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This study investigated peoples requirements for multi-story housing attributes and preferences for apartments in wooden-structure versus steel/concrete-structure multi-story buildings. Data came from an online survey conducted in Finland and Sweden that screened for respondents who expressed a preference for living in an apartment, as compared with a low-rise dwelling. Responses were analyzed using exploratory factor and regression analyses. Swedish respondents assigned significantly higher requirements to factors related to environmental and social sustainability performance than Finnish respondents. Requirements in both countries were described across three factors: environmental and social sustainability, quality, and design. Factor scores differed between socioeconomic sub-groups, particularly regarding quality, between urban and non-urban respondents. Preferences to live in an apartment in a wooden building were positively associated with respondents requirements for environmental and social sustainability, and negatively with requirements for quality-related attributes. Opposite relationships were found in the Swedish sample for apartments in non-wooden structure houses. Design requirements had no significant association with preferences for a specific material in load-bearing structures for multi-story buildings, in either country. The findings can contribute toward enhanced marketing efforts and customized value propositions to increase the social acceptability of multi-story wooden buildings and advance climate-related goals within the housing sector. Funding Agencies|Swedish government research council for sustainable development (FORMAS) [Brg1928]; Nordic Forest Research

We assessed the net impacts of a wood-dependent pellet industry of global importance on contemporaneous local forest carbon component pools (live trees, standing-dead trees, soils) and total stocks. We conducted post-matched difference-in-differences analyses of forest inventory data between 2000 and 2019 to infer industrial concurrent and lagged effects in the US coastal southeast. Results point to contemporaneous carbon neutrality. We found net incremental effects on carbon pools within live trees, and no net effects on standing-dead tree nor soil pools. However, we found concurrent lower carbon levels in soils, mixed effects associated with increased procurement pressures and large mill pelletization capacity, and possible spillover effects on standing-dead tree carbon pools beyond commercial procurement distances. There is robust evidence that although some trade-offs between carbon pools exist, the wood pellet industry in this particular context and period has met the overall condition of forest carbon neutrality.

We characterize a parcelized land management system that does not meet traditional co-located agroforestry practices in the tropics. A cut-and-carry agroforestry system for confined livestock emphasizes land utilization as a source of fodder, cutting and carrying feed from parcels to paddocks near a farmer’s home. It reduces feed cost by utilizing parcels under private, shared, and/or public ownership. Within cut-and-carry systems, we distinguish between those where parcels are managed as monocrops and traditional co-located agroforestry practices. Primary data for our case study were collected by surveying heads of household in Central Java, Indonesia, and analyzed following a capitals-based rural livelihoods framework. A sample of 122 farmers who managed parcels under co-located agroforestry practices was compared against 50 farmers who implemented parcelized monocropping. Overall, the adoption of cut-and-carry systems supports financial resiliency by limiting cash expenditures, facilitating income diversification, and producing assets that meet planned market opportunities and unforeseen cash needs. Survey results show that farmers who engage in parcelized agroforestry have more farming experience, higher farming income, are located at higher elevations, and live farther from the nearest local market. On-farm income among agroforestry cut-and-carry farmers was on average 11.1% higher than those using a cut-and-carry system but only adopting monocrop practices. Land as a biophysical capital asset under full private-ownership and at higher altitudes, and longer farming experience as a human capital asset, increased the likelihood of adopting parcelized co-located agroforestry practices. Membership in cash-crop cooperatives as a form of social capital asset was associated with a higher likelihood of managing land as parcelized monocrops.

Woody biomass provides an opportunity to reduce carbon emissions from existing power plants via co-firing with coal. However, increased demand for woody biomass in electricity generation could potentially increase the price for biomass procurement. This paper presents an econometric demand response model for biomass procurement prices, which is then integrated into a robust mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model. We utilize a two-stage approach to efficiently solve this MINLP. The model is then applied to demonstrate the demand-price relationship and to identify efficient frontiers for optimal state partnerships that achieve aggregated CO $$_2$$ emission rate targets at minimum aggregate cost, subject to a constraint on the probability of satisfying the desired emission targets.

