ihor soloviy

Forest landscapes provide benefits from a wide range of goods, function and intangible values. But what are different forest owner categories' profiles of economic use and non-use values? This study focuses on the complex forest ownership pattern of the River Helge a ˚ catchment including the Kristianstad Vattenrike Biosphere Reserve in southern Sweden. We made 89 telephone interviews with informants representing the four main forest owner categories. Our mapping included consumptive and non-con-sumptive direct use values, indirect use values, and non-use values such as natural and cultural heritage. While the value profiles of non-industrial forest land owners and municipalities included all value categories, the forest companies focused on wood production, and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency on nature protection. We discuss the challenges of communicating different forest owners' economic value profiles among stakeholders, the need for a broader suite of forest management systems, and fora for collaborative planning.

Forest landscapes provide benefits from a wide range of goods, function and intangible values. But what are different forest owner categories’ profiles of economic use and non-use values? This study focuses on the complex forest ownership pattern of the River Helge å catchment including the Kristianstad Vattenrike Biosphere Reserve in southern Sweden. We made 89 telephone interviews with informants representing the four main forest owner categories. Our mapping included consumptive and non-consumptive direct use values, indirect use values, and non-use values such as natural and cultural heritage. While the value profiles of non-industrial forest land owners and municipalities included all value categories, the forest companies focused on wood production, and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency on nature protection. We discuss the challenges of communicating different forest owners’ economic value profiles among stakeholders, the need for a broader suite of forest management systems, and fora for collaborative planning.

DESCRIPTION In the paper the role of forests and forests products in well-being of mountains forest dependent communities’ in the Ukrainian Carpathians studied and analyzed. It is analyzed how ease for local communities is to get legal access to obtaining forest products including wood and non-timber forest products, hunting and grazing rights. Socio-economic and environmental well-being of the communities in study region analyzed. In-depth study was held with such categories of respondents: as wood business representatives, forestry specialists, and local community representatives. The main threats causing well-being decreasing in mountain communities (including illegal logging) studied. The results of the study show that in a broad sense, economic, environmental, social, cultural and aesthetic functions of forests contribute considerably to the well-being of forest-depended communities’ in the Ukrainian Carpathians. It is concluded the innovative sustainable forest management (SFM...

International criteria for sustainable forest management (SFM) in temperate and boreal forests share a number of themes in common, as evidenced by similarities between the Montreal and Helsinki Processes. But translating these into meaningful implementation practices that differ from past approaches has been challenging in the Carpathian Mountain region of Eastern Europe. In this paper we explore contemporary science, emerging models, and innovative practices that offer guidance on implementing SFM criteria, with a focus on three criteria: 1) conservation of biological diversity, 2) maintenance of water resources, and 3) contribution to global carbon cycles. Particular reference is made to SFM options for the Carpathian Mountain region of Ukraine. The contribution of SFM to biodiversity conservation depends first on the establishment of fully representative reserve systems. On managed forestlands surrounding reserves, shifting stand age class distributions closer to the historic range of variability and recently developed silvicultural practices, such as disturbance based forestry, will help maintain ecological connectivity, landscape heterogeneity, and stand structural complexity. Strategically placed restoration of native species composition in areas dominated by spruce plantations will both enhance forest health and play an important role in biodiversity conservation. Conservation of aquatic resources is also significant concern in the Carpathian Mountain region. Broader use of contemporary watershed management approaches is recommended, including delineation of riparian buffers, riparian forest restoration, and ecologically informed forest road management. Expanding forest sector participation in carbon markets offers new opportunities and challenges for SFM in the Carpathians. Ukrainian afforestation/reforestation goals have the potential to sequester large quantities of carbon. This may have significant economic value as international carbon markets develop. The relatively long rotations currently required under Ukrainian forest code offer significant carbon storage benefits. Other innovative silvicultural options may provide future economic incentives for SFM in the Carpathians. On-going research suggests that structurally complex temperate forests, such as old-growth Carpathian beech and mixed conifer-hardwood forests, store very large amounts of carbon. Conservation of these systems can contribute to climate change mitigation efforts. Active silvicultural management for structurally complex, high biomass forests offers additional benefits.

