The assessment of ecosystem services of river basins is an opportunity to assess the true impact of hydropower on the environment. Such assessments are especially important in cases where the river is trans-boundary, and hence the income received in one country becomes less received in another. However, methodological difficulties in assessing the value of ecosystem services, including those related to the deficiency of monitoring data often are gainful to those who would not like to take into account the obvious loss of these services, said the Executive Director of the International Association of River Keepers "Eco-TIRAS" Ilya Trombitsky.
In a news conference at IPN, Ilya Trombitsky said the perspective of developing this direction was demonstrated within the project "Ecosystem Services and Hydropower: piloting the European instruments in the river basins of the Eastern Partnership countries", which is being completed.” The project was carried out with the financial support of the European Union and took a step forward towards a more objective assessment of the impact of hydropower on the quantity and quality of ecosystem services provided by rivers.
Ilya Trombitsky, who is the project coordinator, said the project’ results are the outputs of cooperation of NGO partners from four Eastern Partnership countries, and their achievement became possible thanks to the two-year support of the Re-granting 2020 scheme of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum with the financial support of the European Union in the framework of supporting the civil society in the region, “for which we express our gratitude”.
Olga Cazanteva, an expert from "Eco-Tiras" Association, noted that hydropower plays a significant role in ensuring the energy security of countries, being an important part of national energy systems. However, hydrotechnical construction, carried out to meet growing energy needs, leads not only to positive, but also to negative consequences, which are often so significant that they cause irreparable damage to aquatic ecosystems and their ecosystem services. It is important to assess ecosystem services, i.e. the benefits that people receive from ecosystems, from an economic point of view, since the main reason for the degradation of ecosystems is the underestimation of their real economic value. The introduction of accounting for the value of ecosystem services in business planning is rapidly developing in the world.
Biologist Oxana Stankevich-Volosyanchuk, of the NGO "Ecosphere" based in Uzhgorod, said that within the framework of the project, for the first time the mapping of ecosystems was carried out, as well as a pilot assessment of ecosystem services in the Ukrainian part of the basin, which made it possible in the future to begin the implementation of the ecosystem approach in the decision-making process.
Ruslan Gavrilyuk, Head of the National Ecological Centre of Ukraine, stated that to stop the merciless exploitation of rivers for the sake of kilowatts, to ensure equitable access to ecosystem services and, at the same time, their sustainable use, it is proposed to introduce proven methodologies for assessing ecosystem services. To do this, it is necessary to apply European approaches, which provide for several main stages: identification and mapping of ecosystems, assessment of their condition, identification and assessment of ecosystem services, summary assessment of ecosystems.
The project is being implemented thanks to the Regranting-2020 scheme of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum with the financial support of the European Union as part of supporting the civil society in the region. Its content is the sole responsibility of the International Environmental Association of River Keepers Eco-TIRAS and of the project partners and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
