IUFRO 2014 CoP Session: Providing Ecosystem Services under Climate Change

During the IUFRO Congress in Salt Lake City a session explored how Decision Support Systems (DSS) are currently designed and applied for a sustained provision of ecosystem services under climate change, ranging from examples in the US and Europe, focusing on different contexts. The presenters provided an overview about the different models, methods and techniques applied to support decision making under changing environmental conditions and the challenges they have to tackle in tailoring the DSS to the needs of the decision makers. The following conclusions were drawn in the discussion:

- there is a strong need for DSS to consider growth models and ecosystem models that are capable in addressing changing environmental conditions, include biotic and abiotic disturbance agents and allow an evaluation for multiple ecosystem services

- DSS should provide frameworks that allow considering uncertainties in decision making and provide possibilities for risk evaluation

- There is a strong need to include decision makers and DSS users in the design of the DSS from the very beginning in order to meet their demands

- DSS allow to increase transparency of decision making processes, support formal evaluation of decision alternatives and allow to include various stakeholders and actors in decision making

- There is a dilemma in addressing all aspects of the complex decision making contexts in forest management but still trying to design simple applications according to the user demands

- The members of the Community of Practice on Forest Decision Support Systems (www.forestdss.org) should continue to share their expertise in applying models, methods, techniques and frameworks for developing and applying DSSs to provide lessons learned

Some impressions from the session

The oral and poster presentations given in the session, can be found as an attachment here:

Oral Presentations:

Harald Vacik & Sean Gordon: Community Of Practice Of Forest Management Decision Support Systems And Lessons Learned For DSS Development And Application

Keith Reynolds: Design Features Behind The Success Of The Ecosystem Management Decision Support System

Christine Fürst, Susanne Frank1, Katrin and Frank Pietzsch: Supporting Participatory Land Use Planning Processes And Decisions – The Giscame Platform

Valentine Lafond, Thomas Cordonnier and Benoît Courbaud: Studying Trade-Offs Between Biodiversity And Ecosystem Services: An Integrated Modeling Approach Based On Uneven-Aged Mountain Forests.

Florian Irauschek, Werner Rammer, Michael Maroschek and Manfred J. Lexer: Ecosystem Services And Climate Change. A Decision Support Process For A Community Forest In The Austrian Alps

Jordi Garcia-Gonzalo and Jose Borges: Architecture Of A Decision Support System To Address Climate Change (SADfLOR)

Antti Mäkinen: Long-Term Forest Planning Under Risk And Uncertainty; Can Robust Linear Programming Help?

Poster Presentations:

Robert Marusak: DSS Optimal - A Case Study Form The Czech Republic

Jan Kaspar: Spatial Aspects Of Biodiversity As A Part Of Harvest Scheduling Decision Process

Aleš Poljanec : Balancing Biomass And Biodiversity In Protected Areas, The Triglav National Park Case Study

Susana Barreiro: Evaluating Future Wood Availability In Europe. Methods And Tools

Francisco Dominguez Hernandez: The System Of Silviculture For Conservation And Development (SICODESI), Lessons From A Successful Case Of Forest Management In Jalisco, México

It is intended to produce a special issue for the Journal Forests of all presentations given during the session and some invited additional contributions that are coming from the field of DSS. The papers will be published under open access and will be peer reviewed. For further information please refer to

the Call for the SI