This book seeks solutions to some of the most challenging environmental and socio-economic research questions faced today by biologists, climate scientists, economists and policymakers, through an innovative methodology, which goes beyond the conventional economic approach. In particular, the present research is focused on (1) developing a holistic, well-accepted approach to explore and map the complex links between climate change, biodiversity, ecosystem services and human welfare in numerical terms; (2) extending the state-of-the-art economic valuation approaches to monetize the climate change induced impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being; and (3) promoting and discussing the incorporation of the economic valuation estimates into policy decision-making. The overall findings provide a better understanding of the magnitude of regional climate change threats to European forest ecosystems, which has been acknowledged by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for its important contribution to the Sustainable Forest Management decision-making in Europe.

Hongyu Ding, PhD. (also known as Helen Ding), is an environmental economist specialised in economic valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services, climate change impacts and the socio-economic impacts of biodiversity policy. She is also the winner of the 2011 UNECE/FAO PhD Thesis Award on Sustainable Forest Management in the UNECE region.