Choice experiment assessment of public preferences for forest structural attributes

Marek Giergiczny, Mikolaj Czajkowski, Tomasz Zylicz and Per Angelstam ()
Additional contact information
Per Angelstam: Forest-Landscape-Society Research Network, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

No 2015-30, Working Papers from Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw

Abstract: The objectives of forest policy have been broadened from tangible products, such as wood and fiber, to ecosystem services. This broadening emphasizes the need to also estimate the value of biodiversity and the social benefits of tourism and recreation. While research on the species’ requirements has a long history, the issue of which habitat humans select to engage in tourism and recreation lags behind. In both cases, a major challenge is to consider the complete range of forest structure from a managed to a natural dynamic. Combining the approach used in landscape research with non-market valuation techniques, the aim of this study is to document human habitat selection for recreational purposes in a gradient of forest naturalness. The results indicate that respondents prefer older stands with vertical layering, irregularly spaced trees and a greater number of tree species. Our study thus indicates that forests that are managed (or left unmanaged) for biodiversity purposes are also likely to be attractive to humans. To conclude, while greater management intensity was associated with higher disutility regardless of the model employed, we do not perceive a risk of conflict between forest management designed to protect biodiversity and management targeting recreational value. Consequently, there is a need for spatially differentiated forest management that discriminates among different functions. The state ownership of all larger Polish forest massifs makes this zoning approach feasible.

Keywords: social preferences; forest characteristics; forest management; discrete choice experiment; multifunctional forestry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q51 Q53 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 52 pages
Date: 2015
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dcm, nep-env and nep-tur
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (35)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.wne.uw.edu.pl/index.php/download_file/1930/ First version, 2015 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Choice experiment assessment of public preferences for forest structural attributes (2015)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:war:wpaper:2015-30

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Marcin Bąba ().