TY - JOUR

T1 - Modelling the choice between multiple-use vs. specialised forest management and its impact on forest management costs

AU - Garcia, Serge

AU - Petucco, Claudio

AU - Thorsen, Bo Jellesmark

AU - Vedel, Suzanne Elizabeth

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Forests provide ecosystem services, including timber production. In some cases, private forest owners perform management actions in order to enhance the provision of such services, or they may be encouraged by public policies and payments. This paper focuses specifically on the decision to set forest land aside for biodiversity conservation, as part of the more general question of the efficiency of multiple-use vs. specialised management of forest lands. We propose an econometric analysis to identify factors in the set-aside choice and measure the impact of this decision on forest management costs. The results show that the set-aside choice depends on the landowners' income and motivations related to forest amenities. The choice of specialised management, as reflected in the set-aside decision, has a significant and positive impact on the intensity of management in the remainder of the forest and on management costs. From a policy implications point of view, these results suggest that instruments such as forest certification, subsidies and reverse auctions for conservation will be most likely to attract the interest of those forest owners with personal motivations and forest properties that offer both benefit and cost advantages in opting for such specialised management strategies.

AB - Forests provide ecosystem services, including timber production. In some cases, private forest owners perform management actions in order to enhance the provision of such services, or they may be encouraged by public policies and payments. This paper focuses specifically on the decision to set forest land aside for biodiversity conservation, as part of the more general question of the efficiency of multiple-use vs. specialised management of forest lands. We propose an econometric analysis to identify factors in the set-aside choice and measure the impact of this decision on forest management costs. The results show that the set-aside choice depends on the landowners' income and motivations related to forest amenities. The choice of specialised management, as reflected in the set-aside decision, has a significant and positive impact on the intensity of management in the remainder of the forest and on management costs. From a policy implications point of view, these results suggest that instruments such as forest certification, subsidies and reverse auctions for conservation will be most likely to attract the interest of those forest owners with personal motivations and forest properties that offer both benefit and cost advantages in opting for such specialised management strategies.

KW - Forest

KW - Multiple-use vs

KW - specialised management

KW - Household production model

KW - Stochastic cost frontier

KW - Corner solution

KW - Recursive mixed system

KW - ECONOMETRIC-ANALYSIS

KW - PRIVATE FORESTS

KW - CARBON

KW - TIMBER

KW - BIODIVERSITY

KW - POLICY

KW - VALUES

KW - AFFORESTATION

KW - STRATEGIES

KW - CONTRACTS

U2 - 10.1007/s10666-021-09774-6

DO - 10.1007/s10666-021-09774-6

M3 - Journal article

VL - 26

SP - 591

EP - 608

JO - Environmental Modeling & Assessment

JF - Environmental Modeling & Assessment

SN - 1420-2026

ER -