We offer a conceptual framework where management couples natural and human systems backed by a representative synthesis of the literature studying US family forest owners. Within a socio-ecological forest system, management occurs at the intersection of resources and conditions intrinsic to owners and land with interactions influenced by extrinsic social and natural factors. Among extrinsic factors, public policy stands out as a major instrument society uses to influence how family forest owners manage their parcels. We discuss how public policy tools influence individual management preferences occurring within a system of forest owners. In the US, forestry extension programs are a major conduit for achieving public policy objectives by increasing family forest owners’ knowledge and reducing barriers to purposeful management, among other services. We conclude with insights into documented relationships linking family forestlands and owners to larger natural and human systems and identify areas where more research is warranted.

The residential sector accounts for about half of annual wood energy consumption in Germany. We applied a left-censored Tobit model to a cross-sectional dataset to quantify factors affecting household-level German residential wood energy consumption in years 2005, 2010 and 2014. Explanatory variables distinguished between (1) heating technology, dwelling characteristics and alternative energies; (2) woody biomass accessibility and weather; as well as (3) households' socio demographic characteristics. Results show that wood energy consuming households with central heaters used an additional 0.83–1.82 m³ year−1 of wood. Households' wood energy consumption showed a positive correlation with residence area and elastic responses to year of building construction. Greater elasticities in wood energy consumption were found when alternative energy prices exceeded US$ 1,050-1,330 per ton of oil-equivalent net calorific value. Local accessibility of woody biomass measured through forest ownership and forest density was associated with greater wood for energy consumption by an average 0.27–0.52 m3 year−1 and 0.13–0.25 m3 year−1, respectively. In addition, wood energy consumption increased proportionally with increasing rurality. Elasticity of household wood energy consumption with respect to heating degree days was estimated at 0.83–1.15. Among demographic variables, households at lower and higher income levels exhibited greater amounts of wood energy consumption. Results provide evidence that greater adoption of central wood energy heaters, price competitiveness of wood energy over alternative energies, and improving access to wood energy sources can lead to greater residential wood energy consumption in Germany.

Spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR) is used to study interfacial magnetic features in La2CoMnO6 (LCMO)/Pt bilayers. LCMO is a ferromagnetic insulator with a Curie temperature Tc = 250 K and a strong magnetic anisotropy that can be tuned by microstructural strain. However, SMR measurements do not show any dependence on the strained state of the LCMO films. In addition, contrary to what may be expected, SMR signal persists above TC exhibiting a strong magnetic field dependence well above the saturation of the magnetization while the typical hysteresis on crossing H = 0 is absent. All these results suggest that the uppermost LCMO interfacial layers are magnetically uncoupled from the rest of the LCMO film and they do not show long range magnetic ordering. This fact is confirmed by a complete scanning transmission electron microscopy study of the interface that makes evident that the last atomic layers of the LCMO film do not contain Co and have a LaMnO3+δ simple perovskite-like structure with the last atomic layer being lanthanum oxide. The analysis of the experimental results according to recent SMR theories indicates, in fact, that the LCMO interfacial layer behaves as a 2D Heisenberg ferromagnet., The authors acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through Severo Ochoa (CEX2019-000917-S), Maria de Maeztu (CEX2020-001038-M), and SPINCURIOX (RTI2018-099960-BI00) and SCARFACE (RTI2018-094861-B-I00) projects co-financed by the European Regional Development Funds. The authors acknowledge the SEM-FIB microscopy service of the Universidad de Málaga and the ICTS-CNME for offering access to their instruments and expertise. S.M.-R. thanks the hospitality of CIC-nanoGUNE group. J.M.G.-P. and M.X.A.-P. thank the Spanish MICINN for a Ph.D. fellowship (Grant Nos. BES-2016-077301 and PRE-2019-089833, respectively). S.C. acknowledges support from the European Commission for a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions individual fellowship (Grant No. 796817-ARTEMIS)., With funding from the Spanish government through the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000917-S).

So far, consumer housing values have not been addressed as factors affecting the market diffusion potential of multi-storey wood building (MSWB). To fill the void, this study addresses different types of consumer housing values in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden (i.e., Nordic region), and whether they affect the likelihood of prejudices against building with wood in the housing markets. The data collected in 2018 from 2191 consumers in the Nordic region were analyzed with exploratory factor analysis and logistic binary regression analysis. According to the results, consumers’ perceptions on ecological sustainability, material usage and urban lifestyle were similar in all countries, while country-specific differences were detected for perceptions on aesthetics and natural milieus. In all countries, appreciating urban lifestyle and living in attractive neighborhoods with good reputation increased the likelihood of prejudices against wood building, while appreciation of aesthetics and natural milieus decreased the likelihood of prejudices. In strengthening the demand for MSWB and sustainable urbanization through actions in businesses (e.g., branding) and via public policy support (e.g., land zoning), few messages derive from the results. In all, abreast with the already existing knowledge on the supply side factors (e.g., wood building innovations), more customized information is needed on the consumer-driven issues affecting the demand potential of MSWB in the housing markets. This would enable, e.g., both enhancing the supply of wooden homes for consumers appreciating urban lifestyle and neighborhoods and fortifying positive image of wood among consumers especially appreciating good architecture and pleasant environmental milieus.

