A conceptual framework for assessing pathways towards climate neutrality and biodiversity conservation in a circular forest-based economy

Bogomil Iliev, Niclas Scott Bentsen, Huntley Brownell, Nils Droste, D’Amato, Dalia, Iñaki Arto, Wilhelm May and Marianne Thomsen

Ecological Economics, 2025, vol. 238, issue C

Abstract: This study presents a conceptual framework for assessing the sustainability of the forest-based economy and resulting synergies and trade-offs between forest harvest, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity conservation. The framework adopts a comprehensive systems approach to map economic activities and associated flows of resources and embodied environmental impacts along the value chain. It builds on methodologies for environmental-economic national accounting, carbon accounting, life cycle assessment and national forest monitoring. The scope includes changes to the marketed ecosystem service of timber provision and the partially or non-marketed ecosystem services of carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation. The study provides a structured approach for identifying pathways towards a nature-positive forest-based economy that can simultaneously preserve biodiversity, enhance carbon sequestration for climate benefits, and support sustainable wood resource extraction for downstream producers and consumers. The framework is intended to facilitate an integrated assessment of whether current trends in the forest-based economy could serve as effective strategies for achieving long-term climate neutrality and biodiversity conservation. Key contributions include the design of an operational framework that outlines modelling requirements, data needs, and knowledge gaps, The study emphasizes the necessity for integration of data on ecosystem services with national statistics and international modelling structures to enable robust assessments and informed policy evaluations.

Keywords: Circular forest-based economy; Cascade utilisation; Climate neutrality; Biodiversity conservation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800925002320
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:238:y:2025:i:c:s0921800925002320

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108749

Access Statistics for this article

Ecological Economics is currently edited by C. J. Cleveland

More articles in Ecological Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().