Forests are assumed to play a significant role in relation to climate change mitigation. However, previous studies show that actor groups' perspectives vary regarding how to best utilize forests. This paper focuses on exploring frames in recent Swedish forest- and climate politics and to what extent they may form the basis for conflict resolution or contribute to perpetuate conflicts among actors. The analysis of recent forest- and climate policies, and actor groups' positioning on the issues, builds upon the pathways to sustainability approach in combination with frame analysis. The results showed that ideas based on “Ecological Modernisation” dominated within the forest-climate nexus, but also a clear presence of alternative frames promoting “Sustainable Development”. As a result, conflicting frames were identified within the policies on how to reach policy targets - stressing both the importance of consensus and neutral dialogue with actors, while concurrently prioritizing an economic perspective.
Welfare change estimates obtained from discrete-response contingent valuation experiments normally assume a particular distribution of willingness-to-pay (WTP). Using conventional microeconomy theory, we derive upper and lower bounds on such estimates. These bounds are interpreted statistically in terms of non-parametric estimators of mean WTP and its variance. Two contingent valuation surveys illustrate the proposed bounds, and the performances of the variance estimators are scrutinized with a Monte Carlo simulation. All calculations can be made by hand, .simplifying communication among those involved in interpreting results from contingent valuation studies using discrete-response data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
This paper presents a model of pastoralists, as illustrated by reindeer herders, together with an analysis based on a cross-sectional data set on Swedish reindeer-herding Saami. The intrinsic utility of being an active reindeer herder plays an important role in determining supply. Results show this can lead to unconventional supply responses among pastoralists, and suggest that the probability of a backward-bending supply response increases with stock size. Further analyses confirm that reindeer herders with backward-bending supply curves have significantly larger herds than herders with conventional supply responses. Relaxed externalities from forestry would cause most herders to increase their slaughter.
Reindeer husbandry is a cornerstone in the culture of the Sami, northern Scandinavia’s indigenous people. This paper presents a dynamic, theoretical model of the Swedish reindeer husbandry and the market for reindeer meat, as well as econometric results based on three-stage least squares regression on annual data. The most striking feature of the empirical results is a “backward-sloping” supply function, which is consistent with the theoretical model. The results also show effects of the Chernobyl accident. Prevailing winds at the time of the accident carried radioactive fallout over the grazing areas for the Swedish reindeer husbandry, causing effects on both supply and demand.
This paper discusses Pareto efficient allocations of an environmental commodity, which is both a public good and a public bad, with an application to the Scandinavian problem of conserving wild predators that are killing semi-domesticated reindeer. The paper begins by briefly outlining this conflict. This is followed by a theoretical analysis employing a diagrammatic tool called the Kolm triangle, which is an analogue of an Edgeworth box in an economy with a public good. Bargaining, Pareto improving reallocations and the shape of the Pareto set are discussed, using a simple model, where one of the agents is involountarily contributing to a public good. The paper concludes with an analysis of income-loss compensations and incentives for illegal hunting of predators.
Temporary no-take zones (NTZs) are increasingly introduced in Sweden as a fisheries management tool to restore populations of specific target species. This paper presents a cost-benefit analysis of two real case temporary NTZs closed during a 5–6 year period in the coastal zone of the Baltic Sea, using scenario analysis to account for uncertainty in both the biological and economic effects. A sensitivity analysis was added for certain key parameters. The results of the cost-benefit analyses for the two NTZs are positive in all scenarios relating to the most realistic case of no opportunity costs, i.e., assuming that all fishing activity could be relocated to adjacent areas without cost during the closed period. As an extreme case comparison, full opportunity costs were included, assuming that no fishing activity could be relocated to other areas during the closed period. One of the NTZs then exhibited a negative net result for most scenarios. For the other area the net result was positive even when the maximum opportunity costs of temporary lost fishing opportunities were included, largely depending on the strong positive change in the value of commercial fishing. By demonstrating potential costs and benefits of using temporary no-take zones in fisheries management this study may contribute to policy making, as well as to creating acceptance from stakeholder groups that incur short-term costs from closing areas to fishing.
This paper focuses on problems associated with nonresponse in Contingent Valuation surveys. The results from a telephone follow-up survey show that value inference can be considerably improved by information on nonrespondents' attitudes.