Water scarcity poses one of the most prominent threats to the well-being of smallholder farmers around the world. We studied the association between rural livelihood capitals (natural, human, social, financial, and physical) and resilience to water scarcity. Resilience was denoted by farmers’ self-reported capacity to have avoided, or adapted to, water scarcity. Proxies for livelihood capitals were collected from two-hundred farmers in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and their associations with a typology denoting water scarcity impacts analyzed with a Taylor-linearized multinomial response model. Physical and natural assets in the form of irrigation infrastructure and direct access to water sources were saliently associated with overall resilience (avoidance and adaptation) to water scarcity. Years of farming experience as a form of human capital asset was also strongly associated with resilience to water scarcity. Factors solely associated with the capacity to adapt to water scarcity were more nuanced with social capital assets showing closer associations. A household with a larger number of farm laborers had a higher likelihood of being unable to withstand water scarcity, but this relationship was reversed among those who managed larger farming areas. We discuss possible mechanisms that could have contributed to resilience, and how public policy could support smallholder farmers cope with water scarcity.

Establishing the value attached to ecosystem services provides instrumental information in the planning of conservation initiatives to ensure forest ecosystem sustainability. This study fills a gap in the literature regarding the value associated with ecosystem services for which their direct use can be challenged by distance and geo-political boundaries. We estimated US residents' willingness-to-pay (WTP) for the restoration of degraded temperate out-of-state and tropical out-of-the-country forested watersheds for improved water quality services under hypothetical payment for ecosystem services (PES) programs. Factors influencing WTP were estimated using a bivariate probit model and mean WTP values adjusted for self-reported certainty of responses. Transboundary economic value decay was reflected on lower households' annual WTP values for the restoration of the tropical out-of-the-country (US$ 124.15–238.30) than temperate out-of-state (US$ 131.70–256.79) forested watershed ecosystems. Bequest and existence were the non-use value motivations most strongly associated with WTP for temperate out-of-state and tropical international PES programs, respectively. Other salient explanatory variables included program cost to households, age, sex, income, household size, political party identification, attitudes towards PES, affiliation with environmental conservation group and direct experience with comparable natural resources. This study offers evidence of positive prospects for transboundary PES programs to restore geographically delimited ecosystem services driven by existence, option and bequest value motivations.

Agroforestry systems provide many ecosystem services that generate significant economic value to society. This chapter synthesizes current knowledge and methods on the economic valuation of ecosystem services, particularly those provided by agroforestry systems. We begin with a definition of ecosystem services from agroforestry. Common methods used to measure economic values are described and limitations are discussed. We surveyed estimated economic values of ecosystem services from agroforestry in the literature. Our review suggests that the economic valuation of ecosystem services provided by agroforestry has received limited attention. We outline suggestions for future assessment of the economic value of ecosystem services of agroforestry.

Implementation of the European Union Renewable Energy Directive has triggered exponential growth in trading of pelletized wood fibers. Over 18 million tons of wood pellets were traded by EU member countries in 2018 of which a third were imported from the US. Concerns exist about negative impacts on US forests but systematic assessments are currently lacking. We assessed variability in fundamental attributes for timberland structure and carbon stocks within 123 procurement landscapes of wood pellet mills derived from over 38 thousand forest inventory plots in the eastern US from 2005 to 2017. We found more carbon stocks in live trees, but a fewer number of standing-dead trees, associated with the annual operation of large-scale wood pellet mills. In the US coastal southeast—where US pellet exports to the EU originate—there were fewer live and growing-stock trees and less carbon in soils with every year of milling operation than in the rest of the eastern US—which supplies the domestic market. Greater overlap of mills’ procurement areas exhibited discernible increments across selected carbon stocks. These trends likely reflect more intensive land management practices. Localized forest impacts associated with the wood pellet industry should continue to be monitored.

