The 6th ESP Europe Conference took place on 20 May in Prague, focusing on expanding knowledge of ecosystem services to achieve a nature-positive and people-positive Europe. Floris Huyghe (EV ILVO) participated in the event by sharing the mission and objectives of LAFERIA with the wider scientific community. The conference was an ideal platform for introducing LAFERIA to a large and relevant community, given that its general theme of ecosystem services is inherently linked to landscape features (LF).

The session titled "How can food and landscape co-create ecosystem services?" targeted researchers and academia and gathered an audience of approximately 40 to 50 experts who showed a genuine interest in the topics. Alongside the success of the presentation, it was noted that returning to future editions of the conference once the project has produced a broader set of results should provide an even bigger value to the conversation.

An essential takeaway from the event involved looking at new ways to value nature. The discussions highlighted the benefits of non-monetary valuation methods, which open up great opportunities for LAFERIA to expand its current focus beyond translating costs and benefits into financial terms. Instead, future approaches could also concentrate on demonstrating why LFs are valuable to people or explaining that they cannot be replaced.

Thank you to all LAFERIA partners who contributed to the project being presented at the ESP Conference, namely BIOPOLIS, WUR, HU, EEB, UH, UFZ, and Syke.