Ecosystem services in Norway

The present study is reviewing public reports and research articles in order to estimate and validate ecosystem services in Norway, and investigate conflicts between stakeholders representing different ecosystem services, by means of direct and indirect methods, for different main ecosystem categories,e.g. mountain ecosystems, forests,agricultural areas, freshwater ecosystems, marine ecosystems and urban areas. The ecosystem services (ES) are based on the three main well-known categories (providing, regulating and cultural services). The provisional services in Norway include some very important ES like fish & seafood production, timber and pulp products, bioenergy and genetic resources, while the regulating services in Norway include important services like flood and landslide protection, pest and disease control in forestry and farming, carbon fixation in forests and air quality regulation. These services are also influenced by climate, pollution, urbanization and invasive species. Finally, the cultural services, like recreation & ecotourism, health and well-being, knowledge & learning and spiritual enrichment, are included. The values of the ES are estimated and quantified by direct (market based) and indirect methods (e.g. preferences).

The relative importance of these ES is estimated by questionnaires and cost/benefit analysis, and administrative measures are suggested to compensate for threats and lack of sustainability. However, non-renewable resources like oil, gas and minerals are not included in the present overview. Among the ES in mountains, the value of outdoor activity as estimated from preference studies is totally dominating over the value of hunting and reindeer husbandry. Among the ES in forests the highest values are related to the health benefit from recreation, followed by the value of carbon fixation. The willingness to protect certain forests with high biodiversity is also high. Among ES from agricultural areas the provisional services (food and food processing) are dominating, while in freshwater ecosystems the value of wild salmon fishing measured by payment willingness, is dominating over the willingness to pay for improved water quality. Finally, the most important ES in Norway in monetary terms are found in marine ecosystems. Among the urban ES, the value of outdoor recreation and improved air quality represent the highest values. The most frequent conflicts in Norway are probably those dealing with energy production (windmills, hydropower production, oil drilling) and sea farming vs. biodiversity and recreation, between mass tourism and nature conservation and between sheep farming and conservation of big predators like wolf, bear, lynx and wolverine.