The North American tiger salamander species complex, including its best-known species, the Mexican axolotl, has long been a source of biological fascination. The complex exhibits a wide range of variation in developmental life history strategies, including populations and individuals that undergo metamorphosis, those able to forego metamorphosis and retain a larval, aquatic lifestyle (i.e., paedomorphosis), and those that do both. This life history variation has been assumed to lead to reproductive isolation and speciation, but the degree to which it has shaped population- and species-level divergence is poorly understood. Using a large multi-locus dataset from hundreds of samples across North America, we identified genetic clusters across the geographic range of the tiger salamander complex. These clusters often contain a mixture of paedomorphic and metamorphic taxa, indicating that geographic isolation has played a larger role in lineage divergence than paedomorphosis in this system. This conclusion is bolstered by geography-informed analyses indicating no effect of life history strategy on population genetic differentiation and by model-based analyses demonstrating gene flow between adjacent metamorphic and paedomorphic populations. This fine-scale genetic perspective on life-history variation establishes a framework for understanding how plasticity, local adaptation, and gene flow contribute to lineage divergence. Many members of the tiger salamander complex are endangered, and the Mexican axolotl is an important model system in regenerative and biomedical research. Our results chart a course for more informed use of these taxa in experimental, ecological, and conservation research.SignificanceStatementPopulation structure and speciation are shaped by a combination of biotic and abiotic factors. The tiger salamander complex has been considered to be a key group where life history variation has led to a rapid rate of speciation, driven in large part by the evolution of obligate paedomorphosis–a condition where adults maintain an aquatic, larval phenotype. Using a large multi-locus dataset, we present evidence of gene flow between taxa with different life history strategies, suggesting that obligate paedomorphosis is not a strong driver of speciation in the tiger salamander complex. Many of these nominal taxa are listed as critically endangered, and our genetic results provide information and guidance that will be useful for their conservation.

Payment for ecosystem services (PES) programs have emerged as a financial mechanism to ameliorate market failures associated with the multitude of non-market ecosystem services (ES) provided by forest ecosystems. However, the defining principles of PES in theory is far from what pertains in practice. Focusing on the concept of total economic value (TEV) of ES, we identify that PES often include compensation as a proxy for the supply of ES and largely neglect to encompass the different attributes of an ES' TEV, particularly existence values. Most PES schemes are limited by scope of funding and incentives often account for as little as 0.1% to 8.5% of the full annual ES economic values per ha. The mechanism of PES therefore needs to be broadened to integrate potential levels of payments that direct and indirect beneficiaries might be willing to pay to preserve forest ecosystems and their services. Some beneficiaries might be willing to pay for some ES and altruistically expect others to free-ride on their payment. Research efforts should aim at providing better understanding of beneficiaries' willingness to pay in order to expand the demand-side of PES and reduce uncertainties.

The aim of this study is to improve understanding of willingness-to-pay (WTP) for the enhancement of selected ecosystem services from forested watersheds. Results from a nationwide survey of over 1000 U.S. households showed limited knowledge of payment for ecosystem service (PES) programs and antagonistic opinions regarding initial WTP for watershed conservation and corresponding PES financial charges. Water quality dominated importance among selected PES attributes used in a discrete-choice experiment followed by provisioning of habitat for threatened plant and animal species, flood control, and landscape aesthetics. Econometric analyses elucidated that environmental attitudes significantly influenced WTP results even more than annual household income. Results show WTP levels for improvements in water quality were homogeneous across the nation but heterogeneous for the enhancement of habitat, landscape and flood control. Findings support the establishment of PES initiatives that enhance forested watersheds conditions across the U.S. primarily driven by improvements in water quality. PES programs should be tailored locally to emphasize the provisioning of other ecosystem services such as habitat for threatened species and flood control.

Assessments of programs offering payments for forest conservation have largely focused on their contribution to avoiding deforestation but have overlooked degradation. We integrated remotely-sensed forest cover images, georeferenced landscape information, field-level forest inventories and face-to-face landowner surveys to quantify avoided deforestation and degradation within the context of Ecuador's Socio Bosque Program (PSB). We found the PSB prevented 9% of enrolled forest area in Ecuador's Amazon Basin from being deforested over the 2008–2014 period. This value is higher than previous assessments conducted in other Latin American nations. Inventory data suggest that forests within PSB-enrolled areas exhibited less evidence of degradation although statistical differences were only marginally significant. On average, PSB-enrolled forests had between one and two more tree species per hectare than non-enrolled forests. These additional tree species were twice as likely to be of commercial timber value and at greater threat of extinction.

