No 09.3.3.3-LMT-K-712 “Development of scientific competence of scientists, other researchers and students through practical scientific activities” under the activity “Promotion of post-doctoral internships”. Grant agreement with the Lithuanian Research Council (LMT).