Possibilities of evaluation of cultural ecosystem service (recreation) in agrarian landscape example of a model region

The quantification and assessment of ecosystem services is also one of the driving forces of the sustainable development of human activities in the context of natural capital. Cultural ecosystem services (CES) are among the most important values that people associate with nature. They are defined as non-material intangible benefits that humans derive from ecosystems and directly influence the quality of life The aim of the article was to apply and compare three different approaches to the assessment of one of the cultural ecosystem services (CES) – recreation, at the Krupina model region in Slovakia using: 1) a matrix system, 2) assessment based on SolVES model 3) assessment base on RegModel. The matrix system is suitable when data availability is limited. For agricultural systems, it is more suitable at the national scale, while at regional and local scales its informative value regarding the potential for recreation is only indicative and only with respect to other ecosystems. CES analysis using the SolVES