Evaluation of the Ecosystem Services of Inland Waters in the Slovak Republic - To Date Findings

Ecosystem services (ES) (goods and services) represent the outputs of natural systems from which people can have benefits. Evaluation of the benefits resulting from ES of inland waters or the benefits, which are lost when the necessary measures are not implemented, is one of the methods of evaluating the external costs of environmental damage - environmental and resource costs. Evaluation of ES is based on the CICES classification v. 4.3, which defines provision, regulation/ maintenance and cultural services. In the assessment of ES also enters groundwater, although in comparison with surface waters in lesser extent. At present, the evaluation is performed at the level of sub-basins of the Slovak Republic. In this paper, evaluation of selected ES is presented. Use of evaluation in practice is also discussed.