Analysing TRade-offs in the forest between sustainable Economy and Environmental objectives (ATREE)

In the agglomerations of the Swiss Plateau, forest surface and forest resources are increasingly competing with use by other sectors of a sustainable economy (e.g. renewable energies). This can result in the conversion of (limited) forest area to pursue other ecological goals such as climate mitigation or biodiversity protection. In parallel, there are calls for greater use of wood (including fuel wood) in regional value chains, which imply more biomass extraction. All of this can lead to a detrimental effect on the provision of other socially and ecologically desirable ecosystem services in the forest. With this project, we intend to analyse trade-offs that arise from a growing sustainable economy. We evaluate the causes of forest clearances and specifically evaluate trade-offs with respect to biodiversity offsetting as well as climate mitiation through forest management. In case study regions that are particularly affected by these trade-offs, we show which policy instruments are accepted and how different combinations of policy instruments can resolve the trade-offs.