Ecosystem ServicesPub Date : 2025-10-07DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101782
Claude Patrick Millet , Wesly Jeune , Jephthé Samuel Guervil , Luc André St Armand , Jean Fritzner Amazan , Guerlande Duval , Reuben Bersonly Jean Louis , Brunet Robert , Valérie Poncet , Clémentine Allinne
{"title":"Ecosystem service bundles associated with agrobiodiversity in agroforestry systems: A case study of two coffee-growing regions of Haiti","authors":"Claude Patrick Millet , Wesly Jeune , Jephthé Samuel Guervil , Luc André St Armand , Jean Fritzner Amazan , Guerlande Duval , Reuben Bersonly Jean Louis , Brunet Robert , Valérie Poncet , Clémentine Allinne","doi":"10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101782","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101782","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Smallholder Coffee agroforestry systems (CAFS) deliver ecosystem services bundles crucial to farmer livelihoods, resilience of rural communities, maintenance of natural processes, and biodiversity conservation. Their importance is likely greatest in countries with vulnerable populations such as Haiti. Nevertheless, little is known about service delivery by Haitian CAFS. Therefore, we characterized the agrobiodiversity of 39 representative CAFS in two coffee-growing regions of Haiti (North and Southwest), and the multiple services they support. We investigated associations between the composition and structure of agrobiodiversity and service delivery. To that end, CAFS typologies were established from variables pertaining to coffee genetic diversity, stand structure and injury profiles, shade tree and associated crop diversity, and bioclimate. Associations between typologies were investigated. We also established a typology based on delivered services related to coffee performance, species and nutritional diversity, tree uses, carbon storage, and nitrogen availability. Surveyed coffee plots were generally varietally diverse, aging, and subject to pest and diseases. Most CAFS occurred on a spectrum of farm regeneration (old to renewed coffee plots) tied to the adoption of “modern” coffee varieties, with implications for ecosystem service delivery. Furthermore, we described 3 distinct ecosystem service bundles delivered by CAFS: subsistence-, coffee performance-, and tree utility-maximizing bundles, respectively. Finally, our results highlight the importance of the tree strata for ES, including conservation of native species. Overall, our study contributes to the still-limited knowledge of Haitian CAFS agrobiodiversity. Trade-offs between certain services, and absence of trade-offs between others, signal possible CAFS improvement pathways.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51312,"journal":{"name":"Ecosystem Services","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101782"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2025-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145268334","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ecosystem ServicesPub Date : 2025-10-07DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101781
Luana Meister, Marcia C.M. Marques
{"title":"Analysis of spatiotemporal changes in ecosystem services distribution in the southern part of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil","authors":"Luana Meister, Marcia C.M. Marques","doi":"10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101781","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101781","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding ecosystem services (ES) is crucial for policies aimed at ensuring biodiversity conservation, natural resources, and livelihoods for humanity. In the state of Paraná, southern Brazil, the overlap between the Atlantic Forest domain and extensive agricultural areas suggests possible trade-offs between natural ecosystems and commodity production. This study aimed to evaluate the spatial distribution, synergies, trade-offs, and the net change among multiple ES at the state level. We selected nine indicators of four categories of ES: regulating services (carbon storage, soil conservation, and water yield), supporting services (plant biodiversity), provisioning services (cassava, orange, and soybean production), and cultural services (aesthetics and archaeological patrimony). Results indicated contrasting dynamics over the past decades. While provisioning services, especially soybean production, increased substantially, regulating services declined, revealing clear trade-offs in land-use priorities. Synergies were observed among regulating, cultural, and supporting services, especially in areas with preserved vegetation. Conversely, trade-offs emerged between provisioning and regulating services, notably between the expansion of soybeans and carbon storage. Municipalities exhibited variations in ES production, and four distinct groups were identified based on the similarity of indicator values among municipalities. These regional disparities, influenced by land use and conservation practices, resulted in the formation of landscape clusters (bundles): Non-fragmented Forest Landscape, Fragmented Forest Landscape, Homogeneous Agricultural Landscape, and Mixed Agricultural Landscape. Different synergies and trade-offs among ES indicators highlighted the ecological and social dynamics over time and the land use strategies promoted, which reduced regulating services in favor of commodity production. These findings demonstrate the spatial variability of ES and highlight how land-use strategies can intensify trade-offs while weakening ecological multifunctionality. The study highlights the importance of integrated land management in balancing provisioning demands with the maintenance of ecological functions and promoting the diversification of ecosystem services provision.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51312,"journal":{"name":"Ecosystem Services","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101781"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2025-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145269629","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ecosystem ServicesPub Date : 2025-10-03DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101779
Kylor Kerns , Mark White , Mariana Camacho , Karen McGlathery , Chris Patrick
