Balancing forest ecosystem services by adapting their management to the forest type and the ecological context: a case study in Southern Belgium

Trade-offs between wood production and other ecosystem services (ES) are common. Understanding these trade-offs is a first step to ensure a balanced supply of ES from forests to society. Only few studies, however, consider the influence of the management and the ecological context such as the topography or the type of soils on these trade-offs. We, therefore, assessed the impacts of management and the ecological context on the supply of ES and their trade-offs.
The assessment focused on six ES (wood production, carbon sequestration, flood and erosion control, clean water, recreation) based on an improved Burkhard’s matrix (Burkhard et al., 2009). We considered two types of forest with contrasting management and six types of ecological context ranging from productive soils to more restrictive sites and less productive soils. This matrix was applied on one hand, to map the supply of ES in four municipalities in Southern Belgium and on the other hand, to investigate the impacts of three scenarios (i.e. three different management strategies) on them.
The improved Burkhard’s matrix showed that the differences among ES vary depending on the forest type and the ecological context. Trade-offs appeared only in some combinations of forest and soil type. The maps of ES allowed identifying the hot (synergies between ES) and cold (trade-offs between ES) spots in the territory. The changes in ES supply among the three scenarios and the current supply were quantified to identify the best management options.
In conclusion, a forest is not like another in terms of the trade-offs among ES. Depending on their type, ecological context and management strategy, they provide different sets of ES. This heterogeneity is important to map to identify the hot and cold spots and to take actions in these specific areas (i.e. the cold spots) to ensure a balanced supply of ES.