Revealing the hidden socioeconomic role of wild forest products for the European bioeconomy

• Wild forest products play an important socioeconomic role in the EU bioeconomy. • A new extended Social Accounting Matrix quantifies wild forest products’ social impact. • Wild forest products contribute to the transport and hospitality sectors across Europe. • Household wellbeing has a non-market related component to account for. • Forest cultural services can be included in policy making. Despite the increasing attention towards the socioeconomic role of wild forest products (WFPs) − also known as non-wood forest products (NWFPs) − their function as cultural service has yet to receive a comprehensive quantification. This, at least partially, is due to the attention given to WFPs as provisioning services, and their commercial values in the rural economy. In this study, we combined for the first time the economic evaluation of forest ecosystem services with a Social Accounting Matrix methodology to analyse the social component of WFPs in three European countries, namely Czechia, Italy, and Sweden. We estimated that WFPs have a direct effect on transport services, as well as food and accommodation services. At the same time, we estimated the value of household wellbeing via non-market valuation. Overall, our results highlight the value that cultural services linked to WFPs add to European bioeconomy. A better understanding of the complete range of available resources offered by forests can inform future policy decisions aimed at enhancing the socioeconomic benefits for societies while sustainably managing forest ecosystems.