Payments for Forest Conservation (PFC) programs financially compensate forest owners to maintain and increase the provision of ecosystem services. Nonetheless, their effectiveness and additionality in preventing deforestation and degradation remain contested. The design of PFC contracts can influence landowner participation and in-turn a program’s prospects for additionality. We examined preferences for select PFC contractual attributes among over 200 private forest owners in Ecuador’s Amazon basin using a discrete choice experiment. Forest owners at high-risk of deforestation, as compared to others of lower risk, were almost eight-times more likely to select contracts that allowed timber harvest under a management plan, about three-times more likely to select contracts managed by local municipalities or international NGOs, and showed stronger preferences for long-term contracts. To increase enrollment of forest lands at higher risk of deforestation and degradation PFC contracts might need to reconsider the benefits of increasing financial incentives, pursue administration through local municipalities or international NGOs, allow sustainable timber harvesting, and seek permanent agreements.

Eco-labels offer an identifiable marketing tool to convey a product's environmentally friendly and socially desirable characteristics to final consumers. Furniture offers a prime example of the opportunities and challenges to the expansion of green products. This study examined how eco-label credibility and retailer type affect green purchasing intentions (GPIs). Data from a sample of final consumers collected across 124 cities in China were analyzed using a Bayesian approach. Consumers who purchase furniture at supermarkets exhibited a lower GPI compared with consumers at other furniture retailers, ceteris paribus. Consumer perceived credibility of eco-labels, past green purchase, awareness of green furniture, level of education, and whether there is an elder family member in household were all found to positively affect consumers' GPI. Eco-labels may bring market opportunities for green furniture manufacturers but these are limited by effective communication and product outlets. It is intrinsic for green furniture manufacturers to choose retailers with a positive reputation among final consumers to improve credibility and potentially expand market share.

Grassland environments face a number of threats including land use change, changing climate and encroachment of woody plants. In the Southern Plains of the United States, woody plant encroachment threatens traditional agricultural grazing economies in addition to grassland dependent wildlife species. Numerous studies have examined the physical drivers of conversion from grassland to woodland but social drivers may be equally important to understanding the causes of and prescriptions for environmental degradation. In this paper, we report the results of a survey of landowners in the Southern Plains of Texas and Oklahoma in which we asked participants to estimate the current amount of woody plant cover on their land, their preferred amount of woody plant cover and about their perspectives regarding the use of prescribed fire for managing woody plants. Prescribed fire is ecologically and economically one of the most effective tools for maintaining grasslands but many landowners do not use this tool due to lack of knowledge, lack of resources and concerns over safety and legal liability. We found that while most of our respondents did express a desire for less woody plant cover on their land, woody plant preference did not affect landowner’s use of prescribed fire. However, belonging to a prescribed burn association and owning larger properties were correlated with increased use of prescribed fire. Woody plant cover preference was significantly influenced by landownership motivations, with hunters and other recreational motivated landowners preferring more trees and ranchers preferring fewer. This is important because throughout most of our study area, there has been a steady shift from agricultural production to amenity or recreational landownership, a trend that may undermine efforts to restore or maintain open grasslands. Future outreach efforts to promote prescribed fire to maintain grasslands should more actively support prescribed burn associations, which is an effective vehicle for increasing prescribed fire use by private landowners.

This study investigated residents’ perceived benefits of two types of agricultural lands (farms, cultivated forests) offering agritourism. Specifically, this study compared perceived socio-cultural, environmental, and economic services both types of lands produce and identified socio-economic, lifestyle behavioral, and past visit indicators associated with those perceptions. A survey was mailed to a random sample of 5000 households in Missouri (US), obtaining 969 responses. Respondents perceived that farms and forests produce several socio-cultural, environmental, and economic services to society, with few statistical differences between both. Socio-economic and lifestyle indicators were associated in different ways to residents’ perceptions of the services farms and forests provide. Socializing with friends and visiting those settings during childhood had a positive influence on all types of services derived from both settings. Policy, management, and marketing implications are discussed as to incorporate the benefits agricultural lands provide to society in the planning and development of agritourism. Revisado por pares

