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Research article2016Peer reviewed

Non-market forest ecosystem services and decision support in Nordic countries

Filyushkina, Anna; Strange, Niels; Lof, Magnus; Ezebilo, Eugene E.; Boman, Mattias

Abstract

The need to integrate non-market ecosystem services into decision-making is widely acknowledged. Despite the exponentially growing body of literature, trade-offs between services are still poorly understood. We conducted a systematic review of published literature in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland) on the integration of non-market forest ecosystem services into decision-making. The aim of the review was two-fold: (1) to provide an overview of coverage of biophysical and socio-economic assessments of non-market ecosystem services in relation to forest management; (2) to determine the extent of the integration of biophysical and socio-economic models of these services into decision support models. Our findings reveal the need for wider coverage of non-market ecosystem services and evidence-based modelling of how forest management regimes affect ecosystem services. Furthermore, temporal and spatial modelling of ecosystem impacts remains a challenge. We observed a few examples of multiple non-market services assessments. Integration of non-market services into decision support was performed with either biophysical or socio-economic models, often using proxies and composite indicators. The review reveals that there is scope for more comprehensive and integrated model development, including multiple ecosystem services and appropriate handling of forest management impacts.

Keywords

Ecosystem services; trade-offs; valuation; decision support; forest management; review

Published in

Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research
2016, Volume: 31, number: 1, pages: 99-110

      SLU Authors

          Associated SLU-program

          SLUsystematic

          Sustainable Development Goals

          Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

          UKÄ Subject classification

          Economic Geography
          Economics
          Forest Science

          Publication identifier

          DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02827581.2015.1079643

          Permanent link to this page (URI)

          https://res.slu.se/id/publ/75439