An empirical model for forest landscape planning and its financial consequences for landowners

Abstract

Despite well-formulated goals for environmental protection in the forestry sector, the biodiversity crisis remains. Protected habitats are often small, isolated and lack continuity. We studied forest planning at a landscape scale as a method to increase habitat connectivity, and improve conservation values whilst maintaining high levels of forest production. We assessed the financial impacts of landscape planning for the landowners, and present a fee-fund system to solve unequal burdens among them. As case studies, we used three landscapes along a latitudinal gradient in Sweden. The results demonstrate some variation between the landscapes in terms of the total cost for set asides and large differences in terms of the financial impact per landowner. Our conclusion is that forest landscape planning may be a way forward to improve conservation efforts, but given the variation in financial impacts, we propose to combine landscape planning with economic tools for compensation.

Keywords

Biodiversity; forest landscape planning; forest protection; financial impacts; connectivity

Published in

Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research
2021, Volume: 36, number: 7-8, pages: 626-638 Publisher: TAYLOR AND FRANCIS AS

SLU Authors

• Bostedt, Göran

  • Department of Forest Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• de Jong, Johnny

  • Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Ekvall, Hans

  • Department of Forest Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Hof, Anouschka

  • Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Wageningen University

• Sjögren, Jörgen

  • Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Associated SLU-program

SLU Swedish Biodiversity Centre


Sustainable Development Goals

SDG15 Life on land


UKÄ Subject classification

Forest Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02827581.2021.1998599

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/114542