Abstract

Forests are widely recognized as major providers of ecosystem services, including timber, other forest products, recreation, regulation of water, soil and air quality, and climate change mitigation. Extensive tracts of boreal forests are actively managed for timber production, but actions aimed at increasing timber yields also affect other forest functions and services. Here, we present an overview of the environmental impacts of forest management from the perspective of ecosystem services. We show how prevailing forestry practices may have substantial but diverse effects on the various ecosystem services provided by boreal forests. Several aspects of these processes remain poorly known and warrant a greater role in future studies, including the role of community structure. Conflicts among different interests related to boreal forests are most likely to occur, but the concept of ecosystem services may provide a useful framework for identifying and resolving these conflicts.

Keywords

Conflict; Forest management; Sustainability; Timber production; Trade-off

Published in

AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment
2017, Volume: 46, number: 7, pages: 743-755
Publisher: SPRINGER

SLU Authors

• Snäll, Tord

  • SLU Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
SDG12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns


UKÄ Subject classification

Forest Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-017-0919-5

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/92917