Operationalising ecosystem services for an adaptive management plan for the Lower Danube River, Romania

The area under study is a regional complex system covering the Romanian part of the Lower Danube Wetlands System. It includes the Danube River stretch, lakes, wet meadows, alluvial forests, agricultural polders and fish ponds (approximately 11.000 km²). The complex contains also many protected areas such as Natura 2000 sites, Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve and Small Island of Braila Natural Park. The work has been organised on two levels: case study level which allows for policies and regulatory frameworks analysis and integration, landscape and waterscape services assessment and local level, respectively selected areas where different assessment and valuation methods have been applied, tested and validated. The current structural configuration of Lower Danube River Wetlands System, consisting of more than 50% mono-functional agricultural ecosystems, leads to severe reduction of its former major ecological functions and, consequently, to the loss of benefits and ecosystem services, such as provisioning services (e.g. fish catches, reed or reed-mace biomass); regulation and support services (e.g. nutrients regulation; hydrological and water quality regulation, species and habitat diversity) and cultural services (e.g. recreation, tourism).