The first meeting of the National Platform for Ecosystem Services (NPES) took place on 4 October 2022 at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Prague. Representatives of the Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CzechGlobe) and the Ministry of Environment took patronage over the event, which was organized under the One Nature project.

First meeting of the National Platform for Ecosystem Services.

The meeting was attended by over fifty nominated representatives from across the spectrum of nature conservation, state administration and local government, academic institutions, water, agriculture and forestry organizations, and non-profit organizations.

The NPES was established as a science-policy body with a vision to support and coordinate the development of policies and strategies focused on ecosystem services for nature conservation and biodiversity, as well as other sectoral policies. The NPES aims at promoting the exchange of information and sharing of experience within the assessment and use of ecosystem services in decision-making. The work of the Platform will also facilitate international cooperation and support the development of a national network of institutions collaborating on ecosystem services and further developing individual key topics.

The first NPES meeting focused on introducing the One Nature Project and communicating the topic of ecosystem services. The objectives of the Platform and its organisational aspects were introduced at the beginning. This was followed by a series of presentations on the current state of ecosystem services assessment and implementation in the Czech Republic and abroad (especially in terms of international practice of the Intergovernmental Science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services – IPBES).

After a short discussion and a break, there was a thematic part focused on biophysical and economic approaches to the evaluation of ecosystem services in the One Nature Project.

The final part of the meeting was dedicated to raising awareness on ecosystem services. A part of the forthcoming documentary on ecosystem services was presented to the participants, followed by an interactive discussion in the online platform Mentimeter.

The preview of an interactive discussion: What type of ecosystem should be most focused on spreading awareness of its benefits to society?