Water retention in the countryside, CO2 capture and recreation are just some of the so-called ecosystem services that the forest provides alongside wood production. As part of the project, we encourage forest managers to provide their forests with these services.

Current forestry is mainly focused on timber harvesting. It is harnessed by traditional markets unlike other forest ecosystem services (e.g., recreation, flood protection through water retention, carbon sequestration, etc.). The aims of this three-year project are to spark a transformation of the European forestry sector and to support the supply of forest ecosystem services. This project seeks to adjust forest-related policy towards greater cooperation of key actors, cross-sectoral coordination, multilevel governance and the use of innovative economic instruments in forestry. It should also help to provide alternative income streams from forest ecosystem services. The use of laboratory and field experiments will explore the importance of institutions (in terms of game rules) on forest management.

Conclusions of the project:

In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, our team will perform one of the six planned case studies to create an innovative platform and multi-actor network. Our case study will focus primarily on the analysis of payments for ecosystem services (PES). Other new tools, such as public-private partnerships, will be discussed with practical partners. The project will involve an interlinking of our team’s activities in the area of nature and ecosystem services. Our team will develop the new and innovative area of payments for ecosystem services.

Research team: Jiří Louda, Lenka Dubová.