This article provides an overview and results of the pilot national ecosystem services assessment in Slovakia. It follows the MAES process and past ecosystem services (ES) research in Slovakia and is ...based on original research methodology using spatial and statistical data. The initial step of national ES assessment resulted in the selection of significant ES for the evaluation process, where 18 ES in three groups were selected (five provisioning, 10 regulatory/maintenance and three cultural ES). An original assessment model provided the theoretical and methodological framework for national ES evaluation. The principal result is an assessment of the national landscape’s capacity for ES provision, based on evaluation of the landscape units and selected properties and indicators at the ecosystem level. These inputs included habitat types and watersheds, administrative units, natural topology, geology, soils, climate, water and biota. The ES capacity models were created and evaluated for each ES, for the main groups and, finally, for overall ES provision. The highest capacity to provide ES in Slovakia comes from natural and semi-natural ecosystems, mainly deciduous, mixed and coniferous forests which cover over 38% of Slovak territory. The water ecosystems and wetlands are also significant, followed by grasslands and permanent crops. The research highlights the crucial importance of the mountainous and sub-mountainous areas in Slovakia and confirms the significant contribution of the natural and semi-natural ecosystems for ensuring ES provision.
There is increasing effort in the exploration of complex social and environmental systems to move from examination of individual trends to their comprehensive assessment and predictions using the ...Global Megatrend concept (GMT). This is defined as a set of trends that influence each other, act on a global scale and have great local impact. The Megatrends are inter-related and they influence social, economic, political, environmental and technological change. This paper assesses the global megatrend implications for Slovakia, and examines megatrends resulting from economic and social trends in the transformation processes influenced by the complex environmental challenges rooted in metabolic contradiction and environmental paradox. Our article then concludes with discussion of megatrends from the perspective of entire system sustainability.
While Slovakia has made many progressive environmental improvements by introducing new measures and approaches, many of the key identified challenges and threats linked to our production and ...consumption patterns must be more adequately addressed. Here, the ‘Pilot Scenáre 2020’ study is the first complex experiment to apply quantitative and qualitative approaches and participatory methods. Three short-term scenarios have been developed to identify the trends, weak signals and possible “wild cards”. In addition, further 2019 implementation with the full use of a participatory approach is planned for the preparation of Slovakia’s nature until 2030; and this has ultimate vision until 2050.
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