Robert MAVSAR EFIMED. Forest Ecosystem Services in the MENA Region: need for further knowledge for sustainable forest governance

Transcription

1 Robert MAVSAR EFIMED Forest Ecosystem Services in the MENA Region: need for further knowledge for sustainable forest governance

2 Importance of forest Why do we ascribe such a high importance to forests? If we look from our (peoples) perspective: they directly or indirectly satisfy our needs enable our existence (e.g., Easter islands) they contribute to the welfare of the society 2

3 Forest goods and services More than 200 different goods and services were identified in a study (Mavsar et al. 2008) the list is not complete, because of continually changing uses and the importance society ascribes to different forest goods and services 3

4 Types of forest goods and services Many classification schemes in use (example: functional) Forest Services Resources Industrial Wood Fuel Wood NWFPs Ecological Water protection Soil protection Health protection Biospheric Biodiversity Climate regulation Social Ecoturism Recreation Sports Fishing/ hunting Amenities Spiritual Cultural Historical 4

5 Forest goods and services Great variety -> numerous possibilities and trade-offs water or carbon biodiversity or fire wood Conflicting interests and preferences forest owner vs. recreationists local population vs. society 5

6 The BIG question How and for whom manage a forest? 6

7 Economic Social Ecology Ecology

8 Control Stakeholder groups Inventory Needs, preferences Resource characteristics Management alternatives Evaluation of alternatives and preliminary selection of the optimal alternative Public discussion Revision of the evaluation Plan elaboration & implementation 8

9 Economics - the science dealing with life's two greatest problems: how to make money, and how to get along without it Economist - an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today

10 The role of economics Provide information about stakeholders needs and preferences Evaluate forest management alternatives and policies 10

11 The role of economics more details Exploring the needs and importance of different forest goods and services for different stakeholder groups Estimating the value of market and non-market goods and services Raising awareness among stakeholders about the importance of forests and their role in the provision of goods and services Evaluating forest management alternatives and forest policy instruments 11

12 Example: Some of the uses of economic values of non-market forest goods and services raising public awareness about the contribution of a forest good/service to the social welfare; Justifying investments into certain type of forest management; supporting land use decisions; comparing costs and benefits from alternative management projects or programmes cannot be directly used to determine the amount of compensation that should be paid to a provider of a non-market good or service -> compensation amount based on foregone income or increased costs 12

13 Use of economic values of non-market forest goods and services Deforestation Forest conservation Forest conservation & Payment scheme Benefits for upstream providers Foregone income=minimum payment Costs for downstream beneficiaries Maximum payment Source: Pagiola et al

14 Do we know enough? 14

15 The Mediterranean Forest research Agenda

16 A joint agenda based on 4 key challenges/priorities Impacts of climate and land-use changes in forests ecosystems functions Integration of the risk of forest fires in forest and landscape planning Economic tools and policies for sustainable forest goods and services Forest management models and decision systems adapted to the (changing) Mediterranean conditions 16

17 Few attempts to value forests Merlo, M. & Croitoru, L. (eds.) 2005, Valuing Mediterranean Forests Towards Total Economic Value. CABI International. 17

18 Valuing the tradeoffs of Tunisian forest plantations: A Choice experiment application Hamed Daly-Hassen, Pere Riera, Robert Mavsar, Amira Gammoudi 1 INRGREF- Tunis, 2 Univ. Barcelona- Spain, 3 EFIMED- Spain

19 Introduction Tunisian forest area has tripled from 1955 to 2005 to attain 1.25 millions within various programs (DGF, 2007) But, forest plantations may restrict the free access to forest resources for local population

20 Objective Estimating the change of the social-welfare due to the changed availability of different forest goods and services (multi-purpose forest) Valuation data is needed for decision support by forest managers to enhance net social benefits

21 Survey scenario Scenario based on an afforestation program of 150,000 ha Reduction of erosion to avoid a loss of water reservoir capacities Increased carbon sequestration Enhancing biodiversity of plant and animal species opportunities for recreation activities restrict access to forest uses by local people increase forest fires

22 Study implementation Tunisia national wide survey (face-to-face interviews) equally distributed between men and women distributed among regions and areas : urban (63%), rural (27%) and forest areas (10%) Distributed among age classes and income levels

23 Summary of the main results About 87% are in favor of the afforestation program Significant differences exist between different groups of population Following different scenarios presented above, the total social benefit would be between 42,55 millions and 186,21 millions DT per year

24 SUSTAINABLE MANAGAMENT OF THE BOUHACHEM FOREST (NE MOROCCO) 24

25 Situation the Bouhachem forest (8000 ha) represents approx. 10% of the cork oak forest in Morocco State owned, but poor management (corruption) Grazing and main source of fuelwood for the local population (approx. 600 households) Decreasing forest area (growing illegal crops) Significant part of the forest is degraded 25

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28 Project s objectives Inventory of the current situation and identify the main problems Propose alternative management scenarios Economic evaluation of the scenarios 28

29 Methodology economic part Social Cost-Benefit Analysis 1 st step: Identify goods and services provided by the forest and the beneficiaries 2 nd step: Estimate values of forest goods and services Market prices for market goods and services Choice modeling for non-market goods and services 29

30 Results Main goods and services (main beneficiary): Cork (local community + enterprises) Fuelwood* (local population) Grazing *(local population) Ecosystem conservation* (national level) Tourism* (national-international level) Soil protection* (local population) * non-market valuation (choice modelling) 30

31 Results Overall the protection of the forest would increase the social welfare (simulation example in the following table) Attribut SQ Scenario 1 Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Average CONSERVATION 35% 25% 0 30,8 48,7 0 34,6 EROSION 8% 4% 0 27,1 27,1 0 23,9 RESTICTION 0% 15% 66,9-63,0 28,1 0-12,8 RECREATION NO SI ,7 27,4 6,5 WTP (MAD /person and year) Change in social welfare (millions MAD/year) 66,9-5,1 115,6 27,4 52,

32 What should still be done? Application of existing valuation methods to obtain consistent and comprehensive measures of market and non-marketed forest values (based on stakeholders preferences); Development of environmental accounting systems for forest resources to improve the evaluation of changes in forest resources in relation to the value of the stocks, goods and services they deliver. 32

33 What should be done? Estimating the profitability of forest resources and developing recommendations for its improvement (new markets, products or uses, better mobilisation of existing resources) Design, implement and evaluate policy instruments to promote the optimal provision of market and nonmarket goods and services (based on stakeholder needs) 33

34 THANK YOU! 34