{"title":"Valuation of blue carbon and ecological co-benefits in temperate seagrass meadows in the Atlantic Virginia Coast Reserve","authors":"Kylor Kerns , Mark White , Mariana Camacho , Karen McGlathery , Chris Patrick","doi":"10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101779","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101779","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Amid growing concerns over climate change and ecosystem degradation, seagrass restoration has emerged as an effective nature-based solution with significant environmental and economic benefits. Using extensive long-term datasets and the benefits transfer method, we quantified the social value of four core ecosystem services: carbon and nitrogen sequestration, increased fisheries habitat, and avoided erosion in U.S. mid-Atlantic Virginia Coast Reserve (VCR) seagrass meadows. In addition, we evaluated key factors used in the valuation of natural capital, such as the social cost of carbon (SCC), discount rates, time horizons, and seagrass loss scenarios. Using a logistic growth model, we projected meadow expansion from approximately 2,190 ha to 10,700 ha over 100 years (2015-2115). In our Base Case using an SCC of $51 mt CO<sub>2</sub>e<sup>−1</sup>, the total societal value of all four seagrass ecosystem services over the next 30 years is estimated at $30.4 million, with an annual value (over the first five years) of $573,700 year<sup>−1</sup>, or $224 ha<sup>−1</sup> year<sup>−1</sup>. The present value of these services over 30 years, assuming a 3 % discount rate, is $19.1 million. Higher social costs of carbon, lower discount rates, and longer time horizons further increase present values over 100 years. As policymakers, communities, and businesses confront climate change and the loss of marine habitats, this study and associated future work highlight the importance of nature-based solutions, like seagrass restoration, in building resilient coastal economies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51312,"journal":{"name":"Ecosystem Services","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101779"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2025-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145222680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ecosystem ServicesPub Date : 2025-09-30DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101766
Imane Mahjoubi , Catalina Osorio-Peláez , Blanka Mallow , Laura Scheef , Nils Kaczmarek , Luis Miguel Silva-Novoa Sanchez , Elisabeth Berger , Oliver Frör , Lisa Bossenbroek
{"title":"Echoes of the Oasis: Water-dependent cultural ecosystem services in the Middle Drâa valley, Morocco","authors":"Imane Mahjoubi , Catalina Osorio-Peláez , Blanka Mallow , Laura Scheef , Nils Kaczmarek , Luis Miguel Silva-Novoa Sanchez , Elisabeth Berger , Oliver Frör , Lisa Bossenbroek","doi":"10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101766","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101766","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Cultural ecosystem services are vital to local identity, well-being and social cohesion in arid regions such as the Middle Drâa valley in Morocco. However, climate change, recurrent droughts and human practices are threatening their continuity. We investigated changes in cultural ecosystem services caused by droughts in the Mezguita, Ternata and Fezouata oases through interviews and surveys with local inhabitants. Our findings show a decline in water-dependent cultural ecosystem services such as agricultural festivals, spiritual practices and traditional crafts, leading to cultural erosion and loss of identity. Community activities such as riverbed cleaning and collective irrigation have also become rare. Conversely, artisanal knowledge-sharing (e.g. pottery or silverwork) and spiritual music are the only ones that show resilience and adapted to environmental and socio-economic changes. The decline of cultural ecosystem services has also been a source of psychological distress, with communities expressing anxiety about the disappearance of traditions and the degradation of the landscape. These findings highlight the limitations of existing ecosystem service frameworks, which often overlook intangible and relational interactions with nature. To safeguard both biodiversity and cultural heritage, it is imperative to integrate cultural ecosystem services into conservation policies, fostering adaptive strategies that sustain oasis landscapes and their cultural significance in the face of environmental uncertainty.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51312,"journal":{"name":"Ecosystem Services","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101766"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2025-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145222758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ecosystem ServicesPub Date : 2025-09-24DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101777
Michio Oguro , Rei Shibata
{"title":"Quantifying effects of demographic biases on estimation of cultural ecosystem services using social media in Japan","authors":"Michio Oguro , Rei Shibata","doi":"10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101777","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101777","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Quantifying cultural ecosystem services (CESs) has been difficult using traditional methods such as questionnaires, so increasing numbers of studies are utilizing big data obtained from social media for evaluation of CESs. Although data obtained from social media are often considered to be biased and non-representative, the actual effects of biases on evaluations of CESs are rarely quantified. In this study, we sampled posts from a microblogging service, Twitter, and investigated the effects of demographic biases on three indicators capturing aspects of social media which can be used for evaluations of CESs (spatial distribution, sentiment of post, and travel cost), focusing on the Japanese national parks as a case study. We found that Twitter users obtained from the randomly sampled 1% posts had a different distribution of demographic attributes (age, sex, and residential prefecture) from the Japanese population. More importantly, we found that activities on the platform such as estimated frequency of georeferencing and posting are different among demographic groups. This indicates that spatial distribution of CESs commonly evaluated by the number of georeferenced posts can be affected by additional demographic biases which cannot be captured by statistics based on all users on social media platforms. On the other hand, among the three indicators, only spatial distribution was strongly affected by the demographic attributes of users, indicating that the potential effects of biases are different for each indicator tested. These results clearly show that consideration of demographic attributes and their potential effects would be necessary to obtain representative and inclusive evaluations of CESs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51312,"journal":{"name":"Ecosystem Services","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101777"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2025-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145159831","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ecosystem ServicesPub Date : 2025-09-17DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101778
