DOI - Mendel University Press

DOI identifiers

DOI: 10.11118/978-80-7701-025-2-0349

VALUING FOREST NATURAL CAPITAL AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN A BIOECONOMIC FRAMEWORK

Jan Melichar, Kateřina Mácová, Hana Škopková
Charles University, Environment Centre, José Martího 407/2, 162 00 Prague 6, Czechia


Temperate forests support human well-being through providing many ecosystem services. According to the economic theory, forest ecosystems are a form of capital, often referred to as natural capital and thus are productive assets to society. Assets such as forest stands, soil and forest species are created by ecosystem processes that vary through time and space. Therefore, accurate valuation of forest ecosystems requires consideration of the underlying ecological dynamics that create and produce ecosystem services. We present a valuation framework that allows us to measure the shadow prices of individual forest ecosystem components as natural capital assets that is consistent with economic capital theory. Simultaneously, we account for biophysical and economic feedbacks of the system and incorporate three pathways by which the forest ecosystem affects human welfare.

Keywords: ecosystem services, natural capital, forest dynamics, shadow prices

pages: 349-351, Published: 2025, online: 2025



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