The value of the forest and how it should be utilized is the subject of a heated debate. The objective of this study is to review the literature on the benefits and costs of forest conservation and the adaptations of forest management practices, to improve the forest landscape for recreation. The overview focuses mainly on studies in the Nordic countries published in the last 15 years. The benefit studies provide distinct conclusions regarding the preferences of recreational users: they tend to prefer old growth rather than young forests, and favour a mixture of conifers and broadleaves over a pure conifer stand. On the cost side, there seems to be a consensus that forest conservation for recreation or biodiversity purposes has an opportunity cost in terms of foregone timber revenues. However, there is no evidence from the reviewed studies that such a conservation policy would hamper economic growth in the regions that are directly subject to the policy. On the contrary, there is some evidence that conservation can have a positive effect on local economies, mostly the result of an economic diversification towards tourism and commercial recreation. Overall, there is a striking lack of connection between the benefits and costs of forest conservation. Very few benefit studies make the extra effort to estimate the cost of the changes in forest management that the respondents in the non-market valuation studies are asked to value. Thus, one suggestion for future research is to improve the use of various methods in practical applications to ensure that guidance is comprehensive for policy decision-making.
Huvudsyftet med föreliggande rapport är att på ett övergripande och konceptuellt plan beskriva innebörden av en samhällsekonomisk nytto- och kostnadsanalys, eller samhällsekonomisk bedömning, och hur en sådan kan och bör genomföras för att analysera samhällsnyttan av fiskefria områden. Vidare syftar rapporten till att exemplifiera vilken typ av empiriska data och metoder som finns tillgängliga för en sådan analys med hjälp av den fritidsfiskeundersökning som årligen görs i regi av Hav och Vattenmyndigheten.
Despite well-formulated goals for environmental protection in the forestry sector, the biodiversitycrisis remains. Protected habitats are often small, isolated and lack continuity. We studied forestplanning at a landscape scale as a method to increase habitat connectivity, and improveconservation values whilst maintaining high levels of forest production. We assessed the financialimpacts of landscape planning for the landowners, and present a fee-fund system to solveunequal burdens among them. As case studies, we used three landscapes along a latitudinalgradient in Sweden. The results demonstrate some variation between the landscapes in terms ofthe total cost for set asides and large differences in terms of the financial impact per landowner.Our conclusion is that forest landscape planning may be a way forward to improve conservationefforts, but given the variation in financial impacts, we propose to combine landscape planningwith economic tools for compensation.
The Swedish carnivore policy goal for the four large carnivores – wolverine (Gulo gulo), wolf (Canis lupus), brown bear (Ursus arctos) and lynx (Lynx lynx) – is to ensure a minimum viable population on a long-term basis. To reach this goal the policy restricts population regulation activities, like hunting (prohibited for wolverine and wolf and restricted for brown bear and lynx) in Sweden. For owners of semi-domesticated (i.e. reindeer), and domesticated (livestock) animals this policy and the existence of individuals of these four species results in externalities associated with predation.
This paper presents econometric estimates of the predation and the social costs for these four species, based on ecological models of functional response. The data on costs is based on compensation provided to livestock owners by the Swedish government. The paper also applies these econometric estimates to predict the social cost per species when the population goals of the Swedish carnivore policy are reached. Based on out our model the wolverine and the lynx will impose the highest marginal, as well as total costs on society, given the current policy goals. The wolf is an efficient predator, but due to its geographical distribution in Sweden, its social costs are less than anticipated. The brown bear is largely omnivorous, thus resulting in relatively low social costs.
Worldwide, the challenges of nomadic, pastoralist systems are causing their slow but steady disappearance in favour of sedentary agropastoralism. This paper draws upon an existing household data set from a survey collected and organized by the Swedish non-governmental organization (NGO) Vi Agroforestry, directed at a livestock-based, agro-pastoralist area in West Pokot County, western Kenya. The study focuses on the question of food diversity and malnutrition and the role of agroforestry extension services, i.e. knowledge spread, transfer and development. Our basic hypothesis is that certain fruit and vegetable related food groups are under-consumed in West Pokot, especially in the dryland areas. The results of the study shows that agroforestry, combined with advice through extension efforts can imply a transition path for pastoralists which involves improved dietary diversity, especially concerning food groups that include roots, tubers, fruits and leafy vegetables. From the results certain restrictions that hinder this transition become clear. An important but often overlooked factor is lack of information and knowledge as a determinant of household behavior in developing countries. NGOs such as Vi Agroforestry can play an important role in overcoming this restriction by providing extension services. Developing countries in general are not information-rich environments, a fact that is especially the case for poor citizens living in rural areas. The paper illustrates that careful attention to the information and knowledge available to households is necessary when designing development cooperation.
