Natural heritage (NH) includes natural features that can be described as outstanding universal value at a national level. It refers to the importance of ecosystems, biodiversity, and geodiversity for their existence value, and the ecosystems can be considered as the spatial units for its mapping and assessment. The ecosystem services (ES) concept provides an appropriate basis in the form of assessment and mapping methods that enable linking the state of ecosystems with human well-being. Thus, it can be used as a platform to find solutions to the problems related to the conflicts between conservation and the use of the NH. In this paper, we aim to present the process of developing a methodological framework for mapping and assessment of ecosystem services provided by the natural heritage in Bulgaria for recreation and tourism. The conceptual framework of the ecosystem-based assessment of NH in Bulgaria is based on the assumption that the generation of NH for the needs of tourism can be presented as the linkages between the natural systems and tourism in the form of ES potential, flow, and demand. The results demonstrate that the NH can be presented as a spatial phenomenon conceptualized by the flows of benefits from ecosystems to people which contribute to human well-being. The mapping and assessment procedures are fully developed for application at a national level, while for the regional and local level, few pilot studies mark some basic foundations for further development.
Natural heritage includes natural features or natural areas of outstanding universal value. At a national level, this value refers to the importance of ecosystems which can be considered as the spatial units representing the natural heritage of the particular area in terms of their values to people. Nature-based outdoor recreation represents an important service that interests millions of people and contributes to connecting them to nature, but it may also cause negative impacts in the form of pollution, erosion and habitats loss. We apply the ESTIMAP recreation model which provides a framework for a spatially-explicit assessment of local outdoor recreation and use it to identify and assess the natural heritage as a source of recreation services at a national level in Bulgaria. At the first stage of the study, we identify the natural heritage and the data sources to represent it in a spatially-explicit way. Then, we apply the module for recreation potential to assess the potential of the natural heritage to provide a recreation ecosystem service. At the third stage, the accessibility of the natural heritage is assessed in order to specify how the potential identified at the previous step can be really used. Finally, the recreation potential and accessibility are integrated into the recreation opportunity spectrum in order to develop the maps representing the ecosystem service supply provided by the natural heritage. The results are presented in form of a recreation potential map that reveals the capacity of natural heritage to provide the recreation potential, map of the accessibility of the natural heritage and map of the recreation opportunity spectrum representing the combination between the first two maps. The maps will be used for the development of an innovative geospatial platform designed to facilitate the access of the Bulgarian natural heritage to the European common knowledge and innovation markets. The results on the accessibility and recreation opportunity spectrum contribute to the development of the model in areas which were not covered by previous applications at the EU scale.
Natural heritage (NH) is an important element of the natural capital of each country, and as such, represents key assets that deliver various benefits to the citizens. The rich and diverse NH of Bulgaria is a prerequisite for the development of various activities such as recreation and tourism, but these activities have also negative impact on some of the NH’s elements. The concept of ecosystem services (ES) has the potential for bridging the gap between the conservation and exploitation needs. In this paper, we propose an approach to prioritizing the ES provided by the natural heritage of Bulgaria for the needs of recreation and tourism. The approach is designed for the mapping of the NH but it can also support the overall process of mapping and assessment of ES. It is based on application of ES prioritization matrix (ESPM) and a five-step algorithm designed to differentiate ES into priority levels according to their significance to recreation and tourism. Through the application of the proposed approach we were able to sort out the ES into three groups (high, medium and low priority) according to their importance to recreation and tourism. The first group contains obligatory ES for each mapping and assessment activity from national to local level. The second group contains optional ES recommended for studies at regional level, while the services can be selected according to the specifics of the study. The low priority ES are recommended for local level studies in cases where the assessment requires high details and accuracy. The mapping of high priority ES at national level shows that the products of the approach can be easily adapted for various studies for assessment of NH and sustainable tourism practices using the conventional mapping methods.
The study considers forest therapy as a tool for diversification of forest management. An up-to-date integrated approach for assessing and mapping potential of forest areas which could provide conditions for forest therapy services is developed and tested. It is based on combining data from the traditional forest inventory in Bulgaria and other open databases with methods for integrated assessment and mapping of ecosystem services: 7 criteria groups and 22 indicators are proposed, rated on a 5-point scale. Overlay analysis is applied to generate a composite assessment for each forest unit. Using spatial statistics tools, territorial hot spots with potential for forest therapy are identified. The methodology was successfully tested in a pilot case-study region, Smolyan Municipality, but it is applicable at broader scale, regardless of the type and ownership of forests. This approach could be transferred to other countries as well after adapting to their geographical, geoecological and socio-cultural specifics and database available. It is a cost-effective and informative tool to support forest owners and managers to diversify forest welfare services focusing on insufficiently used forest recreation potential.
The paper focuses on the role of the Natural Heritage in Forest Areas (NHFA) as a resource that can generate economic, social and environmental benefits for society through the provision of a wide range of cultural ecosystem services. In the assessment of the role of NHFA, the approach for assessment and mapping of ES in a given territorial scope was applied in a pilot region of Velingrad Municipality, focusing on the capacity of the forest ecosystems to provide cultural ecosystem benefits and services to the people. The study confirms that the identification of NHFA could be a powerful driver for regional development by creating significant positive effects such as improving sustainable cultural tourism in forests, diversifying forestry and supporting sustainable development and management of forest areas. The integration of the cultural services of NHFA into forest-related legislation can encourage job creation in different sectors and for different levels of employment, education and cultural training. Evaluation and mapping of ecosystem services is an appropriate tool to support the development of a concept and methods for assessing and mapping the general knowledge framework for NHFA policy in Bulgaria by applying an interdisciplinary approach.
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