Forest ecosystem services in Norway: Trends, condition, and drivers of change (1950–2020)
Some regions like Europe have experienced a net gain in forest areas over the last decades, but intact areas of natural forests are declining worldwide, accompanied by changes in forest ecosystem functions and benefits to humans. We conduct a biophysical assessment of trends, condition, and drivers...
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ftunivmob:oai:nmbu.brage.unit.no:11250/3032505 2023-05-15T16:12:10+02:00 Forest ecosystem services in Norway: Trends, condition, and drivers of change (1950–2020) Helseth, Elisabeth Veivåg Vedeld, P. Framstad, Erik Gomez-Baggethun, Erik 2022-11-10T13:09:23Z application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3032505 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2022.101491 eng eng Norges forskningsråd: 300498 Egen institusjon: NMBU’s Sustainability Arena ‘Embedding Planetary boundaries Norges forskningsråd: 295191 urn:issn:2212-0416 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3032505 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2022.101491 cristin:2071845 58 Ecosystem Services VDP::Samfunnsøkonomi: 212 VDP::Economics: 212 Peer reviewed Journal article 2022 ftunivmob https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2022.101491 2022-11-23T23:43:45Z Some regions like Europe have experienced a net gain in forest areas over the last decades, but intact areas of natural forests are declining worldwide, accompanied by changes in forest ecosystem functions and benefits to humans. We conduct a biophysical assessment of trends, condition, and drivers of change of forest ecosystem services in Norway from 1950 to 2020. Four main results are highlighted. First, industrial forestry, large scale measures of re- and afforestation, and infrastructure development (e.g., roads and recreational homes) have been the main direct drivers of forest transformation. Second, deep transformations in the Norwegian economy shaped trends of forest ecosystem services over the study period. Third, with the shifts towards the tertiary (service) sector and the mechanization of forestry, the economic and material relations between forests and local communities are waning. Overall, people’s primary relationships to forests have shifted from livelihood to recreation. Fourth, forest management in Norway has largely favored provisioning services at the expense of supporting services and some cultural and regulating services. Consequently, while Norwegian forests retain strong capacity to deliver provisioning services, the overall ecological condition is relatively poor. Our assessment provides an approach to identify and explain trends of ecosystem services at a national scale, over a long period of time. We argue that growth in forest area and biomass are insufficient indicators for sustainable forest management, and that future forest polices would benefit from improved knowledge on forests ecological condition, resilience against climate change, and socio-cultural contributions to human well-being. Forest management Biophysical assessment Ecosystem service trends Ecosystem condition Fennoscandia Norway publishedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper Fennoscandia Open archive Norwegian University of Life Sciences: Brage NMBU Norway Ecosystem Services 58 101491 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Open archive Norwegian University of Life Sciences: Brage NMBU |
op_collection_id |
ftunivmob |
language |
English |
topic |
VDP::Samfunnsøkonomi: 212 VDP::Economics: 212 |
spellingShingle |
VDP::Samfunnsøkonomi: 212 VDP::Economics: 212 Helseth, Elisabeth Veivåg Vedeld, P. Framstad, Erik Gomez-Baggethun, Erik Forest ecosystem services in Norway: Trends, condition, and drivers of change (1950–2020) |
topic_facet |
VDP::Samfunnsøkonomi: 212 VDP::Economics: 212 |
description |
Some regions like Europe have experienced a net gain in forest areas over the last decades, but intact areas of natural forests are declining worldwide, accompanied by changes in forest ecosystem functions and benefits to humans. We conduct a biophysical assessment of trends, condition, and drivers of change of forest ecosystem services in Norway from 1950 to 2020. Four main results are highlighted. First, industrial forestry, large scale measures of re- and afforestation, and infrastructure development (e.g., roads and recreational homes) have been the main direct drivers of forest transformation. Second, deep transformations in the Norwegian economy shaped trends of forest ecosystem services over the study period. Third, with the shifts towards the tertiary (service) sector and the mechanization of forestry, the economic and material relations between forests and local communities are waning. Overall, people’s primary relationships to forests have shifted from livelihood to recreation. Fourth, forest management in Norway has largely favored provisioning services at the expense of supporting services and some cultural and regulating services. Consequently, while Norwegian forests retain strong capacity to deliver provisioning services, the overall ecological condition is relatively poor. Our assessment provides an approach to identify and explain trends of ecosystem services at a national scale, over a long period of time. We argue that growth in forest area and biomass are insufficient indicators for sustainable forest management, and that future forest polices would benefit from improved knowledge on forests ecological condition, resilience against climate change, and socio-cultural contributions to human well-being. Forest management Biophysical assessment Ecosystem service trends Ecosystem condition Fennoscandia Norway publishedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Helseth, Elisabeth Veivåg Vedeld, P. Framstad, Erik Gomez-Baggethun, Erik |
author_facet |
Helseth, Elisabeth Veivåg Vedeld, P. Framstad, Erik Gomez-Baggethun, Erik |
author_sort |
Helseth, Elisabeth Veivåg |
title |
Forest ecosystem services in Norway: Trends, condition, and drivers of change (1950–2020) |
title_short |
Forest ecosystem services in Norway: Trends, condition, and drivers of change (1950–2020) |
title_full |
Forest ecosystem services in Norway: Trends, condition, and drivers of change (1950–2020) |
title_fullStr |
Forest ecosystem services in Norway: Trends, condition, and drivers of change (1950–2020) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Forest ecosystem services in Norway: Trends, condition, and drivers of change (1950–2020) |
title_sort |
forest ecosystem services in norway: trends, condition, and drivers of change (1950–2020) |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3032505 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2022.101491 |
geographic |
Norway |
geographic_facet |
Norway |
genre |
Fennoscandia |
genre_facet |
Fennoscandia |
op_source |
58 Ecosystem Services |
op_relation |
Norges forskningsråd: 300498 Egen institusjon: NMBU’s Sustainability Arena ‘Embedding Planetary boundaries Norges forskningsråd: 295191 urn:issn:2212-0416 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3032505 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2022.101491 cristin:2071845 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2022.101491 |
container_title |
Ecosystem Services |
container_volume |
58 |
container_start_page |
101491 |
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1765997425746509824 |