A Linear Programming Model to Biophysically Assess Some Ecosystem Service Synergies and Trade-Offs in Two Irish Landscapes

Edwin Corrigan,Maarten Nieuwenhuis

doi:10.3390/f7070128

Abstract

Ecosystem service provisions are becoming more frequently used to assess land-use related conflicts in recent decades. This study investigates the current spatial and research information available to quantify ecosystem services relative to forest land-use planning in Ireland. A model is developed using the linear-programming method in Remsoft’s Woodstock platform. This model is applied to two case study areas in Ireland: Western Peatlands and Newmarket. Each case study area was chosen to assess a unique issue in the Irish and European context on the provision of ecosystem services. Western Peatlands was chosen to assess the effects of forest and alternative land-use options and Newmarket was chosen to investigate the effect of afforestation. The synergies and trade-offs of biophysically optimising the provisions of each ecosystem service are presented and discussed. The study quantitatively determines that trade-offs among provisions of some ecosystem services are required when optimising an ecosystem service while other ecosystem services are synergistic when the provision of a single ecosystem service is optimised.

Highlights

Deforestation, relating to land settlement and Ireland’s colonial past, resulted in a forest cover of circa 1% around the beginning of the 20th century
The models produce a large quantity of output data, to account for this the results are presented in three forms which provide a good indication of the trade-offs associated with the optimisation of each Ecosystem services (ES) individually: (1) the provisions of ESs at the beginning of the planning period; (2) the trends of
The results of this study show that in both Case Study Areas (CSAs) there were ESs that were compatible with many others, while optimising some ESs resulted in large trade-offs with others

Summary

Introduction

Deforestation, relating to land settlement and Ireland’s colonial past, resulted in a forest cover of circa 1% around the beginning of the 20th century. Coillte (the Irish State Forestry Board, Newtownmountkennedy, Ireland), owns circa 53% of this, with the remainder owned by private landowners (ibid). Public and private, have typically been planted on marginal land (Not suitable for agriculture but suitable for forestry) since the middle of the. As this marginal land is not suitable to grow high quality broadleaves, the majority of. These three species make up approximately two-thirds of the Irish forest estate [1]. Many areas of Ireland have the biophysical potential for a range of land-uses and tree species

Objectives

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Discussion

Conclusion