Using GIS tools to identify conservation hot spots in large boreal lakes

Balancing the growing demands of human population and sustainable use of natural resources is a great challenge for humankind and the target of several international environmental conventions. Water Framework Directive (WFD) of the European Union aims at perceiving ecosystem services provided by aquatic ecosystems, while EU Habitats Directive (HD) along with the Natura 2000 network is to ensure the long-term survival of valuable habitats in aquatic as well as terrestrial environments. Both WFD and HD treat boreal lakes as large entities. In large lake systems, the assessment of lake bodies’ ecological and conservation status is determined over tens or even hundreds of square kilometres and …