Song Chen , Xiyue Wang , Tianming Liu , Mingwei Xie , Qing Lin
{"title":"Using geo-data and social media images to explore the supply and demand of cultural ecosystem services for terraces in China","authors":"Song Chen , Xiyue Wang , Tianming Liu , Mingwei Xie , Qing Lin","doi":"10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101778","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101778","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Terraces are a unique type of agro-ecosystem that are vital for regional food security, biodiversity, and the provision of cultural ecosystem services (CES) to society. This study introduces a novel approach to map the supply–demand balance of terrace CES (TCES) in China by integrating geo-data and social media images. Firstly, a TCES supply assessment framework is developed, comprising scenic attractiveness and heritage attractiveness, to assess TCES supply. Secondly, based on 55,616 geotagged Weibo images, the EfficientNet model classifies images into seven categories, with a questionnaire linking these to four CES types: aesthetic services, heritage & cultural services, recreation & tourism services, and spiritual & emotional services. Population data is also used to assess TCES demand. Finally, the supply–demand ratio and bivariate Moran’s I examine the balance and spatial autocorrelation of TCES. The results show: 1) High supply areas are mainly in southern China, while demand is more scattered in several hotspots; 2) There is a significant positive spatial autocorrelation between supply and demand, where higher supply promotes greater demand. High CES supply and demand cluster in Zhejiang-Fujian Hills and Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, with imbalances occurring in metropolitan areas or mountainous areas along provincial boundaries. These findings and methodologies provide valuable insights for the planning and management of terraces in China, as well as for future CES-related studies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51312,"journal":{"name":"Ecosystem Services","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101778"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145107990","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ecosystem ServicesPub Date : 2025-09-17DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101775
Luke Brander , Lovelater Sebele , Fadzai Matsvimbo , Victoria Guisado Goñi , Florian Eppink
{"title":"Total economic Vulture: The value of ecosystem services provided by vultures in Southern Africa","authors":"Luke Brander , Lovelater Sebele , Fadzai Matsvimbo , Victoria Guisado Goñi , Florian Eppink","doi":"10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101775","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101775","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Africa is home to eleven species of vultures, seven of which face the risk of extinction and are listed as Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. The major threats are poisoning, belief-based use, electrocutions and collisions. The loss of vultures in Asia provided a window into a catastrophic scenario without vultures and the impact of the loss of the ecosystem services they provide. In the African context, there is a knowledge gap on the importance of vultures to humans and the impact that a loss of vultures would have. This paper attempts to fill this gap with an economic valuation of the ecosystem services provided by vultures in Southern Africa, with a focus on Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The ecosystem services addressed in the assessment include provisioning, regulating and cultural services. Data were collected through four surveys targeting different beneficiary groups: 1. local communities in the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area; 2. the general public within each country; 3. the international public; and 4. rangers and park managers. A mix of valuation methods were used including discrete choice experiments, contingent valuation, avoided damage costs, replacement costs, and net factor income. The total economic value of ecosystem services in the three countries is estimated to be just over USD 250 million per year. This is largely attributed to existence and bequest values and the sanitation and pest control service provided by vultures. Although vultures are arguably not as charismatic as other species of interest in the continent, their conservation is highly important to the welfare and health of people in Southern Africa.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51312,"journal":{"name":"Ecosystem Services","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101775"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145107991","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ecosystem ServicesPub Date : 2025-09-16DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101774
Adrienne Grêt-Regamey , Justine Saunders , Peter Edwards , Daniel Richards , Jahson I. Alemu , Natasha Bhatia , Roman Carrasco , Zuzana Drillet , Tze Kwan Fung , Yan Feng Leon Gaw , Wanggi Jaung , Andrea Law , Rachel Ai Ting Leong , Aikeen Youu Ming Lim , Mahyar Masoudi , Yudhishthra Nathan , Rachel Rui Ying Oh , Wen Ting Ooi , Fairul Edros Ahmad Shaikh Shaikh , Xiao Ping Song , Daniel A. Friess
