Validation of simulation-prospective models: overview of methods and applications to forest-wood sector models.

Summary The validation of integrated assessment models is an important challenge in multi- and interdisciplinary research. We show here that validation methods, often summarized as a comparison between model results and real past data, are complex and varied and that, in the case of models whose objective is to shed prospective light on the long term, validation cannot be reduced to comparison methods. To illustrate our remarks, we apply our reflection to bioeconomic simulation models of the forestry and wood industry.