The contract was awarded to Antea Belgium NV in collaboration with VITO in December 2019 and started in early 2020.

The objective of the assignment was to develop and describe a concrete methodology for using the ecosystem services concept in various spatial development processes. With such a methodology, the ecosystem services concept could be operationalised in policy implementation. This methodology to be developed had to be tailored to:

1. the various formal and informal spatial decision-making processes (whether or not legally anchored in procedures);
2. the relevance of the use and content of the ecosystem services approach (the so-called 'scope') in these spatial decision-making processes and which criteria and characteristics play a role in this;
3. the relevant and defining area characteristics of the environment involved;
4. its interaction with other formal and informal impact assessments (such as the environmental impact assessment, appropriate assessment,... and the related assessment frameworks) and the spatial decision-making process itself.

Specifically, this meant formulating answers to the following questions:

• For which spatial decision-making processes (when) does the ESD concept offer added value and under which conditions within this process (e.g. spatial scale of the area involved, level of decision-making, in which phase of decision-making)? 
• How can the ESD concept be applied? Which methods and tools are available and most appropriate in which type of application? 
• How should the application of the ESD concept interact with other impact assessments (such as environmental impact assessment, social cost-benefit analysis, appropriate assessment...? 
• What is the support for using ESD? Where is the additional added value? How can this be coordinated or integrated?
• What is still the main missing knowledge so that applications of the ESD concept can add value in the future?
• What is the impact of the application of the concept on the course of the process (timing and required resources)? How should the process be organised and who exactly should do what?

To answer these questions, a co-creation process was set up using various research methods. The duration of the assignment was12 months.