The IDES Project – Improving water quality by integrative floodplain management based on ecosystem services. Extended Summary of the IDES Manual and the IDES Strategy

What contribution can floodplains along the Danube provide to water quality and how can their management include a wide range of interests across national borders? These questions were investigated by a European Union-funded consortium led by the Floodplain Institute Neuburg of the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in the IDES project (Improving water quality in the Danube River and its tributaries by integrative floodplain management based on Ecosystem Services). The results of the project have been published in two main publications: The IDES Manual (Stäps et al. 2022) and the IDES Strategy (Vizi et al. 2022). While the IDES Manual presents the IDES Tool as a recommended method for the consistent valuation of ecosystem services (ES) in floodplains, the IDES Strategy describes the perspectives for the use of the IDES Tool in water management and spatial planning and for a better integration of the ecosystem services approach in laws and programmes.