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Mark Brady. Photo.

Mark Brady

Policy officer

Mark Brady. Photo.

Evaluating the contribution of forest ecosystem services to societal welfare through linking dynamic ecosystem modelling with economic valuation

Author

  • Giuliana Zanchi
  • Mark V. Brady

Summary, in English

Trade-offs exist among the multiple ecosystem services (ES) generated by forests. Generally, wood production conflicts with the provisioning of public-good ES such as the storage of carbon, nutrient retention and conservation of biodiversity. Recognizing that forests generate both private- and public-good ES implies that forestry should be optimized to maximize the contribution of forests to societal welfare. Here we develop an integrated approach for evaluating the contribution of forest ES to welfare. Our approach links the results from dynamic ecosystem modelling to economic valuation and benefit-cost analysis to evaluate the impacts of alternative forestry practices on welfare. We apply the approach to a Norway spruce forest in southern Sweden. We show that current practices are not maximizing societal welfare, because of conflicts in the optimal choice of practices from society's and forest owners’ perspectives, and the distribution of welfare between generations. In particular, intensifying biomass production is shown to reduce welfare due to the concomitant degradation of public-good ES, while welfare would improve through expansion of continuous cover forestry. We anticipate that this type of approach will aid the sustainable development of forestry, by informing decision makers of the impacts of alternative forestry practices on societal welfare.

Department/s

  • Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
  • Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC)
  • AgriFood Economics Centre, SLU

Publishing year

2019

Language

English

Publication/Series

Ecosystem Services

Volume

39

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Elsevier

Topic

  • Environmental Sciences
  • Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified

Keywords

  • Biodiversity
  • Carbon
  • Cost-benefit analysis
  • Dynamic modelling
  • Policy
  • Water quality

Status

Published

Project

  • BECC Action Group: A methodological road map to value changes in forest ecosystem services under alternative management scenarios

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2212-0416