Recommendation for land use impact assessment: first steps into framework, theory, and implementation

This article presents research, criteria, framework, and guidance which were developed to provide recommendations for land use impact assessment specific to biofuels, but applicable to a variety of land uses. The criteria for land use modeling were developed along with a 10-step framework including a comprehensive ecosystem services valuation of scenarios. This research program is defined which includes the development of a user-friendly ecosystem services tool with accompanying default values and recommendations on input parameters which are necessary to develop the scenarios, integration curves, maps, and ecosystem profiles of each scenario. Based on these scenarios, curves, maps, and profiles, additional recommendations may be made on land use practices or regional selections. Finally, a discussion of implementation of the theory behind this methodology focuses on an analysis of biofuels.