Valuing Forest Ecosystem Services. Why Is an Integrative Approach Needed?
Among the many types of terrestrial ecosystems, forests have some of the highest levels of biodiversity; they also have many interdependent economic, ecological and social functions and provide ecosystem services. They supply a range of tangible, marketable goods, as well as a variety of nonmarketab...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-05-01
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| Series: | Forests |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/6/677 |
| _version_ | 1797532667765325824 |
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| author | Gabriela Elena Baciu Carmen Elena Dobrotă Ecaterina Nicoleta Apostol |
| author_facet | Gabriela Elena Baciu Carmen Elena Dobrotă Ecaterina Nicoleta Apostol |
| author_sort | Gabriela Elena Baciu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Among the many types of terrestrial ecosystems, forests have some of the highest levels of biodiversity; they also have many interdependent economic, ecological and social functions and provide ecosystem services. They supply a range of tangible, marketable goods, as well as a variety of nonmarketable and intangible services derived from various forest functions. These translate into social, cultural, health and scientific benefits for people’s quality of life. However, because they cannot be traded on a market, nonmarketable and intangible services are often perceived as free, inexhaustible and, as a result, underestimated. The human–nature interaction has affected both nature (via resource consumption) and society (via development of human welfare and well-being). Decision-makers, both public and private, often manage natural capital for multiple aims. In recent years it has been found that the single, individual approach estimating the value for these goods and services is not able to provide information that generates and supports decisions and policies in complex areas of current relevance such as the constant loss of biodiversity, climate change and global warming in close connection with the need for social development and ensuring an acceptable level of well-being for the greatest part of humanity. An integrated assessment with advanced techniques and methods using a pluralist framework of a heterogeneous set of values is considered a better approach to the valuation of such complex nature of the ecosystem goods and services. This assessment should take into account both costs and benefits trade-off issues among the multiple uses of ecosystem goods and/or services, especially the relationships between them and how they influence or determine the economic, social and cultural development of society. It should also consider the estimation of the complex inverse effect, from society to nature, whose goods and services can be diminished to exhaustion by the extensive and intensive anthropization of natural ecosystems with major impact on the number and quality of goods and services provided by ecosystems. Research has shown that applying an integrative assessment approach that utilizes tools developed by sustainability sciences could be an important component of future environmental policy making. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T11:03:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-83006d78692f4800bb496edc7faa7924 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1999-4907 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T11:03:34Z |
| publishDate | 2021-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Forests |
| spelling | doaj.art-83006d78692f4800bb496edc7faa79242023-11-21T21:21:16ZengMDPI AGForests1999-49072021-05-0112667710.3390/f12060677Valuing Forest Ecosystem Services. Why Is an Integrative Approach Needed?Gabriela Elena Baciu0Carmen Elena Dobrotă1Ecaterina Nicoleta Apostol2Forest Management Planning and Terrestrial Measurements, Department of Forest Engineering, Faculty of Silviculture and Forest Engineering, “Transilvania” University, 1 Ludwig van Beethoven Str., 500123 Brașov, RomaniaFaculty of Business and Administration, University of Bucharest, 4-12 B-dul Regina Elisabeta, 030018 Bucharest, Romania“Marin Drăcea” Romanian National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry, 128 Eroilor Blvd., 077190 Voluntari, RomaniaAmong the many types of terrestrial ecosystems, forests have some of the highest levels of biodiversity; they also have many interdependent economic, ecological and social functions and provide ecosystem services. They supply a range of tangible, marketable goods, as well as a variety of nonmarketable and intangible services derived from various forest functions. These translate into social, cultural, health and scientific benefits for people’s quality of life. However, because they cannot be traded on a market, nonmarketable and intangible services are often perceived as free, inexhaustible and, as a result, underestimated. The human–nature interaction has affected both nature (via resource consumption) and society (via development of human welfare and well-being). Decision-makers, both public and private, often manage natural capital for multiple aims. In recent years it has been found that the single, individual approach estimating the value for these goods and services is not able to provide information that generates and supports decisions and policies in complex areas of current relevance such as the constant loss of biodiversity, climate change and global warming in close connection with the need for social development and ensuring an acceptable level of well-being for the greatest part of humanity. An integrated assessment with advanced techniques and methods using a pluralist framework of a heterogeneous set of values is considered a better approach to the valuation of such complex nature of the ecosystem goods and services. This assessment should take into account both costs and benefits trade-off issues among the multiple uses of ecosystem goods and/or services, especially the relationships between them and how they influence or determine the economic, social and cultural development of society. It should also consider the estimation of the complex inverse effect, from society to nature, whose goods and services can be diminished to exhaustion by the extensive and intensive anthropization of natural ecosystems with major impact on the number and quality of goods and services provided by ecosystems. Research has shown that applying an integrative assessment approach that utilizes tools developed by sustainability sciences could be an important component of future environmental policy making.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/6/677biodiversityforestsvaluing ecosystem servicesclimate changepolicy making |
| spellingShingle | Gabriela Elena Baciu Carmen Elena Dobrotă Ecaterina Nicoleta Apostol Valuing Forest Ecosystem Services. Why Is an Integrative Approach Needed? Forests biodiversity forests valuing ecosystem services climate change policy making |
| title | Valuing Forest Ecosystem Services. Why Is an Integrative Approach Needed? |
| title_full | Valuing Forest Ecosystem Services. Why Is an Integrative Approach Needed? |
| title_fullStr | Valuing Forest Ecosystem Services. Why Is an Integrative Approach Needed? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Valuing Forest Ecosystem Services. Why Is an Integrative Approach Needed? |
| title_short | Valuing Forest Ecosystem Services. Why Is an Integrative Approach Needed? |
| title_sort | valuing forest ecosystem services why is an integrative approach needed |
| topic | biodiversity forests valuing ecosystem services climate change policy making |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/6/677 |
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