This manuscript offers a synthesis of the studies compiled under the Special Issue “Socio-economic and Ecological Impacts of China's Forest Policies, Programs and Practices” and outlines areas where new research seems warranted. There is evidence that China's policy interventions in its forest sector have improved national environmental and ecological conditions. Corresponding effects on localized socio-economic conditions are more nuanced pointing to partial or limited success of some restoration programs. More efficient policy design and implementation might be achieved via a mixed bottom-up/top-down approach to stakeholder engagement. For instance, better forest sector outcomes seem plausible by tailoring land practices to local socio-ecological conditions, taking into consideration additional tenure and regulatory reforms to reduce transaction costs, further engage local institutions, and attract new investments. The global clout of the Chinese forest sector creates an opportunity to extend environmentally-sound forest management and wood product manufacturing practices abroad reducing the risk of leakage of domestic conservation. Reduced barriers to trade could support transferring of knowledge and technology. Future research should generate new knowledge to better understand the prospective role of the Chinese forest sector in meeting the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals and contributing to a carbon-neutral China by 2060. Future lines of research should consider, among others, long-term and distributional dimensions of the impacts of China's forest sector policies.

The governance of urban green spaces (UGS) often involves a wide range of stakeholders, each with their own views, preferences, and needs. However, the traditional top-down governance of UGS has struggled to meet the needs of today’s public. By reflecting the different needs of different social groups, public participation has become one of the innovative solutions used to solve the problems of public governance, which has been a widespread concern. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study complements environmental responsibility (ER), environmental concern (EC), subjective environmental knowledge (SEK) and media influence (MI) as the factors influencing the formation of citizens' participatory attitude, and provides multiple influencing paths for increasing citizens' participatory intention and behavior. A structural equation model (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses of the newly constructed theoretical model based on 1191 questionnaires administered face-to-face in Beijing. The results demonstrate that perceived behavioral control has the greatest positive influence on citizens’ intentions and behaviors; that is, their intention and behavior to participate is strongly restricted by the objective conditions of the citizens themselves. Among the additional impact factors, expected personal gratification (EPG) also has a positive effect on intention. Local governments can increase citizens’ intentions and behaviors to participate in UGS governance through two measures: one is to optimize the process of citizens’ participation in UGS governance to reduce the threshold of participation; the other is to enhance the city’s infrastructure and cultural and entertainment activities to enhance citizens’ environmental responsibility.

Wood energy data are reported in forest products and energy statistics but current use of heterogeneous units can result in major inconsistencies. Harmonization of wood energy statistics can benefit data quality and improve measuring sustainable practices, better informing policy-makers and analyzing feedstock competition. Harmonization of wood energy data and subsequent application in the forest product and energy sectors require appropriate conversion factors. We provide conversion factors for forest energy products relative to weight and volume for the residential sectors of EU28 member states. Selected forest products include wood from primary, secondary and tertiary sources considering differences in properties affecting conversion factors. Proposed conversion factors were derived from information on moisture content, heating value, density and changes in wood volumes due to swelling and shrinkage of wood. Heating values relative to weight denote conversion factors to transform weight to energy units that ranged from 13.88 to 17.14 MJ/kg. Computation of heating values relative to volume ranged from 7316 to 11,053 MJ/m³. The use of extreme conversion factors in a sensitivity assessment showed that the ranges between minimum and maximum values accounted for as much as 27% of total wood energy consumption. Application of conversion factors to EU28 residential wood energy consumption revealed inconsistencies between forest products and energy statistics. Closer collaboration between experts and use of universal conversion factors at national levels will likely improve data quality and direct comparability. Conversion factors used in the residential sector can facilitate harmonization in non-residential sectors, but sector-specific product characteristics require further adjustment.

Wood energy, energy derived from woody biomass, has historically been the largest source of renewable energy in the US mainly combusted for heating purposes. However, recent US public policy energy programs have promoted the use of woody biomass to generate electric power, placed less emphasis on heating and largely neglected efficiency considerations. We systematically examine the net useful energy (NUE) produced from one unit of woody biomass from different energy conversion pathways to gauge resource efficiency. Wood energy heat pathways consistently showed higher resource efficiency than electric power conversion did. Across energy pathways, estimates for high-efficiency heat production yielded about twice as much NUE than electricity-only generation per tonne of woody biomass. This result points to the importance of resource efficiency criteria in the design of public-supported incentives to maximize wood energy potential to replace fossil fuels.

