Stoyan Nedkov

Bulgarian Academy of Sciences | BAS · National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography

The ecosystem services (ES) approach has been widely accepted in environmental policies and management as an adequate platform that can serve as a link between nature and society. Many ES are influenced by the landscape structure. Thus, national-scale landscape mapping can potentially contribute to nature conservation management. However, there are...

Increasing climate change has led to an increase in urban flood events. Events with a return period of twenty years become events with a period of two to three years. The primary objectives of this study are to evaluate the performance of flood regulation models using different input data and compare their performance for flood regulation supply (F...

The approach of defining landscape patterns based on climate indices is applied in a case study area in North-Central Bulgaria. The results proved the strong interrelation between the climate indices and the elevation, enabling the implementation of a regression model. The results of the regression are used to define threshold values for delineatio...

The ecosystem services (ES) concept has established itself in recent years as the predominant paradigm for framing environmental research and policy-making. The EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 with its task for member countries to map and assess the state of ecosystems and their services has contributed vastly to the development of the ES studies...

In the contemporary digital world, data is a pivotal capital considered an economic factor for generating digital products and services. The rapid growth in data volume and their heterogeneity requires optimization of the data management in order to extract higher added value from them. In the context of this issue, one of the goals of the National...

Ecosystems provide various goods and services to society and their valuation is among the main objectives of the concept of ecosystem services (ES). The mapping of ecosystems is the main building block of the whole process of the Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES). The analyses of the ecosystem data produced during the i...

Habitat maintenance as an ecosystem service (ES) is essential for the protection of natural capital, however, it is among the most challenging services for definition and evaluation. The present study is focused on assessing and mapping habitat maintenance ecosystem service in Rila and Pirin Mountains in Bulgaria for strategic planning purposes by...

This study analyses factors that contribute to the degradation of ecosystems in the protected area of the Seven Rila Lakes. These factors are natural, climate change-related, anthropogenic, and associated with excessive tourist pressures on ecosystems in the protected area. Data from in situ meteorological observations coupled with reanalysis data,...

Natural heritage (NH) possesses an outstanding universal value that can be described as “natural significance” at a national level. The ecosystems can be considered as the spatial units which represent the NH of the particular area in terms of their value to people. Recreation and tourism are amongst the important values which are strongly dependen...

Deliverable D2.1.1 is the second project report of the INES project (INtegrated assessment and mapping of water-related Ecosystem Services for nature-based solutions in river basin management). It presents the results from work package (WP) 2. Hydrological risks and climate change, task 2.1 Review and analysis of the state of the art.

Deliverable D4.1.1 is a project report of the INES project (INtegrated assessment and mapping of water-related Ecosystem Services for nature-based solutions in river basin management). It presents the results from task 4.1. Review and analysis of the state of the art (analysis of national methodologies and the world experience) of the work package...

Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) has evolved rapidly in recent years through substantial efforts of both international organizations and the scientific community. Water regulation ecosystem services (ES) are key elements of regulating services in ecosystem accounting, with most relevant studies strongly relying on models for ES quantification up to...

Deliverable D1.2.1 is the first project report of the INES project (INtegrated assessment and mapping of water-related Ecosystem Services for nature-based solutions in river basin management). It presents the results from task 1.2 Communication and dissemination of results of the work package (WP) 1. Management, coordination and communication.

The karst territories are characterized by landscape aesthetics, and provide knowledge for the natural systems and their specific ecosystem services. They are important part of the natural heritage and geodiversity. The aim of this study is to present karst territories as an element of the national natural heritage and as a source of cultural ecosy...

The article aims to explore natural heritage as a socio-ecological phenomenon. The definitions and cycle of development of the concept of natural heritage is explained. The process of provision and demand of ecosystem services that benefit socio-environmental systems is presented to illustrate how an element of the natural system becomes natural he...

The area of the Seven Rila Lakes is situated in the North-West part of the Rila Mountain at an altitude between 2100 and 2500 m a.s.l. within the borders of Rila National Park. There are 140 glacial lakes in Rila Mountain but the area of the Seven Rila Lakes is the most visited and famous with its natural beauty and sacred significance. It is a val...

Natural heritage (NH) includes natural features that can be described as outstanding universal value at a national level. It refers to the importance of ecosystems, biodiversity, and geodiversity for their existence value, and the ecosystems can be considered as the spatial units for its mapping and assessment. The ecosystem services (ES) concept p...

Natural heritage (NH) is an important element of the natural capital of each country, and as such, represents key assets that deliver various benefits to the citizens. The rich and diverse NH of Bulgaria is a prerequisite for the development of various activities such as recreation and tourism, but these activities have also negative impact on some...

The study considers forest therapy as a tool for diversification of forest management. An up-to-date integrated approach for assessing and mapping potential of forest areas which could provide conditions for forest therapy services is developed and tested. It is based on combining data from the traditional forest inventory in Bulgaria and other ope...

The mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services in Bulgaria during the last few years have led to the development of knowledge and data which can be used to make the next steps of the implementation of the EU biodiversity strategy towards the integration of ecosystem values into accounting and reporting systems at the national level. Wa...

The article presents a comprehensive historical review of the development of “Journal of the Bulgarian Geographical Society” since its establishment, and points out the perspectives that lie ahead. We highlighted three periods of development of the journal: First (1933–1943), Second (1953–1993), and Third (2018–2020) based on key moments within the...

The Journal of Bulgarian Geographical Society was the first scientific geographical journal in the country established in 1933. During the long period of its development, it became a leading journal for publishing scientific results in geography and related interdisciplinary fields in Bulgaria. Geography of the 21st century is expected to contribut...

The article presents a comprehensive historical review of the development of “Journal of the Bulgarian Geographical Society” since its establishment, and points out the perspectives that lie ahead. We highlighted three periods of development of the journal: First (1933–1943), Second (1953–1993), and Third (2018–2020) based on key moments within the...

Natural heritage includes natural features or natural areas of outstanding universal value. At a national level, this value refers to the importance of ecosystems which can be considered as the spatial units representing the natural heritage of the particular area in terms of their values to people. Nature-based outdoor recreation represents an imp...

http://sociobrains.com/bg/top/issues/Issue+66%2C+February+2020/

Mountain ecosystems play an essential role in sustainable mountain development, providing benefits and values to humanity not only for the rich biodiversity they contain, but also because of their important role in climate regulation, water cycle, provisioning of recreation, tourism, cultural or spiritual values. The high biodiversity of the mounta...

This paper analyses and compares a set of case studies on ecosystem services (ES) mapping and assessment with the purpose of formulating lessons learned and recommendations. Fourteen case studies were selected during the EU Horizon 2020 “Coordination and Support Action” ESMERALDA to represent different policy- and decision-making processes througho...

Starting with an overview of the first Bulgarian geographical studies and publications, the paper presents the development of the process of collection and interpretation of geographical knowledge for Bulgaria from different Bulgarian sources for centuries in the past to nowadays. As a classical discipline, geography goes through the time adding ne...

Geography of the twenty-first century is expected to contribute to the development of human capital and the knowledge society, to offer place-specific solutions for sustainable regional development and use of the planet’s natural and human capital. With this idea, we prepared this book which presents selected contributions from the International Co...

The honeybee is the most important insect pollinator, and the service they provide is among the most important regulation ecosystem services. The main problem in the assessment of ecosystem services of urban habitats in Bulgaria is the lack of data from the inventory. There is only aggregated data at municipality level about the number of beehives....

The ecosystem services (ES) are strongly related to the human well-being, and their mapping and assessment is among the main challenges. The regulating ecosystem services are not consumed directly by the society or the beneficiaries, but they offer important benefit. Flood regulation is such type of service which can mitigate or prevent the risk of...

This book focuses on new and innovative spatial approaches based on smart solutions and developed in the field of geography and related interdisciplinary fields such as urban and regional studies, landscape ecology and ecosystem services. It includes contributions from a conference dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Bulgarian Geographical So...

The aim of the study was to compare in situ and remote sensing data, in order to assess the applicability of satellite images in water quality monitoring of floodplain lakes. Two indicators of trhophic status were compared: chlorophyll a and total suspended matter. Two lakes on Lower Danube floodplain were selected: Srebarna and Malak Preslavets. D...

Water regulation is considered as one of the main regulating ecosystem services by SEEA-EEA. It includes water retention, storm and high water protection (including flood control) and it is also closely related to erosion and sedimentation control as well as water purification. An important characteristic is that all of them can be regarded as both...

The assessment of the landscapes to provide services has been achieved using the matrix method. As spatial units for the assessment at the matrix we used the 41 contemporary landscapes in the area, classified in 5 Levels and delineated in GIS database. They have been rated by expert assessment on a scale of 0 to 5 for both cultural ecosystem servic...

The mapping of ecosystem services is essential for understanding how ecosystems contribute to human wellbeing. The EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 requires the member states to map and assess the state of ecosystems and their services. Urban landscapes provide various services and their mapping necessitates prioritization, integration of data and...

A broad array of methods have been developed and applied to map ecosystem services and their values at various geographic scales. For example, the ESMERALDA project developed methods for ecosystem service mapping across Europe. This paper describes how different methodological interlinkages can be used in ecosystem service mapping and assessment an...

The water flow regulation ecosystem service can be subdivided into river flood regulation and coastal flood regulation. They are quite different and there are major differences in biophysical processes, scientific disciplines, data, models and methods. • The measurement of river flood regulation relatively is very well studied, whereas coastal floo...

