Identification of services, timber and non timber products of sustainable forest management

It is an integral element of the European understanding of sustainable forest managementto foster the design and marketing of forest products and services that go beyond mere production of timber. Yet, regarding the operational management level insights are scarce on which measures of forest management are concerned by production diversification, which economic effects could be provoked by an adaption of specified key measures and how sustainability could be evaluated in the light of this impact network. Hence, it is the main purpsose of this study to position multi-purpose forestry in a sustainability context and to demonstrate potential ways of marketing forest goods. Products and services are to be - evaluated with regard to the sustainability effects of their affiliated measures - analyzed with regard to their marketability - benchmarked with regard to their legal compliances The proposed study is to be implemented in four work packages (WP). WP1 is to demonstrate the potential of forest wood and non-wood products representative for Austrian forestry and to analyze to which degree those good could be considered as marketable, potentially marketable or non-marketable within conceivable prospective. WP2 is to enable a selection of certain goods that are typical with regard to both their estimated marketability and their potential importance for the Austrian forestry (umbrella goods) by specifying the products and services indentified above as to their bio-regional legal-societal frames. WP3 consists of a system analysis on the interference of products and services and the measures addressing for them. It shall be clarified how various production regimes interact and which kind of synergism and antogonism may appear when applying selected management means within the defined frame conditions. In WP4 the effects of management actions on the production processes are lined out and the economic impact of certain measures on the management unit are calculated. It will be clarified which costs will arise by setting sustainability measures, which share of them could be assigned to a level that exceeds the boundaries of social liability of forests and which assets, values and income sources could meet them. The following results are inter alia expected: - A representative listing of selected and analytically analyzed wood and non-wood products and services which are provided by forests and forest management respectively - An analysis of the marketability of the goods identified referencing to the degree of innovation - A frame set for model regions with respect to their specific bio-regional, operative and legal pre-conditions - A set of forestry measures referencing forest products and services to the Pan-European guidelines for sustainable forest management - A cross-check on benefits arising from sustainability instruments that exceed legal (social liability) and cross compliances (e.g., forest subsidies, Natura 2000) - An overview on approaches of monetarily evaluating the effects of sustainability measures on the economic viability of a forest management unit or enterprise