Managing biodiversity in a forestry environment
Kuusipalo, J.; Kangas, J.
Conservation Biology 8(2): 450-460
1994
ISSN/ISBN: 0888-8892 DOI: 10.2307/2386469Document Number: 341415
In forest management and other land-use planning ecological, social, and economical demands often conflict. Forest planning in particular has been biased towards maximizing economic output while disregarding the ecological effects of forestry practice. In this paper we present an approach for taking biological diversity into account in strategic forest management planning. We used the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method for resource allocation and priority setting. We carried out a case study, whereby a set of management strategies was evaluated in order to identify the strategy which best fulfills the requirement of maintaining biological diversity while at the same time yielding a reasonable income from timber production. We discuss applicability of the approach in solving different forest management and conservation planning problems, as well as in assessment of ecological impacts.