COST Action
E45: European forest externalities (EUROFOREX)
Project leader
Riera, Pere (pere.riera(at)uab.es)
Schedule
07.03.2006 – 02.07.2010
Homepage
Co-ordinator
Forest Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC)
Objectives
Forests produce several non-timber products, like mushrooms, berries, medicinal herbs, and alike. They also provide other services to society, like recreation, attractive landscapes, CO2 sequestration, erosion prevention, hydrological regulation, biodiversity preservation, etc. called externalities. The research undertaken in Europe on forest externalities is considerable, but - generally not coordinated, focusing on one or a few local externalities - of very uneven quality and rarely with a regional or European vision. The situation will improve by the development of protocols, as there are in other fields and regions.
The main objective of the Action is to improve the quality standards in the valuation of externalities produced by the different types of forest in Europe, agreeing in research protocols for investigators to follow. The main expected benefits are the achievement of an improved and consistent quality level in forest valuation exercises undertaken in Europe, the improvement and spreading of the practice of benefit transfer, and thereby increase the use of forest externality values as a tool for the valuation of forest nature as a European resource, to provide end-users with reliable monetary estimations of forest externalities and to provide the research environment with a future research agenda.
Partners
19 countries
