We carried out the baseline ecosystem services assessment of the Italian forest sites covered by the LIFE4OakForest project. Our assessment aimed to reveal the current conditions of the selected four ecosystem services (biomass, carbon sequestration, microhabitat maintenance and pest control). We found that on one of the two project areas, the volume of biomass – and therefore the carbon stock of the biomass – is higher than the national and regional average. Biomass and carbon sequestration ecosystem services have a strong effect on other services and therefore, their more favorable status could potentially indicate that the related ecosystem services are also in a better condition than the national average. Furthermore, we also found that the deadwood amount and thus, presumably microhabitat maintenance ecosystem service are also in a better condition compared to the national average. However, on the other project area, probably due to its young age, ecosystem services conditions are worse than the national average. Using our baseline assessment, we will be able to investigate at the end of the project whether the conservation management actions induced by the project will have a significant impact on the four chosen ecosystem services at the sites. In case you are interested in receiving further information on our assessment, do not forget to check out the details on the Hungarian assessment here, and do not hesitate to contact us.
Greenformation
Triggering green and social transition and transformation
