Optimal Location of New Forests in a Suburban Region

38 Pages Posted: 7 Aug 2006

See all articles by Ellen Moons

Ellen Moons

KU Leuven - Center for Economic Studies

Bert Saveyn

Catholic University of Leuven (KUL)

Stef Proost

KU Leuven - Department of Economics

Martin Hermy

KU Leuven - Division Forest, Nature and Landscape Research

Date Written: May 2005

Abstract

This paper looks at the optimal location of new forests in a suburban region under area constraints. The GIS-based methodology takes into account use benefits such as timber, hunting, carbon sequestration and recreation, non-use benefits (both bequest and existence values), opportunity costs of converting agricultural land, as well as planting and management costs of the new forest. The recreation benefits of new forest sites are estimated using function transfer techniques. We show that the net social benefit of the total afforestation project may vary up to a factor 6, depending on the forest sites that are selected. We show that the recreation value of a forest site varies considerably with the available substitutes.

Keywords: Benefit transfer, travel cost analysis, cost-benefit analysis, forest recreation, Geographical Information Systems (GIS)

JEL Classification: Q23, Q24, Q26, R14

Suggested Citation

Moons, Ellen and Saveyn, Bert and Proost, Stef V. and Hermy, Martin, Optimal Location of New Forests in a Suburban Region (May 2005). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=922249 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.922249

Ellen Moons (Contact Author)

KU Leuven - Center for Economic Studies ( email )

Naamsestraat 69
Leuven, B-3000
Belgium

Bert Saveyn

Catholic University of Leuven (KUL) ( email )

Oude Markt 13
Leuven, Vlaams-Brabant
Belgium

Stef V. Proost

KU Leuven - Department of Economics ( email )

Leuven, B-3000
Belgium
016 32 66 35 (Phone)
016 32 67 96 (Fax)

Martin Hermy

KU Leuven - Division Forest, Nature and Landscape Research ( email )

Leuven, 3000
Belgium

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