Polyscape is a GIS toolkit designed to explore synergies and trade-offs amongst ecosystem services to support landscape management. Polyscape works at local scales with resolution appropriate for decisions considering small (10km2) to medium (1000km2) landscape contexts. It recognises that local data may not be available for all environments, and uses national scale digital elevation, land use/cover and soil data as a baseline. Polyscape explores the impacts of potential land cover change on: flood risk, habitat connectivity, erosion, carbon sequestration and agricultural productivity. Changes in land management can be input to Polyscape and ‘traffic light’ coded impact maps produced, allowing visualisation of the impact of different decisions. Polyscape is applied within the Cambrian Mountains. Engagement with local people in ecosystem management was seen as fundamental, and scientific evidence was integrated with local knowledge.
Land Use Consultants, Bangor University, Countryside Council for Wales, Cambrian Mountains Initiative
GIS tool programmed to map particular ecosystem services
Which ecosystem services were focused on?:
- Crops, livestock, fish
- Carbon sequestration & storage
- Erosion control
- Flood control
- Hazard regulation
Woodland habitat connectivity