Natural and cultural heritage represent key assets that deliver different kind of benefits to citizens in the Nordic countries. This report illustrates the economic values at stake and discusses the important and inevitable key trade-offs facing decision-makers charged with managing these assests. The report has three goals: to briefly describe existing conservation measures in the Nordic countries, to illustrate the type and magnitude of economic values generated by these measures, and to discuss key trade-offs and policy implications arising from the selection of measures, which lead to welfare impacts depending on the level of human use. The valuation studies reviewed in the report demonstrate real economic values associated with the experiences that natural and cultural heritage provides both in terms of increased welfare and regional economic impacts.

Nature interpretation in the Nordic countries is a book about communication between nature interpreters and their participants in our landscapes. It´s about first hand experiences of nature and the importance of to paying attention to what is inspiring and fascinating, especially valuable or threatened. And about possibilities to reflect over the relation between human and nature. Educators, researchers and interpreters contribute with articles about nature interpretation it theory and practice. The book is written for everyone who is interested in how interpretation can contribute to a sustainable future, nature conservation and areas in society like public health, democracy and the right for all citizens to visit and experience nature. The purpose is to inspire nature interpreters to offer more and even better experiences and learning in the Nordic nature and cultural landscapes.

The CO₂ emissions from passenger cars is declining. Some changes are due to ever improved technology provided by car manufacturers and others induced by political regulation. The report investigates the recent changes in CO₂ intensity in the car fleets in the Nordic countries. The trends in the car sales are presented and the impacts on overall CO₂ intensity are outlined. All Nordic countries have in the past ten years changed the national regulation of passenger cars through different economic incentives and various schemes making low emissions vehicles more favourable. The report describes these changes and complement with an overview of international empirical findings concerning the main tax instruments (purchase-, annual-, fuel tax and road user charges). The potential impact of these taxes are reviewed and recommendations for future uses of the various instruments are provided.

How can natural and cultural values be a resource for sustainable development? That is the question the Nordic Blue Parks project has tried to answer by providing case-studies of regional and local success stories, thereby assessing the possible synergistic effects of cross-sectoral working with both nature- and cultural heritage bodies. Nordic Blue Parks is a new concept that combines underwater nature and cultural trails in four Nordic countries, i.e. Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.The Nordic Blue Parks project has created an international forum to foster ties not only between the various groups working regionally on this project, but also to engender links between the general public and their own cultural and natural resources. Through this project both natural and cultural administrations from several Nordic countries have for the first time cooperated concerning the underwater environment. The Nordic Blue Parks project ably integrates components of sustainable development and provides new economic possibilities to develop local natural tourism, international cooperation, education and research, as well as cultural identity.

Nature provides us with a multitude of goods like food and fiber, drinking water, protection against floods and storms, carbon storage and recreational services like swimming and bird watching. Our welfare and well-being depend on these goods and services – often called ecosystem services, defined as “the benefit people directly and indirectly obtain from nature”. We often distinguish between four categories of ecosystem services; supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural ecosystem services. This report aims to sum up and show some examples of the results of the ecosystem services projects carried out for NCM. It illustrates which ecosystem services we receive from Nordic nature and the importance of these. It also shows examples of how the ecosystem services approach has been and can be used in management of nature in the Nordic countries, and to point out some knowledge gaps.

The working group on Sustainable Consumption and Production, under the Nordic Council of Ministers requested consultants from Gaia to identify, write out and publish best practice cases of sustainable consumption and production on the UNEP SCP Clearinghouse. This report presents nineteen initiatives that cover two particular themes: 1) Sustainable Lifestyles and Education and 2) Sustainable Public Procurement. The cases have also been added into the UNEP's 10 Year Frame-work Program (10YFP) information platform, the SCP Clearinghouse which is a concrete result of Rio+20. The objective is to enhance international cooperation in order to accelerate a shift towards sustainable consumption and production in developed and developing countries. The SCP Clearinghouse is a web-based information sharing tool, which can be used by different actors as an inspiration for advancing SCP worldwide.

De siste årene har økosystemtjenester kommet inn som et nytt og viktig begrep i miljøarbeidet. I denne rapporten oppsummeres prosjektet "Kulturarv som økosystemtjeneste. En mulighetsstudie", hvor sammenhenger, muligheter og begrensinger i grensesnittet økosystemtjenester og kulturarv diskuteres. Rapporten sammenstiller kulturminneforvaltningens verdikategoriseringssystemer med økosystemtjenestetilnærmingens begrep "kulturelle tjenester". En diskusjon av kvalitativ, kvantitativ og monetær verdsetting leder til erkjennelsen at verdisetting av kulturarv og økosystemtjenester ikke kan erstatte hverandre, men supplere hverandre. Samtidig understrekes nødvendigheten av å tenke helhetlig i natur- og kulturminneforvaltningen. Kulturhistorisk og økologisk forståelse vil sammen kunne styrke en bærekraftig forvaltning av landskapet.

The Nordic countries continue to experience growth of urban areas, which provides benefits like economic growth, but also imposes economic costs in terms of reduced ecosystem services. This report focuses on urban nature recreation and highlights economic methods and data that can help capture the associated nonmarket welfare benefits. The study stresses the need to collect user data to better understand visitation patterns, which can be combined with valuation methods to provide evidence of economic benefits associated with e.g., hiking, cycling, skiing, paddling and other recreation activities. Once these benefits are visible, decision-makers will have a better basis to balance economic growth with the environmental costs it imposes on urban ecosystem services.

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/temanord2023-518/ The Nordic countries all have large nature areas and clean waters attracting tourists from all over the world. Many visitors are attracted by fishing related activities, e.g. recreational fishing opportunities or coastal villages with a genuine fishing atmosphere provided by commercial fisheries. The role of fisheries for tourism is analysed in a study financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers. The study highlights that different tourists value different attributes. Some tourists want pristine nature and high recreational catches, while others favour developed services and a local commercial fishing culture. The Nordic tourist destinations could be expected to benefit from focusing on attributes where they are competitive such as pristine nature, closeness to major travel hubs, or a local harbour with traditional fishing vessels.