Water quality and cycle: This service refers to the ability of roadsides to filter, retain, and infiltrate surface water. It contributes to regulating water flow, improving the quality of water flowing toward adjacent aquatic environments, and reducing flood risks.

Soil health: This service corresponds to the role of vegetation and soil organisms in preventing erosion, maintaining organic matter and nutrient cycling, and fostering the development of soil structure and microbial communities that support the fertility and productivity of roadsides.

Fire prevention: This service refers to the ability of roadsides to reduce the frequency, spread, or intensity of fires. It strongly depends on vegetation management practices, while also integrating local weather and climatic conditions.

Biodiversity: This service relates to the contribution of roadsides to the preservation and enhancement of local biological diversity by providing habitats, ecological corridors, or biodiversity reservoirs within human-modified landscapes.

Control of invasive plant species: This service corresponds to the prevention or reduction of the establishment and spread of invasive plant species through the implementation of roadside management practices.

The estimation is based on the assessment of the maximum potential gain achievable in the long term, under the assumption of a sustainable implementation of the practice in question. The time required to reach this gain may vary depending on the context; it will be addressed separately and should not be taken into account in the evaluation requested from the experts.

Experts are invited to draw on their professional judgment when responding. A written justification is not required: the assessment may rely on expert intuition, grounded in experience and accumulated knowledge, even when these cannot be explicitly formalized.

However, if a participant wishes to provide an explanation for their response, they may do so when evaluating each practice.

Anyone with scientific or technical expertise in one of the relevant fields and a valid professional address may take part in the assessment. Participants are invited to indicate their area of expertise as well as their level of confidence for each response. It is also possible to leave unanswered any questions considered to fall outside one’s field of competence. The data will then be analyzed taking these contextual elements into account.

Responses must be individual, so as to reflect each expert’s personal assessment. However, discussion, exchange, or consultation with other specialists or any relevant sources is encouraged to inform the reflection process. If several people wish to contribute jointly, each must have their own account so that all opinions are recorded and considered equally.