Opportunities for Ecosystem Services in the Protected Areas in the Coastal–Rural Area of the Nemunas Delta and the Curonian Lagoon (Lithuania)

Abstract

Ecosystems can provide a wide range of services that are critical to human well-being, health, subsistence, and survival. Examining the coherence between humans and ecosystems, ensuring the social and economic well-being of present and future generations in the context of ecosystem services (ES), this article seeks to present empirical research carried out on the possibilities of adapting human activities to ecosystem services in a specific area; namely, a coastal–rural area in the Lithuanian coastal zone, Nemunas Delta and Curonian Lagoon in Lithuania, seeking to offer opportunities with the rapidly declining population to operate services of ecosystems. Thus, elderships located near the Curonian Lagoon or within the protected area of the Nemunas Delta Regional Park were selected for the study. For this purpose, the empirical study involved representatives of different (public and private) sectors and stakeholders. The research was carried out in local tourism cultural centres and elderships with four group respondents (tourists, farmers, entrepreneurs, eldership employees). The research revealed that development of nature tourism could provide a lot of benefits for the region; after discovering the links between farming and nature tourism, possibilities would emerge to promote local farmers’ production by selling, not the raw materials, but already processed production, which has greater added value. The aforementioned tourist development ideas, especially in the ecologically vulnerable region, would enable the protected areas’ employees, local farmers, businesspeople, and municipal employees to seek new methods to adapt ecologically vulnerable areas for tourist needs without damaging the ecosystems.