Valuation of ecosystem services in Mediterranean forests

Transcription

1 Valuation of ecosystem services in Mediterranean forests Elena Ojea, Paloma Ruiz-Benito, Miguel A. Zavala and Anil Markandya Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) and CIFOR-INIA, Spain European Conference on Biodiversity and Climate Change Science, Practice & Policy Bonn, April 2011

2 outline Background Objectives Data Methodology Results implications Long term perspective Final remarks 2

3 background 3

4 background Economic valuation has recently shifted from valuing goods to valuing ecosystem services Ecosystems are now seen as suppliers of services that sustain human welfare Shift to a more integrated approach 4

5 background ES vary in scale and time (Fischer et al., 2009), and are best studied at particular spatial and temporal scales Challenges in integrating ES in landscape planning, management and policy design (de Groot et al., 2010) Mapping of ES (Chan et al., 2006; Nelson et al., 2009) 5

6 background Policy context: Increasing timber demand and sustainable forest land Growth of carbon markets, forest mitigation strategies in European countries Can be competing services 6

7 objectives Can we estimate from inventory data the flows of benefits from carbon and timber in Spanish Mediterranean forests? We want to estimate, from inventory data, the benefits for 38 different tree species over more than plots Do benefits obtained from timber and carbon differ for different forest types and regimes? Do they conflict? What future rents can we expect from forests given sustainable and non-sustainable regimes? 7

8 data Mediterranean forests High diversity and heterogeneity of forests Effect of long term human occupation in shaping the vegetation 14.7 million hectares of forest in Spain 8

9 data Spanish Forest Inventories SFI2 ( ) and SFI3( ) Systematic sampling in forest 50m diameter plots Error control procedure: plots Timber: trees with dbh>7.5cm, h>1.30 WWF terrestrial ecoregions (Olson et al., 2001) Spanish Forest Map (MARM, 2010) 9

10 notes Benefits refers to the flow of ES, on a yearly basis based on the comparison of two inventories Carbon is also accumulated in soil and litter, as well as on small trees not considered here (underestimation) We analyze 62% of the total forest area in Spain, the lacking being missing plots in the inventories 10

11 methodology Timber flows SFI2 and SFI3 comparison Analysis of mortality 7550 plots present harvest between SFIs (MWV) harvest and growth compared at the landscape level Extensive: growth>>harvest Spanish Forestry annual (38 commercial species) Stumpage prices (Pi) 11

12 results timber Benefits from intensive and extensive management in Mediterranean forests in continental Spain (in /ha.yr). Intensive harvest provides greater benefits per hectare beech poplar 12

13 results timber Benefits from timber extraction Flow of benefits ( /ha.year) Extensive cutting [ ] Intensive cutting [ ] 13

14 methodology Carbon flows allometric equations for AG and BG biomass Montero et al. (2005) Calculation for 95% of tree species In both SFI between the SFI2 and SFI3 Total carbon storage (t C) was calculated at individual tree level gain-loss method (IPCC, 2007) No carbon in timber is accounted Above ground and belowground C in Prices of 2, 10 and 18 /tonc Δ C = growth + growth + rec + rec mort mort AG BG AG BG AG BG 14

15 results carbon Map carbon Forest class n Flow carbon tonc/hayr 1 E-Eucalyptus* 1, P-Natural pine 16, PR-Planted pine 8, ES-Sclerophyl 10, D-deciduous 6, O-other species 1,

16 results 16

17 results carbon Pooled sample N=

18 How carbon and timber relate to forest types? With harvest N=

19 How carbon and timber relate to regimes? With harvest N= 7144 Benefits in harvested plots 19

20 How carbon and timber relate to regimes? With harvest In sustainable harvest, C and T benefits are on the same range of values N= 7144 Benefits in harvested plots In non-sustainable harvest, there is carbon release for most forest classes 20

21 implications Information on the economic flows of benefits from ecosystem services Bottom-up approach easy to monitor Carbon accounting increasingly important in international climate negotiations Carbon storage provides benefits under sustainable forest management but is released back under intensive management Carbon accumulated in EU-15 forests account for 10% of the fossil-fuel emissions (Ciais et al., 2008 Nature geoscience) 21

22 long term perspective We can estimate the benefits expected from a sustainable or a non sustainable use of forests We use the net present value method to explore expected benefits given different management regimes Net present values depend on timber flows, stocks, growth and discount rates 22

23 timber benefits 23

24 final remarks Flows of benefits from ecosystem services can be estimated from inventory data (accurate bottom-up approach) Timber and carbon are observed to change depending on the forest class (high timber values in deciduous and high carbon values in eucalyptus) However, when looking at sustainability, things change: Timber benefits are more similar to carbon benefits, High values for natural stands Unsustainable harvest leads to carbon release in many cases And, when looking at the longer term, sustainable timber extraction provides higher benefits Important to look at other ES such as water capture and consumption 24

25 further research Look at other competing ecosystem services: (e.g. water capture, biodiversity conservation) Project carbon under climate change scenarios Possibilities for ecosystem-based adaptation 25

26 Thank you! 26