Environmental benefits of riparian forest buffers (trees located along streams) are well documented, yet an understanding of factors influencing landowner adoption on properties adjacent to agricultural fields is limited. Reasons for adoption and non-adoption were examined using survey data collected from landowners in Kansas’ Tuttle Creek Reservoir watershed, an area of high concern for water quality and quantity. Survey questionnaires focused on four latent adoption factors: attitudes toward trees, economic motivation, knowledge of riparian forest buffer benefits, and perceptions of government-funded incentive programs. Responses were analyzed with Spearman’s correlation coefficient to determine whether relationships existed between landowner type and each latent adoption factor, Cronbach’s alpha for scale reliability, and the Mann–Whitney U test for differences between adopters and non-adopters. Significant differences between landowner types were revealed indicating that riparian forest buffers were not likely to be adopted if landowners had unfavorable attitudes toward trees, were motivated by economic factors, were unaware of riparian forest buffer benefits, or had negative perceptions of the current design of government payment programs for establishing trees in riparian areas. The following themes were identified for their potential to increase adoption: riparian forest buffers need to be perceived as profitable; opportunities exist for education; financial and technical resources represent major constraints to riparian forest buffer adoption; and there is an apparent need to create awareness of financial assistance programs.

Ecuador has experienced one of the highest rates of deforestation in South America over the turn of the century with consequent threats to the provision of essential life-supporting environmental services. The Ecuadorian government instituted the ‘Socio Bosque Program’ (PSB) in 2008 in an effort to incentivize the conservation of privately-owned native forests. This study is the first to examine the PSB additionality in prevented deforestation through use of a geographic information system. Moreover, face-to-face surveys were conducted and analyzed to create a typology of forest owners based on their estimated likelihood to engage in forest land changes and elicit corresponding preferences for PSB-like forest conservation program participation. The survey data were collected from individual Ecuadorian forest owners in the Western region of the province of Pichincha. We estimate that less than 1% of forestland enrolled in the PSB would have been deforested were it not enrolled in the program. Landowners more likely to engage in deforestation practices denoted greater interest in participating in a conservation program when contracts allowed for the sustainable harvesting of timber. Landowners likely to conserve, showed greater interest in participating in a conservation program contingent on the amount of financial incentive provided. A design strategy, counter to the traditional focus, points to the allowance of sustainable forest harvesting, as a means of more effectively preventing deforestation in the Tropics.

We assessed the role of renewable wood-based biopower generation in supporting local economies by deriving multiplier effects from a sample of U.S. power plants representing 348.3 MW of installed capacity (1.2 million MWh of power generation for 2016) with annual expenditures of over US$117 million. Average annual employment, labor income, value-added, and gross output values associated with the generation of wood-based power were contrasted with those from power generated from coal and natural gas. Economic multiplier effects of localized operation and maintenance expenditures were derived following an input-output analysis. Results, expressed in 2017 US$, show the economic contribution of wood-based biopower was lower (US$123.96 per MWh) than power generated from coal (US$386.55 per MWh) and natural gas (US$989.79 per MW). However, wood-based biopower value-added localized multiplier effects were nearly 20% higher than coal-based power, at US$2.80 per dollar spent in operation and maintenance. Our findings suggest that, after considering sustainability thresholds for woody biomass availability, its expanded utilization could contribute between US$5.00 billion to US$22.00 billion in value-added to local economies across the U.S.

Established frameworks such as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) and the Total Economic Value (TEV) recognize how forest ecosystems have extrinsic and intrinsic value to society. We critically discuss the appropriateness of attempting to adapt a service-dominant logic (S-D logic) framework to meet the unique characteristics of forest ecosystems by incorporating elements from the MEA and TEV. This chapter enriches the current discussion related to S-D logic and forests by including inherent values in-neglect, no-use and no-trade. These categories highlight how the value of forests can be created or destroyed when forest owners neglect values to their wellbeing or when absence of transactions fail to clearly define beneficiaries. Within an overview of Services in Family Forestry we argue and illustrate how the process of participation in public policy programs can influence individual and collective value co-creation and co-destruction. Moreover, institutions can play a critical role in the value creation process as brokers between beneficiaries.