Vincent Upton

University of Galway | NUI Galway · Department of Geography

Land use change is fundamentally a product of the interaction of physical land characteristics, economic considerations and agricultural and environmental policies. Researchers are increasingly combining physical and socio-economic spatial data to investigate the drivers of land-use change in relation to policy and economic developments. Focusing o...

Location can be a defining element of the preferences and values that the public holds for forests. Irish forest policy has undergone a number of developments in recent years with a current emphasis on sustainable forest management, which requires accounting for a wider suite of forest benefits and incorporating public preferences into forest manag...

Forest policy is increasingly accounting for public attitudes and preferences. However, attitudes vary across the population and are linked to the characteristics of individuals and their relationship to forests. This study examines whether the extent, ownership, and composition of forests in respondents’ localities influence their expressed attitu...

This paper, using Ireland as a case study, examines the relationship between rural economic activities and river water quality. The stipulation from the EU water framework directive (WFD) that all surface waters in the EU must be of ‘good ecological status’ necessitates a quantitative understanding of the major determinants of water quality. Within...

The adoption of the EU land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) regulation ensures that for the first time afforestation in Europe will contribute toward the achievement of European Union (EU) climate change commitments under the Paris Agreement. However, increased afforestation in Europe could have unintended environmental trade-offs that m...

Many European countries have seen significant changes in forest ownership structure, with the emergence of a cohort commonly referred to as new forest owners, mainly within the non-industrial, private forest (NIPF) owner group. The drivers of this change differ between countries but these owners frequently lack an existing knowledge base to draw on...

This paper, using Ireland as a case study, examines the relationship between economic activities and river water quality. The stipulation from the EU water framework directive (WFD) that all surface waters in the EU must be of 'good ecological status' by 2015 necessitate a quantitative understanding of the major determinants of water quality. Withi...

It is now common for researchers in natural resource management and economics to develop spatial models of recreation demand for the purposes of valuation and planning. Such an approach has significant advantages but requires access to relatively detailed spatial data. In the absence of official data concerning resources, researchers may benefit fr...

This study reports on the findings of an on-line survey of forestry professionals in Ireland to determine their attitudes and beliefs to, and understanding of, continuous cover forestry (CCF). Respondents were asked to indicate their level of agreement with sixteen statements, framed in the context of issues that are frequently raised when comparis...

The importance of ecosystem services (ES) to social and economic activity has long been recognised but these services, which are often recognised as public goods, are rarely accounted for directly in commercial forest management outside of meeting regulatory requirements. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) brought the importance of ES into f...

This report examines studies conducted in Ireland on the reasons why farmers make the decision to enter forestry or not. Attitudinal factors are explored through surveys on the intentions of farmers and the perceived barriers to afforestation; farm incomes, as reported by the Teagasc NFS (National Farm Survey), are reported as a means of determinin...

The natural conditions in Ireland have a positive influence on tree growth as the mean annual increment is twice as high as that in mainland Europe. However, due to centuries of resource exploitation and the expansion of agricultural land the island has the second lowest forest cover in the EU. An increased forest cover would encourage the establis...

Forests are associated with the production of tangible market goods, most notably timber. However, trees and forests are also valued as providers of recreation and for the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity, among other environmental goods and services. Such benefits are undoubtedly important to the welfare of individuals but, as public g...