Sustainability Impact Assessment of Forest Management Alternatives in Europe: an Introductory Background and Framework

Adaptation of forest management practices in the context of rapid climatic and socioeconomic changes is a global concern. Stakeholders in the forest-based sector as well as policy makers need improved methods and tools to assess potential impacts of changes in management on sustainability indicators. In this special feature, we introduce a methodological framework for classification of forest management approaches in European forestry and explore how changes in forest management might affect the delivery of various ecosystem goods and services and appropriate sustainability indicators over time and space from local to continental scales. The complementary papers in this special feature explore different aspects of sustainability and risks in representative European forest systems as affected by forest management. We show how a common framework plus supporting growth models and indicators can be used to examine the effects of management on ecosystem services and so provide a first step toward the development of a more integrated approach for strategic forest planning and sustainable use of forest ecosystems.