The valuation of non-market forest benefits in Ireland: A review.

Abstract

Forests are associated with the production of tangible market goods, most notably timber. However, trees and forests are also valued as providers of recreation and for the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity, among other environmental goods and services. Such benefits are undoubtedly important to the welfare of individuals but, as public goods, they are not traded and, as a result, not assigned a monetary price with which their value might be identified. Within the context of sustainable forest management, which calls for the balancing of forest outputs, the absence of a metric with which to compare benefits increases the uncertainty and complexity of forest management and decision making. A range of valuation techniques has been developed in recent decades, which offer the possibility of identifying the value of nonmarket forest benefits in monetary terms. This review describes the principle techniques and gives an overview of their use in an Irish context.