{"title":"The pluralistic natural capital values of a tropical city","authors":"Adrienne Grêt-Regamey , Justine Saunders , Peter Edwards , Daniel Richards , Jahson I. Alemu , Natasha Bhatia , Roman Carrasco , Zuzana Drillet , Tze Kwan Fung , Yan Feng Leon Gaw , Wanggi Jaung , Andrea Law , Rachel Ai Ting Leong , Aikeen Youu Ming Lim , Mahyar Masoudi , Yudhishthra Nathan , Rachel Rui Ying Oh , Wen Ting Ooi , Fairul Edros Ahmad Shaikh Shaikh , Xiao Ping Song , Daniel A. Friess","doi":"10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101774","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101774","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Nature in cities is essential for human well-being. Quantifying and valuing the goods and services provided by nature to city dwellers is missing in tropical contexts. Yet, as cities worldwide face similar challenges, understanding the services provided by tropical urban ecosystems becomes imperative for effective management. Here, we present the first Natural Capital Assessment of a tropical city, unveiling three critical insights. Firstly, we demonstrate the vital reliance of a developed tropical city on nature, particularly for climate change mitigation through regulating services. Secondly, we identify intact natural areas as Singapore’s most valuable assets, stressing the significance of the quality of urban greenery in enhancing ecosystem services. Lastly, we highlight the importance of nurturing connections between urban residents and nature, fostering relational values crucial for sustained care and conservation of nature.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51312,"journal":{"name":"Ecosystem Services","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101774"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2025-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145107992","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ecosystem ServicesPub Date : 2025-09-16DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101773
Weichen Zhang , Tiejun Liu , Xingqi Wang , Bojie Wang
{"title":"Relationships between ecosystem services and human well-being from a water–energy–food nexus perspective: A case study of Jiziwan, Yellow River Basin, China","authors":"Weichen Zhang , Tiejun Liu , Xingqi Wang , Bojie Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101773","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101773","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The sustainable management of water, energy, and food is crucial for achieving regional development, especially in areas facing resource scarcity. However, the connections between ecosystem services (ESs) and human well-being (HWB) remain underexplored, particularly within the context of the water–energy–food nexus (WEF- nexus). This study investigates the spatiotemporal dynamics of ESs and HWB in the Jiziwan region of the Yellow River Basin from 2000 to 2020, using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to examine the interactions between these variables. Our results show that the four key ESs—water yield, sand fixation, carbon sequestration, and food supply—exhibit similar spatial patterns, with values decreasing from southeast to northwest, alongside an improving trend over time. HWB indicators overall increased, with the exception of good social relations, which declined. We found that the water and food systems positively impacted HWB, while the energy system showed a negative effect. These findings highlight the importance of integrating ESs into regional governance frameworks to enhance HWB, with implications for sustainable development in other regions facing similar resource challenges. The study provides a theoretical foundation for developing ESs management strategies from a WEF-Nexus perspective that can be applied to other water-scarce, resource-dependent regions worldwide.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51312,"journal":{"name":"Ecosystem Services","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101773"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2025-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145107989","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ecosystem ServicesPub Date : 2025-09-15DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101772
Samuel U. Ringier , Yohei Mitani , Janine Schweier , Henrik Lindhjem
{"title":"Enhancing engagement: A European meta-analysis of forest owner preferences in voluntary agreements for the provision of biodiversity and ecosystem services","authors":"Samuel U. Ringier , Yohei Mitani , Janine Schweier , Henrik Lindhjem","doi":"10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101772","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101772","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>European forests are increasingly expected to provide a wide range of biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES) beyond timber production, positioning non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners (hereafter, “forest owners”) as key contributors. An emerging question is how to engage forest owners in the needed forest management shift. To better understand the drivers of forest owner participation in voluntary agreements, we conducted a meta-regression analysis of 24 studies from survey-based, stated, or actual participation data, encompassing 28 distinct datasets and 571 observations from 12 European countries. The findings suggest that certain contract designs substantially enhance forest owner participation: short- and mid-term contracts of 1 to 30 years (as opposed to longer-term agreements), the inclusion of withdrawal clauses, non-restrictive management requirements, and higher compensation levels all promote uptake. Moreover, agreements centred on biodiversity, carbon, or forest multifunctionality attract higher participation than timber- or water-focused aims. Although trust between the actors is often considered important in the literature, we did not consistently detect such effects on participation rates. The results indicate a more consistent interest among forest owners in BES agreements after 2012, especially those centred on biodiversity and carbon aims as well as on multifunctionality, potentially reflecting broader policy trends and shifts in motivation among younger generations of forest owners, moving away from timber production. These insights offer practical lessons for policymakers and practitioners aiming to design effective, targeted incentives that leverage Europe’s privately owned forests to meet biodiversity and climate objectives.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51312,"journal":{"name":"Ecosystem Services","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101772"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2025-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145061729","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}