Optimal strategies for integrated forest management in megacities combined with wood and carbon services

Abstract

Based on a simulated annealing algorithm, this study empirically determined the optimal stand-level forest management strategies for the Miyun Reservoir Catchment (MRC), the important protective screen and ecosystem service provider for Beijing City. The optimization results of wood provisioning indicate that the objective yield can be more effectively and sustainably attained over longer planning horizons. In terms of carbon sequestration service, the slowed growth rate or capacity in the longer planning horizons was associated with a growing proportion of old-growth forest results in an adverse change from carbon sink to source. Given the integrated forest management scenarios combined with the above two objectives, the total carbon sequestration service consisting of growing and harvesting stocks is positively correlated with the wood provisioning service over the longer planning horizons when based on an assumption of no carbon leakage (i.e., synergy). Similar variation trends are also reflected in the aspect of related economic value. Therefore, a set of longer-term integrated forest management strategies combined with wood and carbon services, as well as their values, should be applied to balance the supply of different services over the long term, to guide short-term adaptive management tactics integrated with close-to-nature forest management technology, and to fundamentally alter decisions regarding optimal ecosystem services for megacities.