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An expert or panel of experts suggests a set of targets or desirable levels of achievement for 'm' indicators of sustainability. A method based upon goal programming with zero-one decision variables, which is a powerful tool for determining the overall sustainability, attached to each forestry system is described.

Highlights • Variable retention systems should be considered in a strategic forest planning. • Retained areas ensure the persistence of protected species in managed areas. • Goal programming is a useful tool when dealing with conflicting objectives. • Solutions proposed are directly influenced by the Decision Maker's preferences. Abstract For the past few decades, the integration of biodiversity conservation into forest management has constituted an important challenge, since the new forest management models should make conservation objectives compatible with production issues. In many countries, timber production is no longer the main ecosystem service provided, thus other aspects such as biodiversity conservation are taken into account. One of the strategies developed to do so is to define, at the stand level, areas where final cuttings are not allowed. These areas can be found dispersed or aggregated (comprised of multiple stands) throughout the forest, helping to maintain a percentage of mature forest that fulfils conservation goals. In this study, we have developed a strategic forest planning model that allows us to integrate several retention systems compared to the business-as-usual treatment traditionally used. Production, technical and environmental criteria have been considered in order to analyse the degree of conflict between them by designing a pay-off matrix. Using multicriteria techniques conflicting objectives were assessed, and decision makers' interactions have been introduced. These interactions range from criteria selection to the allocation of preferential weights to each criterion until the best solution among a set of possible alternatives is identified. The presented analytical procedure is based on the extended goal programming method applied in an exemplary forest in central Spain. Our results show that the proposed methodology allows deriving solutions that are acceptable for decision makers while estimating physical and economic opportunity costs of conservation measures in timber volume and Euros respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable forest management has been approached on many occasions by defining and subsequently measuring a set of initially accepted indicators. This methodology permits the aggregation of multiple goods and services with heterogeneous characteristics into forest management. However, the calculation of these indicators has usually been static. When we find ourselves in situations in which there is a need to make long-term evaluations of the effects of possible scenarios affecting forest management, a procedure has to be set up to define and aggregate the different indicators over time, as well as to integrate the preferences of the stakeholders involved in management. This study shows a goal programming-based methodology, which permits to select the best management alternative in 6 climate change scenarios when different indicators are aggregated over 100 years in a mountain forest in Central Spain. The results revealed the predominance of one management alternative (no management) when the preferences of the stakeholders were aggregated. However, when the preferential weights corresponding to some stakeholders were included separately, the solution may notably vary, especially in the case of forest owners. It was concluded that the methodology proposed allows a dynamic aggregation of diverse sustainable forest management in addition to presenting a great flexibility at the moment of selecting various solutions proposed by the goal programming model, and the preferences of the different stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global transportation growth causes several disproportionate impacts on the environment as, for instance, noise pollution which is related to negative effects on human health but also to quiet natural areas decline and biodiversity loss. Besides, sound is a component of ecosystems severely threatened by transportation noise disturbance which is related to negative effects on ecosystem functions. This study deals with aircraft noise impact on natural environments from a multiple innovative perspective. It complementarily combines: noise modeling, field measurements, soundscape audibility, human perception and spatial pattern tools for assessing the chronic growing outdoor noise pollution of ecosystems at landscape scale. Firstly, noticeable soundscape degradation from aircraft overflights has been found causing severe acoustic fragmentation and disruptions in the quietness of a national park in Spain (European Union). Air traffic caused sound pressure levels to increase by approximately 8 decibels from natural ambient levels. Secondly, spatial pattern tools together with noise mapping have been found to be useful in providing decision support for decisions-making through anthropogenic noise impact assessment on the natural environment. Finally, public opinion did not perceive aircraft noise-disruption as being as relevant as that quantified by technical procedures. Although 82% of visitors agree that anthropogenic noise pollution may negatively impact on conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Noise mapping allows the characterization of environmental variables, such as noise pollution or soundscape, depending on the task. Strategic noise mapping (as per Directive 2002/49/EC, 2002) is a tool intended for the assessment of noise pollution at the European level every five years. These maps are based on common methods and procedures intended for human exposure assessment in the European Union that could be also be adapted for assessing environmental noise pollution in natural parks. However, given the size of such areas, there could be an alternative approach to soundscape characterization rather than using human noise exposure procedures. It is possible to optimize the size of the mapping grid used for such work by taking into account the attributes of the area to be studied and the desired outcome. This would then optimize the mapping time and the cost. This type of optimization is important in noise assessment as well as in the study of other environmental variables. This study compares 15 models, using different grid sizes, to