Expert panel-based assessment of forest landscapes for land use planning

Forest landscapes are often not adequately taken into account by land use planning, leading to loss of biodiversity and reduction in ecosystem services and functions. One of the reasons relates to the data provided to planners, which tend to be limited to a description of the characteristics of forests -eg presence of a given vegetation type-rather than an assessment of their multiple values. Value assessments are important for prioritizing forest areas and consequently for steering development toward less sensitive sites. The present study aimed to transform forest inventories into composite, clear and consensual value assessments, in order to provide support to land use decisions in forest areas (eg for location of ski infrastructure, conversion to agriculture, etc). An expert panel-based approach was employed to make an assessment of the nature conservation value of different forest types within an Alpine region. A geographical information system (GIS) database was then built up by linking the forest parcels with the results of the assessments. This information system is being used by the local Environmental Protection Agency to support land use planning procedures, such as environmental impact assessments (EIA) and strategic environmental assessments (SEA).