 Locals and land use experts are mostly dissatisfied with change to the rural landscape.  Land abandonment is seen as the most characteristic trend in landscape change.  The ability of land to be productive is seen as precondition for landscape quality.  Mosaic pattern of afforestation is higher valued by locals and land use experts.

Abandonment of agriculture land and subsequent natural afforestation have been common features of the contemporary Latvian rural landscape, particularly in the period since 1990. This process affects the structure, ecology and visual qualities of the landscape. The study examines spatial characteristics of afforestation in relation to various environmental factors. The study was conducted in the central part of Latvia, where there is abundant abandoned agriculture land and a great variety of spatial afforestation patterns. The most typical patterns in this area were linear, mosaic, and continuous afforestation, as well as development of afforestation from the forest edge. The results of the study show that the spatial patterns of natural afforestation of abandoned agriculture fields can be very diverse, and do not follow the classical secondary succession model. Afforestation can be delayed by a dense cover of herbaceous vegetation for a period of up to 20 years. There are many interacting factors that affect succession and development of afforestation patterns, such as soil properties, size and configuration of fields, previous land use and also the random nature of plant colonization by seed. Further studies on afforestation patterns would help to understand better their ecological, economic and social effects as well as to determine optimal solutions for the use of abandoned agriculture land.

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The European Union (EU) Horizon 2020 Coordination and Support Action ESMERALDA aimed at developing guidance and a flexible methodology for Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) to support the EU member states in the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy’s Target 2 Action 5. ESMERALDA’s key tasks included network creation, stakeholder engagement, enhancing ecosystem services mapping and assessment methods across various spatial scales and value domains, work in case studies and support of EU member states in MAES implementation. Thus ESMERALDA aimed at integrating various project outcomes around four major strands: i) Networking, ii) Policy, iii) Research and iv) Application. The objective was to provide guidance for integrated ecosystem service mapping and assessment that can be used for sustainable decision-making in policy, business, society, practice and science at EU, national and regional levels. This article presents the overall ESMERALDA approach of integrating the above-mentioned project components and outcomes and provides an overview of how the enhanced methods were applied and how they can be used to support MAES implementation in the EU member states. Experiences with implementing such a large pan-European Coordination and Support Action in the context of EU policy are discussed and recommendations for future actions are given.

Mapping of cultural ecosystem services (CES) in marine and coastal areas is still recognised as a conceptually and technically challenging task, due to the difficulties in establishing a link between the biophysical features of the coastal ecosystem and the supply of services such as recreation and tourism, bird watching and enjoyment of other assets of nature. This was also one of the major challenges in ecosystem service mapping for the Maritime Spatial Plan for Internal Waters, Territorial Waters and Economic Exclusive Zone of the Republic of Latvia. Suitability of the coastal areas for marine tourism and leisure activities was chosen as an indicator to map the CES – physical and experiential interactions. The method involved the compilation of field data from a survey of visitors at the beach and on coastal infrastructure, serving as the input for the multi-criteria assessment of CES. Four criteria were applied to assess the suitability of the coastal areas for marine tourism and leisure activities: i) accessibility; ii) proximity to densely populated areas; iii) suitability of the area for a particular (niche) tourism or leisure activity; and iv) recreational use. The selected criteria provide an overall assessment framework, which integrates the ecosystem service potential, benefiting areas, flow and demand aspects. The CES mapping and assessment results were applied to the maritime spatial planning for proposing areas of priority for tourism development, as well as assessing the impacts of the proposed solutions for other uses of the sea. The Latvian approach for mapping of the cultural services in coastal areas was selected as the ESMERALDA case study and examined at the stakeholder workshop in Prague, September 2016.