photo by eisenwurzen.com

Natural areas play a key role in biodiversity conservation and provide essential ecosystem services to humanity, including water regulation, carbon sequestration, and cultural and recreational benefits. The Styrian Eisenwurzen Nature and Geopark, located in southeastern Austria, is a notable example: established in 1996 and designated a UNESCO Global Geopark in 2015, it represents a landscape shaped by the interaction between humans and nature. Timber production continues to play an important economic role for local forest owners, demonstrating how environmental protection and economic sustainability can go hand in hand.

One of the main challenges to managing such areas effectively is securing adequate financial resources. Regional authorities and park management bodies often face difficulties in obtaining stable funding due to the diversity and unpredictability of available sources. It is therefore essential to identify and implement new financing mechanisms that ensure long-term, efficient management of natural areas.

As part of the Interreg Central Europe project “Healthy Forest Regions (CE0100310),” several initiatives have been launched to explore innovative financing tools for the management of the Styrian Eisenwurzen Nature and Geopark. The main goal is to assess the potential of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) as a strategy to strengthen the park’s financial sustainability while also supporting biodiversity conservation, natural hazard mitigation, and sustainable tourism.

The outcomes of this project will provide the park’s management team with concrete guidance on ecosystem service (ES) markets, with a specific focus on biodiversity preservation, risk reduction, recreation and tourism, and carbon sequestration.

Etifor has been commissioned to support the development of payment systems for Forest Ecosystem Services (FES) in the Geopark. Our role includes:

• Mapping PES methodologies and best practices across Europe, with a focus on the Alpine region and the thematic areas of biodiversity, natural hazards, and tourism & recreation;

• Designing a PES framework for carbon sequestration that provides forest owners with market-aligned and policy-compliant guidelines to implement PES as a sustainable income stream.

Through this project, Etifor contributes to making forest conservation in Alpine areas not only ecologically effective but also economically viable in the long term.