Trade-offs exist among the diverse ecosystem services (ES) provided by forests. Changes in forest management aiming to increase wood production can conflict with the storage and sequestration of carbon, biodiversity conservation and the quality of water originating from forest catchments. Currently only forest products are adequately priced on markets, which incentivizes forest managers to overproduce wood to the likely detriment of other, valuable services to society.
The aim of this project is to develop a methodological road map for translating the outputs of forest ecosystem models into relevant economic terms. Further we will show how economic valuation can be used to optimize forest management practices to maximize the total benefits to society and draw implications for policy.
The project is in collaboration with researchers at Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science (INES), Lund University. It is financed in the form of a BECC Action Group lead by Giuliana Zanchi (INES) and should be completed in autumn 2020.