Forests have multiple values for human wellbeing. They provide with raw materials (timber, wood, cork) and food (nuts, fruits, mushrooms, cattle, game animals). These ecosystem services of provisioning have economic value recognized by the society and the market.
Other values are intangibles, like improving the quality of water and air, soil formation and protection against erosion, or the mitigation of climate change by carbon sequestration. These ecosystem services of regulation benefit all us, but society not always recognize and value.
Finally the forests have cultural services contributing to our physical and mental health. They are favourable spaces for outdoor recreation, give us aesthetic pleasure and spiritual comfort, have landscape values, and for many people represent identity and links with local culture.
The IRNAS researcher Teodoro Marañón has been interviewed in the report “Values of Andalusian forests” showed in “Espacio Protegido” by Canal Sur on November 2nd 2016.
The report can be seen at the Canal Sur online platform or at the Youtube.