Mapping and assessment of ecosystem services (ES) is a complex activity which includes spatial data acquisition, its organization into databases and generation of maps for the areas of ES supply and demand. GIS is an integral part of these activities and plays key role for the mapping and assessment of ES. There is a significant advance in the deve...

Biophysical methods for mapping ecosystem services are used to quantify the capacity of ecosystems to deliver services and the amount of this capacity to ensure human benefits. Socio-cultural methods are related to the analysis of human preference, uncovering individual and collective values and perceptions towards ecosystem services in nonmonetary...

The European Union (EU) Horizon 2020 Coordination and Support Action ESMERALDA aimed at developing guidance and a flexible methodology for Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) to support the EU member states in the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy’s Target 2 Action 5. ESMERALDA’s key tasks included network cr...

The focus of this report is to present a broad framework for ecosystem services assessment and to test it. The framework aims to illustrate the integrated assessment cycle for practitioners. The framework also places within the other assessment activities, such as scenarios and assessing policies.

Abstract The research is based on the understanding that ecosystem services describe the relationship between nature and human beings and refer broadly to the benefits people can obtain from urban ecosystems and thereby linking the social and the ecological systems. The cultural services include all non-material ecosystem outputs that have symbolic...

The aim of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 isto maintain and enhance ecosystem services (ES) in Europe and requires all Member States to map and assess the state of ecosystems and their services in the respective national territories. The EU-funded project ESMERALDA analyses ES mapping and assessment methods and approaches in their biophysical...

According to the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) the class “Aesthetic ecosystem services” belongs to the section “Cultural ecosystem services”. The assessment of aesthetic ecosystem services is characterized very often by a significant level of uncertainty caused by the specificity of the individual’s perception an...

Deliverable D3.3 EU Horizon 2020 ESMERALDA Project, Grant agreement No. 642007. The aims of The Report are: 1) to gather the latest knowledge of biophysical mapping and assessment of the ecosystem services, including methods, data, tools, and software commonly used; 2) based on the above findings, to suggest a harmonised methodology describing ho...

Aim: Although the newest satellite images provide more and more sensitive and precise data about aquatic characteristics of inland waters like chlorophyll-a and turbidity, retrieving reliable absolute values still require additional process of calibration or in situ verification. The aim of the study is to provide reliable eutrophication assessment...

Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) are central to the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020. Action 5 of the Strategy’s second target asks all EU member states to map and assess the state of ecosystems and their services in their national territories. Such comprehensive mapping and assessment builds on several individual task...

Forests set natural conditions and embody a repository of biological diversity that represents a myriad of ecosystem services for human well-being. The spatial patterns and the forest ecosystems’ dynamics over time make the forests of particular environmental significance for the provision of ecosystem services. The terrestrial biodiversity and the...

Urban ecosystems are the areas where built infrastructure covers a large proportion of the land surface but the main source of ecosystem services provision is the green infrastructure. This provision is very much dependent on the particular combination of green spaces such as parks or vegetation belts and paved areas such as buildings and streets....

Ecosystem services (ES) are the contributions of ecosystem structure and function (in combination with other inputs) to human well-being. This implies that mankind is strongly dependent on well-functioning ecosystems and natural capital that are the basis for a constant flow of ES from nature to society. Therefore, ES have the potential to become a...

Urban landscapes are the environment where most of the population live and perform their usual everyday activities. The continuous urban sprawl and the increasing demand on resources and energy provoke serious discussion on ensuring better human well-being in the settlements while preventing increasing loss of biodiversity. However, urban landscape...

Ecosystem services are the benefits that humans receive from the environment. Soils provide many ecosystem services required to support human well-being. Soil erosion is one of the major and most widespread forms of soil degradation. This study examines how erosion regulation can be evaluated and mapped. To map the erosion regulation, as an ecosyst...

According to Action5 of the EU Biodiversity strategy the member states have to map and assess the state of ecosystems and their services in their national territory. A Working Group on Mapping and Assessment on Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) provided methodological framework for mapping of ecosystems at European scale. The main objective of t...

The application of hydrological models for the assessment of ecosystem services provides multiple opportunities for their quantitative analysis. Furthermore, Geographic Information System (GIS)-based models provide the possibility for spatially explicit analyses of model outputs and their representation in maps. A broadly applied and freely availab...

This chapter presents the results of land cover and carbon storage mapping in a study area located in the Central Balkan Mountains. WorldView-2 satellite images and ortophoto maps were used to define the land cover in the area. CORINE land cover classification at the fourth level was applied for the mapping. The carbon stock was determined using In...

Quantifying, modelling and mapping ecosystem services is an important step to the application of ecosystem services in practice and decision making. Watersheds are functional entities that provide an appropriate spatial scale for water flow analysis and integrate all the processes that occur within their boundaries. Multiple ecosystem functions occ...