The LIFE LOGOS 4 WATERS project demonstrates how integrated, ecosystem-based water management can improve the climate adaptation capacity of local municipalities by addressing negative water balance challenges in two Hungarian catchments. Within the project, experts of Greenformation delivered the assessment of impacted ecosystem services and the project’s economic impacts. Building on the baseline socio-economic and ecosystem services assessment completed in 2023, the final assessment prepared to capture the changes induced by the interventions by the end of the project. Its results confirm that nature-based water retention solutions can reduce climate-related water risks while supporting local economies, improving ecological conditions, and strengthening the resilience of affected landscapes and communities.
The assessment shows that habitats, genetic diversity, and biodiversity are highly important ecosystem services for local stakeholders, including land users and municipalities, and that the project has had a beneficial effect on these values. It also highlights that natural solutions can help mitigate health-related risks and reduce the economic burdens associated with droughts and flash floods, which in hilly catchments can impose damages of 8000-13000 EUR per municipality for a single event. These findings reinforce the case for scaling up similar initiatives, as integrated, nature-based water management appears beneficial not only from an ecological perspective, but also from a purely economic one.
More information about the project is available on the LIFE LOGOS 4 WATERS website.
