Assessment of forestry impact on society’s welfare in Lithuania

Abstract

Effective formation and implementation of forest policy can only be achieved with the orientation to the ultimate goal – increasing society’s welfare. The problem is that at present, the impact of forestry on society’s welfare is not determined. There are no dedicated research and methodology. The aim of the study is to assess the impact of Lithuanian forestry on the welfare of society. In order to achieve this aim, a method has been developed based on society’s welfare and forestry sustainability assessment methodologies and for the first time the impact of Lithuanian forestry on society’s welfare has been assessed. The assessment method is based on multicriteria methods. Components of the assessment process are as follows: 1) criteria and indicators; 2) comparison of society’s welfare and forestry indicators; 3) importance of criteria and indicators; 4) assessment of the impact of forestry on society’s welfare. The article describes the methods of the assessment of society’s welfare and forestry sustainability, a method for assessing the impact of Lithuanian forestry on society’s welfare and the results of this impact assessment. A slight increase in the impact of Lithuanian forests on society’s welfare was estimated: 14.5% in 2005, 17.3% in 2010 and 17.6% in 2015.