New online-marketplace of ecosystem services – project „AgoraNatura“ starts in Berlin

 

Kicking off the „AgoraNatura“-project: A web-based market for ecosystem services and biodiversity

In “AgoraNatura“, ZALF’s Institute of Socio-Economics and Institute of Land Use Systems develop a web-based market for ecosystem services (ES) and biodiversity. “AgoraNatura“ is a science-based project that aims at developing and establishing a German internet platform to connect providers and beneficiaries/demanders of biodiversity and ES. In particular, Prof. Dr. Bettina Matzdorf, Carolin Biedermann, Dr. Claas Meyer, Dr. Claudia Sattler, Sarah Schomers, and Michaela Reutter (Institute of Socio-Economics) analyse the demand of business and citizens for biodiversity and ES as well as institutional aspects of designing a web-based market. Dr. Gert Berger and Holger Pfeffer (Institute of Land Use Systems) focus on the development of tenders, their operationalization, and the monitoring of implemented measures.

The six-year project is coordinated by the ZALF Institute of Socio-Economics and implemented in collaboration with external partners from the University Greifswald, the Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V., and the Deutsche Verband für Landschaftspflege (German Landcare Association). It is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB).