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Increasing interest in measuring, modelling and valuing ecosystem services (ES), the benefits that ecosystems provide to people, has resulted in the development of an array of ES assessment tools in recent years. Selecting an appropriate tool for measuring and modelling ES can be challenging. This document provides guidance for practitioners on existing tools that can be applied to measure or model ES provided by important sites for biodiversity and nature conservation, including Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), natural World Heritage sites (WHS), and protected areas (PAs). Selecting an appropriate tool requires identifying the specific question being addressed, what sorts of results or outputs are required, and consideration of practical factors such as the level of expertise, time and data required for applying any given tool. This guide builds on existing reviews of ES assessment tools, but has an explicit focus on assessing ES for sites of importance for biodiversity and nature conservation.

Biomimicry implies the creative implementation of biological concepts into products. This paper provides a broad overview of the field of biomimicry, and has described the conversion of physiological and organizational solutions from nature into products and services. Implementation and economic efficiency is shown through selected examples. Four examples of successful implementation of nature solutions are the following: Velcro, lotus-effect, structural coloration and tubercles on the fins of the humpback whales. In this work, we analysed the reductive approach to biomimicry which strictly focuses on mimicking few characteristics or functions of particular organisms or biological processes but does not necessarily create sustainable environment through the imitation of nature. Biomimicry is one of the most promising research areas that could transform the way products and services are designed, manufactured, transported and distributed. This could represent a major turning point in the 21 century, by linking environmental and business interests.