Science of the Total Environment 794 (2021) 148538 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Science of the Total Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv Integrating ecosystem services into sustainable landscape management: A collaborative approach D.P.S. Terêncio a,b, S.G.P. Varandas a, A.R. Fonseca a, R.M.V. Cortes a, L.F. Fernandes a, F.A.L. Pacheco b, S.M. Monteiro a, J. Martinho c, J. Cabral a, J. Santos a, E. Cabecinha a,⁎ a Inov4Agro/CITAB, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Ap. 1013, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal b Centro de Química de Vila Real, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Ap. 1013, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal c Geosciences Center, University of Coimbra, 3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal HIGHLIGHTS GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT • The implementation of blue and green infrastructure networks (BGINs) will improve ecosystem services. • Multicriteria decision analysis (GIS- MCDA) used to prioritize areas to imple- ment the BGINs. • Considering stakeholder's active in- volvement encourages the selection of BGINs in the priority areas. • A participative approach is a powerful tool to improve ES and biodiversity conservation. article info abstract Article history: The Paiva River is considered one of the least polluted rivers in Europe and its watershed has a high conservation Received 20 May 2021 value. However, the Paiva River basin suffers pressures related with recurrent disturbances in land use, such as Received in revised form 14 June 2021 forest fires, agricultural activities, urbanization and pressures that affect the natural hydromorphological condi- Accepted 15 June 2021 tions and the continuity of watercourses. Blue and Green Infrastructures (BGINs) emerge to improve biodiversity, Available online 1 July 2021 sustainability and the supply of ecosystem services while improving socioeconomic aspects. Editor: Damia Barcelo Thus, this article aims to identify priority areas in the basin, for intervention with these infrastructures. For that, a spatial multicriteria decision analysis (MDCA) was carried out according to several data related to the Paiva River Basin. As local politicians and responsible entities for the natural resources management are the main experts on Keywords: the problems and their possible solutions at the local level, they were involved in this decision-making model. Nature based solutions Therefore, these specialized stakeholders did the weighting assignment according to the most or least impor- Spatial multicriteria decision analysis tance of the same for the work. Biodiversity conservation The map of priority locations to implement BGINs was obtained in the sequel. To the top 5 priority areas, stake- Ecosystem services holders attributed the best solutions based on nature. The most recommended BGINs were recovery/maintenance Participatory approach of riparian vegetation and conservation and reforestation of the native forest, both presented in four of the five Blue and Green Infrastructures (BGINs) areas, and introduction of fuel management strips presented in three of the five areas. Thus, we concluded that it is extremely important to include the communities and the competent entities of nature and environment manage- ment in scientific projects related to conservation, forming a synergy that makes it possible to combine scientific knowledge with local experience acquired in the field. This project uses a very flexible methodology of local data and can be a great example to be implemented in other hydrographic basins anywhere in the world. © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (E. Cabecinha). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148538 0048-9697/© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). D.P.S. Terêncio, S.G.P. Varandas, A.R. Fonseca et al. Science of the Total Environment 794 (2021) 148538 1. Introduction effect relationships among the categories of the framework and has been used for analysing and assessing the social and ecological prob- Ecosystem services are crucial for the sustainability of human devel- lems of aquatic systems subject to anthropogenic influence (Kagalou opment in economic, social, cultural and ecological terms, as they et al., 2012; Porta and Poch, 2011). regulate and support natural and human systems through processes Integrative landscape planning could be a challenge at the water- such as cleaning, recycling and renewing biological resources (Daily shed scale since it involves several stakeholders at different levels et al., 1997). According to the Common International Classification of (from policy makers, local government, managers, economic activities, Ecosystem Services - CICES, an essential characteristic of final services scientists, NGOs, and local communities) and should address several so- is that they retain a connection to the underlying ecosystem functions, cietal challenges. Therefore, it is necessary to find a tool that enables processes and structures that generate them. Ecosystem services can stakeholders to develop and evaluate alternative landscape manage- be classified into three main groups: provisioning, regulation and main- ment scenarios. The rights of stakeholders to participate in decision- tenance, and cultural. The first covers all nutritional, non-nutritional, making processes, are increasingly recognized in the last decade and material and energetic outputs from living systems. The regulation have been highlighted in the Agenda 21 and in the 2030 Agenda for sus- and maintenance group is concerned with all the ways in which living tainable development as absolutely essential to their success (UNESCAP, organisms can mediate or moderate the environment that affects 2018). Thus, there is a demand for tools that can include several stake- human health, safety or comfort. The last group includes all the non- holders and institutional components, enabling participation, social eq- material, and normally non-rival and non-consumptive, outputs of eco- uity, and transparency. In this context, the link between social research systems that affect the physical and mental states of people (Czúcz et al., methodologies with multicriteria evaluation emerged as a tool for par- 2018). However, as the world population and the global economy ticipatory multicriteria evaluation. grows, in the future the demand for these services and the likelihood The spatial multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) is a methodology of negative impacts are expected to increase (François et al., 2005). widely applied in studies at the watershed scale, which has proven to be To promote and restore ecosystem services, the United Nations de- very accurate and effective to evaluate and compare options involving clared 2021–2030 as the Decade on Ecosystem restoration, challenging the achievement of multiple objectives (Cochran et al., 2011; Terêncio the states to scale up restoration efforts into degraded ecosystems mas- et al., 2017, 2018, 2021). The application of MCDA in prioritization of sively. In this context, to restore, protect and preserve ecosystems, a potential ecosystem services locations has already been made new approach has been developed inspired in nature. So, nature based (Langemeyer et al., 2020; Velázquez et al., 2019). Some works were car- solutions (NbS) can offer an innovative, cost-effective, and responsive ried out with the help of stakeholders in the allocation of weighting way to manage ecosystems, namely through Blue and Green Infrastruc- (Meerow and Newell, 2017) and with a focus on the selection of tures (BGINs), providing a more sustainable management (Santoro BGINs considering co-benefits and stakeholder's involvement (Alves et al., 2019). According to Mell (2008), BGINs (e.g. Wetlands, wildlife et al., 2018; Miller and Montalto, 2019; Santoro et al., 2019). Neverthe- habitats …) can promote biodiversity, maintain natural ecological pro- less, the works developed were usually addressing the issues individu- cesses, sustain air and water resources, and contribute to health and ally, whether in prioritizing BGINs at the local and urban level, quality of life. BGINs can be adapted to local conditions at different spa- considering the involvement of stakeholders in the allocation of tial scales to tackle social, environmental, and economic challenges, weights, or in the selection of ecosystem services. achieving multiple benefits and ecosystem resilience. The study and im- The present work seeks to unify and improve upon the dissimilar plementation of this type of infrastructure have become increasingly im- approaches of these studies by offering an innovative methodology portant in terms of ecological sustainability. The European Commission at the watershed level with direct input from stakeholders in the com- introduced in 2013 the “Green Infrastructure Strategy”,demonstrating plete assignment of weights from MCDA. Thus, we hypothesize that the relevance of these measures to protect natural capital in terms of fo- the implementation of the BGINs can improve the biodiversity conser- cusing on nature conservation and biodiversity (EC, 2013; Slätmo et al., vation and ecosystem resilience. The great challenge was to combine 2019). This strategy also expects to maintain and enhance ecosystems multicriteria analysis and scenario building,