Economic valuation of ecosystem services from cork oak forests

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From a methodological point of view, the proposed standscale valuation approach does not refer to the age of the forest stands, a parameter most often taken into account for ecosystem production modeling but rather meaningless under Mediterranean conditions, because, except managed coppices and forest plantations, the Mediterranean forest stands are usually characterized by composite structures with multi-aged trees. On the contrary, the ecosystem production modeling developed here relies in large part on the assessment of stand top height and number of trees as main drivers: such parameters are relatively feasibly retrievable even over large areas, e.g., by remote sensing tools like (manned or unmanned) airborne laser scanning. From an operational point of view, the proposed spatial visualization of the economic values of production of goods and services is a useful support for forest management planning, e.g., to project selected productions by cork oak stands in the future in order to improve the effectiveness of management strategies toward their preservation and enhancement and/or identify priority areas that would maximize ecosystem production for local communities. From a management point of view, the total economic production values among the tested silvicultural alternatives has proved to be characterized by relatively small differences: therefore, at least under conditions similar to those of the FMUs here surveyed, managers may safely rely on different stand density options, without any relevant detrimental effect on total economic production of the considered goods and services. From a governance point-of view, the data and tools provided here may be effective toward the establishment of local schemes of payments for ecosystem services (e.g., with respect to water yield and carbon sequestration), which, in turn may support the owners in the light of management practices contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of cork oak woodland.

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