The value of forest ecosystem services: A meta-analysis at the European scale and application to national ecosystem accounting

A great share of ecosystem services (ES) at the global scale is provided by forest biomes, and acknowledging the value of forest ES is critically important towards sustainable decision making. The literature inventory of forest valuation studies is extensive and thus a significant mass of knowledge is already available concerning the value of forest ES. To this end, meta-analysis is a prominent benefit transfer approach that has been employed in the past to provide value transfers of forest ES taking advantage of contemporary knowledge. For the purposes of conducting a meta-analysis, we collected 158 primary studies, originated in Europe and dated from 2000 to 2017, of which 30 provided relevant information for a statistical meta-analysis, yielding 71 value observations. The results reveal that GDP per capita and the type of ecosystem service are significant determinants in explaining the variation in forest value. We also apply the meta-analysis model results so as to estimate the ES provided by forests in the Czech Republic. We find that the total value of forest is approximately 2842 US $ ha(-1) year(-1), with regulation and maintenance ES being the most valuable services. We finally attempt to show the prospects of using this method for accounting purposes and illustrate the supply and use forest accounting tables based on the meta-analysis outcomes. Meta-analysis can potentially form a promising decision support tool for start-up accounts considered as a second best valuation approach. Nonetheless, the method still remains questionable due to the great variation in how primary valuation studies are reported and the lack of guidelines with reference to its application in ecosystem accounting as such.

Automated summary

A significant portion of global ecosystem services are provided by forest biomes, emphasizing the importance of acknowledging and valuing these services for sustainable decision-making. Through meta-analysis of 158 primary studies from Europe, it was found that GDP per capita and the type of ecosystem service are key determinants in explaining the variation in forest value. In the case of the Czech Republic, regulation and maintenance ecosystem services were found to be the most valuable, with an estimated total value of approximately 2842 US dollars per hectare per year.