Trade-offs between economic returns, biodiversity, and ecosystem services in the selection of energy peat production sites

Economic development creates challenges for land-use planners in balancing between increasing the use of natural resources and safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystem services. We developed and utilized multi-objective numeric optimization models to analyze the trade-offs between biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES). The approach was used in the land-use planning process in northern Finland when selecting potential peat production sites as a part of the development of the regional master plan. We first quantified Net Present Value (NPV) of peat production, biodiversity, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and water emissions of peatlands. Then we applied multi-objective optimization to examine the trade-offs between the variables as well as to determine a cost-efficient selection of potential peat production sites, that is, a selection which would simultaneously generate the greatest possible economic returns and environmental benefits. Our results showed that with a relatively small decrease in NPV, a substantial decrease in biodiversity loss and a reduction in water emissions compared to the benchmark level could be attained. However, a significant decrease in GHG emissions resulted in a substantial decrease in NPV. We conclude that it is possible to significantly improve land-use management by applying multi-objective optimization in land-use planning.