Non-Wood Forest Products (NWFPs) provide social and cultural services related to e.g., the tradition and social role of collecting berries, mushrooms and herbs. These services can be ranked among intangible outputs as a part of the recreational function of forests. However, their social value is only partially captured in non-forest activities. We used a Choice Experiment to explore individuals’ preferences towards NWFPs and associated services in Italy, Sweden, and Czechia. We estimated the individual marginal willingness to pay for the supply and maintenance of NWFPs. In addition, we analysed the determinants of people’s choices using the framework of the Moral Foundations Theory (MFT). The results show that people collect NWFPs mostly for self-consumption and recreation, rather than for livelihood or to sell them on the market. Despite this, they are willing to pay for sustainable forest management practices that favour NWFPs supply, as well as for forest conservation. Additionally, Care and Fairness traits in the MFT determine people’s willingness to pay for NWFPs. The results from this study highlight the value of the social component of non-wood forests products and the expenses related to picking. This is a first step towards a value chain analysis of the NWFPs.

Forest ecosystems provide numerous services that contribute to the wellbeing of societies. However, the lack of knowledge about the benefits of non-wood forest ecosystem services, such as non-wood forest products (NWFPs), hinders efficient forest policy decision-making processes. This study proposes a new extension of the Social Accounting Matrices (SAMs) to capture both the private and the social component of NWFPs. By means of a literature review, we show how extended SAMs can be a suitable approach to explain the causal relationship between the supply of forest ecosystem services, forest-based value chains, and the European bioeconomy. The literature analysis shows that the number of research studies calibrating or using SAMs has been increasing over the last decades. Recent extensions of the SAMs made it possible to evaluate the relationship between human wellbeing and the environment. Moreover, we found applications to the forest sector (limited to timber) and to the supply of some non-wood ecosystem services. We believe the extended SAMs will support decision-makers to design forest strategies that properly account for the benefits NWFPs provide to both the economy and the society.