Brent D. Matthies

University of Helsinki | HY · Department of Forest Sciences

This study examines risks and returns associated with payments for ecosystem services (PES) for private forestland using modern portfolio theory. PES schemes for biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation were considered. Pricing data for European carbon emissions offsets and the Finnish biodiversity conservation scheme Trading in Natu...

The circular bioeconomy is a highly scrutinized concept in Finland and internationally, with a high degree of polarization regarding forest utilization rates and distrust between certain actors. This offers an interesting case for an exploratory analysis of issues associated with knowledge co-production. Knowledge co-production entails the integrat...

This study examines the role of business organizations in co-governing biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES) using a phenomenon-based approach and bridging business management literature, ecosystem services literature and environmental governance literature. The empirical analysis includes twelve Nordic forest corporations considered market lea...

Megaforces such as climate change, and market dynamics are impacting the development of product and service markets in the forest sector, driving renewal and reorientation. The University of Helsinki (UofH) has produced leading academic research, through global collaborations, on managing that transition by firms within the Nordic forest sector. To...

The ecosystem services concept has become the predominant lens through which researchers and decision-makers view the relationship between natural ecosystems and human well-being. Over the past decades, a number of widely accepted classification systems, analytical methods, and a rich vocabulary around ecosystem services have evolved in the literat...

Presentation given at HELSUS seminar on risk and risk integration. Topics covered include defining land-use by IPCC land-cover categories, the various roles and risks associated to land-use in climate finance, mapping risk exposure in real-assets with IPCC as guiding framework, and case examples of how impact and risk measurement should and could b...

Modern Portfolio Theory is a well-established method in economic research for considering the risks and returns in asset allocations and the potential benefits of diversification for risk averse agents. Thus, it is a useful tool for guiding sustainability discourse under uncertain future states. Existing discussions around the method's use in envir...

Presentation of findings for: "Not so biocentric – Environmental benefits and harm associated with the acceptance of forest management objectives by future environmental professionals". Ecosystem Services, 29, 128-136.

It is not yet completely clear how individuals weigh positive and negative consequences of specific environmental actions to the self, others and nature, and how these evaluations are associated with the acceptance of such environmental actions. We explored how the acceptance of ecosystem service-related forest management objectives were associated...

Natural and business ecosystems are complex and dynamic service systems that interact through the utilization of ecosystem service offerings for human well-being. Currently, natural and business sciences have not developed a shared and common set of service-based terms or concepts for discussing ecosystem service offerings in the process of value c...

It is not yet completely clear how individuals weigh positive and negative consequences of specific environmental actions to the self, others and nature, and how these evaluations are associated with the acceptance of such environmental actions. We explored how the acceptance of ecosystem service-related forest management objectives were associated...

Ecosystem service markets can be realized through a number of different service business models, but what are the important questions still remaining to be answered? The relationship between natural capital, ecosystem services and value is linked to the “impact” on benefit potentials (i.e. service value potentials). Therefore, public and private se...

https://www.environmental-finance.com/content/analysis/how-private-finance-can-raise-efficiency-in-conservation-markets.html

Despite their evidently different assumptions and operationalization strategies, the concepts of Circular Economy, Green Economy and Bioeconomy are joined by the common ideal to reconcile economic, environmental and social goals. The three concepts are currently mainstreamed in academia and policy making as key sustainability avenues, but a compara...

There is dispute over the climate change mitigating effect of boreal forest management due to the contrasting influence it has on different vectors influencing radiative forcing (RF). For the first time, this study has combined the estimated effects of carbon sequestration in forests and wood products, the surface albedo of forests, the direct and...

A NOVA-funded course “An Introduction to Ecosystem Service Theory and Practices” took place from the 31st October to the 4th of November 2016, hosted by the Latvia University of Agriculture in Jelgava. The course was organized in cooperation between the University of Copenhagen, University of Helsinki and Latvia University of Agriculture.

In Autumn 2016, the Nordic Forestry, Veterinary and Agricultural University Network (NOVA) will organize a course on ‘Ecosystem service (ES) theory and practices’ in at the Latvia University of Agriculture in Jelgava, Latvia. The course will offer the students a comprehensive overview of this pivotal concept in the global sustainability agenda, and...

The ecosystem service (ES) approach is a means of evaluating service value flows from ecosystems to humans for their well- being. The approach suggests that ecosystem functions are divided into categories according to the benefits derived and utilized by beneficiaries. The ES approach has become a tool for public and private decision-makers, driven...

Natural and business ecosystems are complex and dynamic service systems that interact through the utilization of ecosystem service offerings for human well-being. Currently, natural and business sciences have not developed a shared and common set of service-based terms or concepts for discussing ecosystem service offerings in the process of value c...

Natural and business ecosystems are complex and dynamic service systems that interact through the utilization of ecosystem service offerings for human well-being. Currently, natural and business sciences have not developed a shared and common set of service-based terms or concepts for discussing ecosystem service offerings in the process of value c...

Accounting for carbon storage and the albedo effect through Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) or mandatory offset permits aims to internalize the environmental externalities of forest management. This can shift the economically optimal rotation age, and incorporate rents for a wider range of ecosystem service offerings. A mixed stand economic o...

Socially inefficient payment for ecosystem services (PES) schemes result when adverse shifts in the provisioning of other ecosystem services (ES) or overpayment to service providers occur. To address these inefficiencies, a holistic evaluation of trade-offs between services should be conducted in parallel with determining land owners’ service provi...

This study examines the risks and returns associated with payments for ecosystem services (PES) for private forestland using modern portfolio theory. PES schemes for biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation were considered. Pricing data for European carbon emissions offsets and the Finnish biodiversity conservation scheme 'Trading in...

We propose the Service-dominant (SD) logic in describing how Ecosystem service (ES) value networks are conceptualized through shared value creation and the utilization of services for producing human well-being. Until now, the ES approach has relied heavily on the neo-classical frame to explain value and services with mixed results. Additionally, t...

A household survey on the financial drivers of woodlot production was conducted in the Lake Tana watershed of Amhara State, Ethiopia. Analysis of smallholder Eucalyptus globulus Labill. production reveals that converting uneroded over eroded croplands leads to significantly higher financial returns. Returns were also significantly higher for rotati...