assess the accuracy of the noise mapping of the road traffic noise at a landscape scale, with respect to noise and landscape indicators. In a study area located in the Manzanares High River Basin Regional Park in Spain, different accuracy levels (Kappa index values from 0.725 to 0.987) were obtained depending on the terrain and noise source properties. The time taken for the calculations and the noise mapping accuracy results reveal the potential for setting the map resolution in line with decision-makers'' criteria and budget considerations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this study, we proposed a sequential procedure under a multi-criteria framework to address sustainable management in industrial forest plantations. Firstly, a timber harvest scheduling model consistent with multiple objectives identified in the forest management plans for these plantations was formulated. After this, a set of sustainability indicators was identified and briefly described. Next, several management alternatives were generated. Then, the management alternatives were assessed in terms of the sustainability indicators’ values, and ranked according to a goal programming methodology by which the different indicators are properly aggregated. Finally, different priority rankings were obtained, which could represent potential preferences of the decision maker. The procedure was applied to a Eucalyptus globulus Labill. plantation in northwestern Spain. The results showed the validity of this approach, thus deriving the most sustainable management alternative under each scenario. Furthermore, this methodology allows consideration of different preferential weights for the sustainability indicators previously defined. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper has a twofold purpose. First, to characterize the sustainability of the European wood manufacturing industry. In this way, a ranking of the European countries analyzed in terms of sustainability is established. To undertake this task the sustainability of each country is defined by using several indicators of diverse nature (economic, environmental and social). These indicators are aggregated into a composite or synthetic index with the help of a binary goal programming model. In this way, a ranking according to the sustainability of the wood manufacturing industry in the European countries studied is obtained. The second step in the research consists of explaining the causes behind the level of sustainability of each country. This task is carried out by taking the composite indexes of sustainability as endogenous variables and a tentative set of economic, environmental and social variables as explanatory variables. The link between endogenous and exogenous variables is made with the help of econometric models. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper provides a survey of the literature on multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) applications to forestry problems undertaken in the last 30 years or so. More than 250 references regarding 9 forestry topics and 9 different MCDM approaches have been categorized and evaluated. This provides a unified source of references that could be useful for forest management students, researchers and practitioners. The paper ends with an assessment of the literature presented, aiming to reach some conclusions, as well as indicate future trends in this line of research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Economically optimal rotations are not frequently employed in Eucalyptus plantations management despite eucalypts’ economic importance to the pulp industry. The coppice regeneration method used to manage eucalypts leads to a simultaneous optimization problem. In such cases, the manager has to simultaneously define the optimal age in each coppice rotation and the optimal number of coppice rotations for each plantation full cycle. The dynamic nature of the problem of looking for the optimal set of coppice rotations for Eucalyptus plantations obliges managers to use the dynamic programming technique. In order to evaluate the economic loss occasioned when optimal rotations are not considered, two plantations are shown, one with Eucalyptus urophylla S.T. Blake in Brazil and another with Eucalyptus globulus Labill in Spain. Different clearcut ages are established in each country, 5–9 years in Brazil, and 13–18 years in Spain. A multiple products context (wood and carbon) is considered in this paper. The results show different rotations and optimal number of coppice rotations for each site index and case considered. To repeat the seedling rotation in the following coppice rotations usually is not the best option. Besides, the optimal cycle and the land expectation value vary when carbon sequestration is evaluated for the two plantations considered. Finally, on some occasions the results are very sensitive to changes in parameters like the carbon price and discount rate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copaíba oleoresin is a medicinal product obtained from several species of Copaifera trees ( Copaifera spp.), and it is used for its healing and anti-inflammatory properties. Oleoresin is extracted via holes drilled into the trunks of copaíba trees, which are then plugged and periodically harvested in repeated cycles. To date, the optimal harvesting cycle and the factors that influence oleoresin production are unknown. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to analyze various harvesting schedules to determine the optimal cycle in an attempt to obtain maximum oleoresin production or the maximum net present value associated with production. The study took place in Paragominas, Pará (Brazil), and based on the resulting data, a set of alternatives for 1- to 5-year cycles with a planning horizon of 10 years was created. The data were analyzed within two different contexts: a deterministic one and another scenario that assumed that certain variables exhibit non-deterministic behavior for which a Monte Carlo simulation was used. Based on the available data, three scenarios were proposed that differed according to the hypotheses employed to estimate production for years when no measurements are available. The results show that, regardless of the various contexts and scenarios, the optimal harvesting cycle for copaíba oleoresin is three years, which is consistent with some previously published recommendations. Finally, the opportunity cost of not choosing the optimal cycle does not seem to be very high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]