LandValUse: Integrated welfare assessment of climate and biodiversity impacts of land use: From promise to policy solutions
Alternative title: LandValUse:Helhetlig analyse av konsekvenser av arealbruk for klima, naturmangfold og velferd:Fra lovende muligheter til politiske løsninger
Norwegian natural and semi-natural areas are important for biodiversity, carbon sequestration/storage and a many other valuable ecosystemservices- some with a market price and some without. Many sectors of society request land use changes increasing the pressure on natural areas and causing a sharpening of trade-offs between considerations of biodiversity, climate and the production of other ecosystem services. There is therefore a need for improved knowledge on how to weigh different considerations and arrive at solutions that benefit society as a whole. The LandValUse-project contributes to improve this knowledge. The project crosses sectors, industries and disciplines and connects social sciences (economics, sociology) with natural sciences (climatology, biology, landscape ecology, GIS). The project focuses thematically on issues related to climate and biodiversity for land-based wind power, forestry and vacation home construction. The project uses available research and data on impacts of land use on biodiversity, net greenhouse gas emissions and several ecosystem services to develop indicators and scenarios for changes. The project will perform innovative studies of methods and applications to evaluate and value the welfare effects of changes in the supply of important ecosystem services caused by land use changes. The project uses map-based tools and cost-benefit analysis to analyse compromises and synergies between land uses; and results from studies of acceptance of potential political solutions in public and private sectors, to form the basis for recommending instruments that will stimulate innovative, scalable, and readily implemented land-use solutions. The project is carried out by Statistics Norway (project owner), the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and Menon Centre for Environmental and Resource Economics in collaboration with public, private and voluntary organisations, and a scientific advisory committee.
The project was formally commenced on 1 May 2021. A project website has been established on SSB: https://www.ssb.no/en/forskning/miljo-ressurs-og-innovasjonsokonomi/landvaluse. Postdoctoral researcher Anders Dugstad received an international scholarship from the Research Council of Norway (NFR) for the project and spent six months at the Ecological Economics Laboratory under Kirsten Oleson at the University of Hawaii. This stay has resulted in several articles (one published, several under review) and numerous new research collaborations. An international workshop was held 10-13 October 2023 in Oslo with more than 20 participants (Title: “Impacts of land use on ecosystem services and goods in Norway: Assessment, indicators and valuation methods”. The programme and participant list are attached under “Special Reporting”). The workshop participants included international researchers from the “scientific advisory board”, the Norwegian project team, and specially invited Norwegian researchers within the same themes. Additionally, there has been significant research and dissemination activity on the project, particularly related to trade-offs in the impacts of wind power, vacation home construction, and land use change in general. WP1, led by NINA, has focused on advancing conceptual and methodological issues around ecosystem condition assessments and their integration into ecosystem service models. Linking ecosystem condition to land use decisions is central to achieving ecologically sustainable land management, a goal that has been anchored in national and global environmental policies (i.e., Aichi Targets 2010, GBF 2020, SDGs 2015, EU Restoration Law 2024, European Environmental Accounts). Furthermore, the potential for using ecosystem condition accounts in various policy domains has been explored; this has included a literature review on ecosystem condition variables in boreal wetlands and an assessment of the alignment between ecosystem condition and recreational value.
Zander Venter from NINA has collaborated with NRK on the issue of the degradation of Norwegian nature, which has received significant media attention in recent months (NRK article). Extensive efforts have been made to prepare data collection (WP3), including mapping and valuing recreation in natural areas, such as forests, conducting a survey of forest owners, and a non-monetary survey on how people’s quality of life is related to natural qualities and usage. Parts of the survey on nature-based recreation in Norway leverage synergies with an ongoing SSB project for EUROSTAT, where the data are intended to be used for natural accounting. All collected data will also be used in concrete socio-economic analyses of trade-offs, to find effective and acceptable measures and relevant recommendations for more sustainable land use (WP4). Additionally, they will provide the basis for several methodological and research innovations that will be published in international journals.
Natural and seminatural areas in Norway provide biodiversity and carbon sequestration, and a range of other valuable market and non-market ecosystem goods and services (EG&S). However, trade-offs between biodiversity, climate and other EG&S concerns have become more pronounced due to increasing competition between land uses, within and across sectors. Therefore, enhanced knowledge for weighing different consideration and finding solutions that can deliver better societal outcomes is urgently needed. This project aims to address this knowledge gap. We propose a broad, cross sectoral and interdisciplinary project, coupling social science (economics and sociology) with natural sciences (climatology, biology, landscape ecology, GIS). Thematically we focus on climate and biodiversity concerns in land-based wind power, forestry, and recreational cabin development. We will utilise available research and data on impacts of land use on biodiversity and net greenhouse gas emissions to derive indicators and scenarios for change in these and a broader set of EG&S. This will form the basis for an ambitious and innovative investigation into methods and applications to reliably assess and value welfare impacts of changes in key EG&S from land use. Results will be integrated and trade-offs and synergies analysed by use of map-based tools and cost-benefit analysis. This analysis in combination with research on acceptability of potential policy solutions among the public and the private sector, will form the basis for recommending policy instruments that will stimulate innovative land use solutions that are scalable and may be implemented rapidly. Hence, the project addresses all three priority areas of the call. Statistics Norway, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Norwegian University of Life Sciences and Menon will carry out the project in close cooperation with key collaborators from government, private and NGO sectors, with guidance from a scientific advisory board.