Cost-Efficiency of Alternative Forest Conservation Targets, a Case Study from Finland
Journal Title: UNKNOWN - Year 2017, Vol 6, Issue 4
Abstract
Temporal contracts to protect biodiversity in forests are a recent approach which has shown to be a promising and cost-efficient procedure. With respect to cost-efficiency of temporal contracts the relevant issue is the goal of conservation: for instance, are we interested in enhancing CWD index (coarse woody debris) or increasing the amount of dead wood in forests? This study focuses on demonstrating the effect of conservation goal (either enhancing CWD index or increasing the amount of dead wood) on costefficiency by optimization. Further, we analyze whether both the length of temporal conservation (10 or 30 years) and discount rate (2% or 4%) would have an effect on optimal solutions. The data consisted of 20 measured forest sites with stand age between 60 and 160 years. Majority of the stands (80%) fulfilled the biological conservation criteria of the Finnish Forest Biodiversity Programme METSO and a few of the stands were managed commercial forests. For temporal conservation (either 10 or 30 years), stand growth and dynamics of decaying wood were forecasted with a stand simulator (Motti) by prolonging the clear-cut with 10 or 30 years. The results for the two alternative conservation periods were compared to business-as-usual, BAU, with respect to income losses. Then, for ecological responses the initial, measured stand characteristics were set for the baseline to which temporal conservation alternatives (10 or 30 years) were compared to. The results of optimization distinctively demonstrated that the conservation goal has a relevant effect on the cost-efficiency. Further, the length of the conservation period has also an important role in cost-efficiency whereas the discount rate plays only a minor role in this study context. In the optimal solutions the forest sites with distinctively above-average initial amount of dead wood and excellent growth predictions which imply lower than average income losses due to conservation shone through with respect to cost-efficiency. As a word of caution, it should be pointed out that if one merely chooses the most cost-efficient sites for conservation, there is a possibility that a desirable level of biodiversity might not be fulfilled. To test this, the study needs to be next extended to landscape level with larger data input.
Authors and Affiliations
Anssi Ahtikoski, Riitta Hänninen, Jouni Siipilehto, Jari Hynynen, Juha Siitonen, Terhi Koskela, Soili Kojola
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP352272
- DOI 10.4172/2327-4417.1000189
- Views 118
- Downloads 0
Satellite Image Mapping of Tree Mortality in the Sierra Nevada Region of California from 2013 to 2016
Extreme drought from 2013 to 2015 has been linked to extensive tree dieback in the Sierra-Nevada region of California. Landsat satellite imagery was analysed for the region from Lake Tahoe to the southern Sequoia Nationa...
Assessment of Soil Fertility Changes Over 7 Years after Strip Clearcutting and Afforestation ina Low-Quality Forest Stand in China
In order to change the low-quality forest stands into qualified forest stands with desirable productivity and other ecological benefits, it is necessary to adjust the stand structure and functions. In this study, a low-q...
LiDAR Data Analysis with Fusion/LDV for Individual Tree Measurement
Objective: In recent years, many analyses have been conducted on the vertical structure of the forest using airborne LiDAR data. For analyze LiDAR data, analysis software is developed in Europe and USA. The forest condit...
Cost-Efficiency of Alternative Forest Conservation Targets, a Case Study from Finland
Temporal contracts to protect biodiversity in forests are a recent approach which has shown to be a promising and cost-efficient procedure. With respect to cost-efficiency of temporal contracts the relevant issue is the...
Differences in the Light Environment at Different Heights between Monolayered Sowing Slope and Multilayered Mixed-Species Plantation Slope
Objective: To maintain a sustainable forest, the existence of saplings plays an important role. The light environment is one of the most important parameters influencing the forest floor vegetation. To restore a natural...