The increased demand for bio based products worldwide provides an opportunity for Eastern European countries to increase their production in agriculture and forestry. At the same time, such economic development must be congruent with the European Union’s long-term climate and biodiversity objectives. As a country that is rich in bioresources, the Latvian case study is highly relevant to many other countries—especially those in Central and Eastern Europe—and faces a choice of transition pathways to meet both economic and environmental objectives. In order to assess the trade-offs between investments in the bioeconomy and the achievement of climate and biodiversity objectives, we used the Functional Land Management (FLM) framework for the quantification of the supply and demand for the primary productivity, carbon regulation and biodiversity functions. We related the supply of these three soil functions to combinations of land use and soil characteristics. The demand for the same functions were derived from European, national and regional policy objectives. Our results showed different spatial scales at which variation in demand and supply is manifested. High demand for biodiversity was associated with areas dominated by agricultural land at the local scale, while regional differences of unemployment rates and the target for GDP increases framed the demand for primary productivity. National demand for carbon regulation focused on areas dominated by forests on organic soils. We subsequently identified mismatches between the supply and demand for soil functions, and we selected spatial locations for specific land use changes and improvements in management practices to promote sustainable development of the bio-economy. Our results offer guidance to policy makers that will help them to form a national policy that will underpin management practices that are effective and tailored toward local climate conditions and national implementation pathways.

中文翻译：

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土壤功能评估：利用区域差异满足竞争性国家和国际义务的示例

全球对生物基产品的需求增加为东欧国家提供了增加农业和林业产量的机会。同时，这种经济发展必须符合欧盟的长期气候和生物多样性目标。作为一个拥有丰富生物资源的国家，拉脱维亚案例研究与许多其他国家（尤其是中欧和东欧国家）高度相关，并且面临着实现经济和环境目标的转型途径选择。为了评估生物经济投资与实现气候和生物多样性目标之间的权衡，我们使用功能性土地管理 (FLM) 框架来量化初级生产力的供需，碳调控和生物多样性功能。我们将这三种土壤功能的供给与土地利用和土壤特征的组合联系起来。对相同功能的需求源自欧洲、国家和地区的政策目标。我们的研究结果表明，需求和供应的变化表现在不同的空间尺度上。对生物多样性的高需求与当地规模以农业用地为主的地区有关，而失业率的地区差异和 GDP 增长目标构成了对初级生产力的需求。国家对碳监管的需求集中在有机土壤上以森林为主的地区。我们随后发现土壤功能的供需不匹配，我们为特定的土地利用变化和管理实践的改进选择了空间位置，以促进生物经济的可持续发展。我们的研究结果为政策制定者提供指导，帮助他们制定国家政策，以支持有效且适合当地气候条件和国家实施途径的管理实践。