The MIMOSE Approach to Support Sustainable Forest Management Planning at Regional Scale in Mediterranean Contexts

Marco Marchetti,Fabio Lombardi,Davide Travaglini,Gherardo Chirici,Donato La Mela Veca,Francesca Bottalico,Lorenzo Sallustio,Vittorio Garfì,Raffaele Lafortezza,Matteo Vizzarri,Federico Maetzke

doi:10.3390/su9020316

Abstract

In recent decades, Mediterranean landscapes have been affected by human-induced drivers, such as land use and climate change. Forest ecosystems and landscapes have been particularly affected in mountainous regions due to limited management and stewardship, especially in remote areas. Therefore, there is a need to set up new strategies to enhance ecosystem services in forested areas which, in turn, will benefit local communities and economies. In this study, we implemented a new approach—Multiscale Mapping of Ecosystem Services (MIMOSE)—to assess ecosystem services in Mediterranean forests located in a mountainous region of Italy. We spatially assessed timber provision and carbon sequestration according to three forest management strategies: business-as-usual, maximizing economic values, and prioritizing conservation. Sustainable strategies for forest planning were identified at the landscape scale. We found that (i) timber provision is a conflicting service, especially when adaptation strategies are promoted; (ii) the most balanced set of forest ecosystem services is achieved through prioritizing conservation; and (iii) the ecosystem services availability is enhanced by optimizing the spatial allocation of different management strategies. Our approach is suitable to support landscape planning for balancing forest ecosystem potentialities while respecting local community needs and promoting sustainable development goals in the Mediterranean area.

Highlights

Forest ecosystems provide a large set of goods and services from the global to the local scale, such as timber and non-timber products, habitats for wildlife, sinks to regulate and mitigate chemical and hydrological regimes, and cultural and historical heritages [1,2]
The most recent changes in land use and climate have strongly altered the capacity of forest ecosystems to guarantee future human well-being, especially in partly degraded and fragmented landscapes, such as those in the Mediterranean region [6]
In the spatial and temporal distribution and allocation of management interventions across the forest area, forest management planning needs to be primarily oriented towards sustainability at a broader scale

Summary

Introduction

Forest ecosystems provide a large set of goods and services (hereafter referred to as forest ecosystem services, FES) from the global to the local scale, such as timber and non-timber products, habitats for wildlife, sinks to regulate and mitigate chemical and hydrological regimes, and cultural and historical heritages [1,2]. The forest ecosystems in the Mediterranean region have suffered the abandonment of traditional silvicultural practices, localized overexploitation and, a reduction in stand productivity [7]. Considering these challenges, forest management and planning are called to balance FES availability with ecological and socio-economic aspects at the local scale in European forests [8,9]. As a consequence, assessing the impact of alternative forest management strategies on the capacity of forests to provide FES is increasingly required to better direct decision-making processes towards improving the resilience of integrated ecological and socio-economic systems, especially at the landscape scale [10]

Objectives

Methods

Results