Deliverable 3.10 – Report on Socioeconomic indicators for Nexus analysis and management

Ecosystem services (ES) are the benefits that humans obtain from ecosystems. Rexus project WP3 aims to investigate the benefits and challenges of applying Nature based Solutions (NBS) within the framework of the Water-Energy-Food (WEF). Task 3.6 oversees considering socio-economic benefits of NBS and addressing the following specific objectives: - Deepen the ES concept within different classification systems developed so far by the main international initiatives on ES to identify which ES may have a role in addressing the WEF challenges identified by the pilot cases. - Develop an economic evaluation framework for selected ES and gathering of specific indicators to assess potential ES along with their benefits and values. - Provide guidance on the selection of the most appropriate NBS to address challenges related to climate resilience and the provision of ES. The aim of this report is not to assess all the ES involved in the WEF Nexus or in pilot's challenges, rather to provide examples of literature-based indicators and methods for assessing ES that could be applicable in the pilot cases. Thirteen ES have been considered. For each of them a set of three indicators (supply, demand, and economic value) have been identified and reported, including details about the rationale and the meaning of each indicator. To show how to operationalize selected indicators, a test-assessment for the Isonzo-Soča Basin pilot area has been performed and results are shortly presented and discussed. Finally, to further operationalize the ES analysis and to orient the selection of appropriate NBS, the relation between ES and NBS was investigated via existing literature to provide a preliminary guidance for the selection of NBS by pilots based on the challenges they face and the ES they wish/need to value. The final part of the report is linked with Rexus Task 5.2, where NBS assessment and identification are fully developed and addressed.