The Global Forest Health Crisis: A Public Good Social Dilemma in Need of International Collective Action

Geoffrey Williams, Matthew D. Ginzel, Zhao Ma, Damian Adams, Faith Campbell, Gary M. Lovett, María Belén Pildain, Kenneth F. Raffa, Kamal J. K. Gandhi and Alberto Santini

No k9jdy, EcoEvoRxiv from Center for Open Science

Abstract: Society is confronted by interconnected threats to ecological sustainability. Among these is the devastation of forests by destructive non-native pathogens and insects introduced through global trade, leading to the loss of critical ecosystem services and a global forest health crisis. We argue that the forest health crisis is a public good social dilemma and propose a response framework that incorporates principles of collective action. This framework will enable scientists to better engage policymakers and empower the public to advocate for proactive biosecurity and forest health management. Collective action in forest health will feature broadly inclusive stakeholder engagement to build trust and set goals; accountability for destructive pest introductions; pooled support for weakest-link partners; and inclusion of intrinsic and non-market values of forest ecosystems in risk assessment. We provide short-term and longer-term measures that incorporate the above principles to shift the societal and ecological forest health paradigm to a more resilient state.

Date: 2022-03-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-cdm and nep-env
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:ecoevo:k9jdy

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/k9jdy

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