A team of like-minded people – Mariia Ruda, Alla Shybanova and Anna Hyvliud (Department of Ecological Safety and Nature Protection Activity, Viacheslav Chornovil Institute of Sustainable Development) and Khrystyna Barvinska (Department of Transport Technologies, Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Transport) won the Jean Monnet Actions in the field of Higher Education: Modules (ERASMUS-JMO-2023-MODULE). The name of the project is «The Concept of Ecosystem Services: European Experience» (EE4CES).
Its relevance is due to insufficient awareness of the educational, scientific, managerial, and business circles regarding the issue of the European experience of implementing the concept of ecosystem services, which is particularly important and useful for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. In the conditions of war, there is a need to review established approaches to solving acute socio-economic, humanitarian, security and environmental problems of state development at all levels of the management hierarchy, including strategic planning of the development of territories and communities.
European countries implemented their own territorial development strategies, taking into account the provision of ecosystem services. These strategies involve promoting sustainable land use practices, conservation and restoration of ecosystems. Lack of consideration of the ecosystem services concept when making economic decisions is an obstacle to the sustainable development of the state and creates a threat to environmental safety and people’s well-being.
The purpose of this educational project is to use the European experience of applying the concept of ecosystem services for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.
The project team identified as a strategic goal the implementation of standardized typologies of ecosystem services in the practice of strategic planning of regional development according to the European model. Such an ambitious idea became possible thanks to the idea of forming projects on the basis of interdisciplinarity, which makes it possible to expand the circle of participants and deepen the knowledge of students.
The project implementation will last 3 years, during which it is planned to conduct:
- an optional course for students of the Viacheslav Chornovil Institute of Sustainable Development and the Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Transport on the topic «Ecosystem services for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine: European experience»;
- an upskilling course for representatives of united territorial communities of Lviv region and executive authorities «European experience of strategic planning of territorial development taking into account ecosystem services for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine»;
- European studies for students of the Small Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, students of secondary education institutions, representatives of public environmental organizations;
- a course for scientific and pedagogical workers and postgraduate students «Ecosystem services: European experience».
Stay tuned for a news update on Facebook page of the EE4CES project.