Project partners of the EU MOVE-ON Project „Setting the ground to advance MAES in Europe´s overseas: From case studies to anchor projects“ met for their Intermediate Meeting & 4th General Assembly Meeting in the Portuguese Outermost Region of the Azores from 6.10. to 7.10.2022.
After two years of virtual meetings, partners from 14 EU entities were finally re-united on the Azorean Island of Sao Miguel (Portugal) to discuss the progress made on the mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services (MAES) in EU Overseas, ecosystem conditions, as well as biodiversity in the Outermost Regions and Overseas Countries and Territories. The Intermedium meeting was hosted by the Regional Government of the Azores, and coordinated by the Regional Fund for Science and Technology (FRCT). The EU funded project bundles expertise from the Overseas and EU mainland, including Benjamin Burkhard and Ina Sieber from LUH, to accelerate the MAES implementation in the remote regions of the European Union. In four ‘Anchor Regions’ in French Guiana, the South Atlantic, Macaronesia and La Réunion, different mapping and assessment methodologies are applied in close collaboration with policy and decision makers, stakeholders and also including the civil society. This is our pathway to ensure that the MAES process will be encouraged using a bottom-up approach. First impactful case study examples of this endeavour in the EU Overseas are expected already by 2023.