Cultural ecosystem services (ES) are consistently recognized but not yet adequately defined or integrated within the ES framework. A substantial body of models, methods, and data relevant to cultural services has been developed within the social and behavioral sciences before and outside of the ES approach. A selective review of work in landscape aesthetics, cultural heritage, outdoor recreation, and spiritual significance demonstrates opportunities for operationally defining cultural services in terms of socioecological models, consistent with the larger set of ES. Such models explicitly link ecological structures and functions with cultural values and benefits, facilitating communication between scientists and stakeholders and enabling economic, multicriterion, deliberative evaluation and other methods that can clarify tradeoffs and synergies involving cultural ES. Based on this approach, a common representation is offered that frames cultural services, along with all ES, by the r...

International criteria for sustainable forest management (SFM) in temperate and boreal forests share a number of themes in common, as evidenced by similarities between the Montreal and Helsinki Processes. But translating these into meaningful implementation practices that differ from past approaches has been challenging in the Carpathian Mountain region of Eastern Europe. In this paper we explore contemporary science, emerging models, and innovative practices that offer guidance on implementing SFM criteria, with a focus on three criteria: 1) conservation of biological diversity, 2) maintenance of water resources, and 3) contribution to global carbon cycles. Particular reference is made to SFM options for the Carpathian Mountain region of Ukraine. The contribution of SFM to biodiversity conservation depends first on the establishment of fully representative reserve systems. On managed forestlands surrounding reserves, shifting stand age class distributions closer to the historic range of variability and recently developed silvicultural practices, such as disturbance based forestry, will help maintain ecological connectivity, landscape heterogeneity, and stand structural complexity. Strategically placed restoration of native species composition in areas dominated by spruce plantations will both enhance forest health and play an important role in biodiversity conservation. Conservation of aquatic resources is also significant concern in the Carpathian Mountain region. Broader use of contemporary watershed management approaches is recommended, including delineation of riparian buffers, riparian forest restoration, and ecologically informed forest road management. Expanding forest sector participation in carbon markets offers new opportunities and challenges for SFM in the Carpathians. Ukrainian afforestation/reforestation goals have the potential to sequester large quantities of carbon. This may have significant economic value as international carbon markets develop. The relatively long rotations currently required under Ukrainian forest code offer significant carbon storage benefits. Other innovative silvicultural options may provide future economic incentives for SFM in the Carpathians. On-going research suggests that structurally complex temperate forests, such as old-growth Carpathian beech and mixed conifer-hardwood forests, store very large amounts of carbon. Conservation of these systems can contribute to climate change mitigation efforts. Active silvicultural management for structurally complex, high biomass forests offers additional benefits.

Cultural ecosystem services (ES) are consistently recognized but not yet adequately defined or integrated within the ES framework. A substantial body of models, methods, and data relevant to cultural services has been developed within the social and behavioral sciences before and outside of the ES approach. A selective review of work in landscape aesthetics, cultural heritage, outdoor recreation, and spiritual significance demonstrates opportunities for operationally defining cultural services in terms of ...

Forest landscapes provide benefits from a wide range of goods, function and intangible values. But what are different forest owner categories' profiles of economic use and non-use values? This study focuses on the complex forest ownership pattern of the River Helge å catchment including the Kristianstad Vattenrike Biosphere Reserve in southern Sweden. We made 89 telephone interviews with informants representing the four main forest owner categories. Our mapping included consumptive and non-consumptive direct use values, indirect use values, and non-use values such as natural and cultural heritage. While the value profiles of non-industrial forest land owners and municipalities included all value categories, the forest companies focused on wood production, and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency on nature protection. We discuss the challenges of communicating different forest owners' economic value profiles among stakeholders, the need for a broader suite of forest management systems, and fora for collaborative planning.