Denna fallstudie presenterar en CBA av skogsmarkskalkning under 2007. Mer specifikt, i studien, analyseras och jämförs de samhällsekonomiska konsekvenserna av olika typer av skogsmarkskalkning med våtmarks- och ytvattenkalkning. Effekterna av den naturliga återhämtningen inkluderas i analysen. Fallstudien följer inte exakt den steg-för-steg guide för CBA som presenteras i Del II Kapitel 2. Studien baseras på ett samarbete mellan institutionerna förskogsekonomi, SLU, Umeå (Bostedt & Innala) och miljöanalys, SLU, Uppsala (Löfgren & Bishop). Ursprungsrapporten är på svenska är Bostedt et al. (2008), men finns även utgiven på engelska i tidskriften Ambio (Bostedt et al., 2010).
Mean willingness-to-pay (WTP) based on multiple bounded, discrete choice responses from contingent valuation surveys are normally obtained using some kind of parametric estimator. This paper instead exploits the possibility to interpret the response to the discrete-choice question as an implicit contract between the researcher and the respondent, resulting in a minimum legal WTP (MLW) estimator. Never previously used in valuation literature, it is used in this paper to estimate the WTP for the preservation of large carnivores in Sweden, based on a large scale, national survey. Results show that MLW estimates only were 12–19% of the comparable parametric estimates. In keeping with other results in contingent valuation literature, we find that the MLW estimates are positively related to the educational level, income and the fraction of urban population, while negatively related to age. Among the advantages of the MLW estimator is its transparency as well as the fact that it rests on a contractual notion of WTP.
Pastoralist adaptation strategies have to address multiple, overlapping, and often inter-related processes of socio-ecological change. The present study addresses the need for inter-regional comparative studies that account for different geographic, climate, and socio-economic contexts in order to understand how pastoralists adapt to changes in livelihood conditions. The paper uses data from a unique survey study of pastoralist households in four neighbouring counties in dryland Kenya. Taking our point of departure from an empirically based classification of the livelihood strategies available to pastoralists in the Horn of Africa, the survey offers novel insights into adaptation and fodder management strategies of pastoralist individuals and households. The results show that the use of migration as a strategy is more dependent on the ability to migrate than climate conditions. This is the case in localities where a substantial part of the land is subdivided, the population density is high, and where opportunities for migration are subsequently restricted. Diversification of livelihoods as a strategy is largely defined by opportunity. Intensification through active fodder management is mainly common in areas where there has been a proliferation of managed enclosures. Climate change will test the adaptive capacity of pastoralists in the studied region, and diversification and intensification strategies of both herd composition and livelihoods can be seen as strategies for increased climate resilience.
The aim of this paper is to explore some of the theoretical and empirical aspects of an economy which includes cultural capital. We use a simple dynamic growth model and the concept of a social accounting matrix (SAM) to illustrate how the addition of income flows and net changes of various natural and cultural resources can be incorporated into a broader measure of welfare. The Swedish reindeer industry, managed by the indigenous Sami people, is used as an example since it is generally regarded to have significant cultural heritage value, beyond its contribution to conventional national accounts. We discuss a theoretically correct compensation to a cultural sector for preserving and maintaining a cultural heritage. Furthermore, we attempt to estimate the cultural value of the Sámi Reindeer sector in Sweden using a CVM survey. The results suggest that the willingness to pay (per year) to maintain cultural heritage at least at the current level may be quite substantive, estimates showing it can be several times the industry's turnover per year.
Acidification of soils and surface waters caused by acid deposition is still a major problem in southern Scandinavia, despite clear signs of recovery. Besides emission control, liming of lakes, streams, and wetlands is currently used to ameliorate acidification in Sweden. An alternative strategy is forest soil liming to restore the acidified upland soils from which much acidified runoff originates. This cost–benefit analysis compared these liming strategies with a special emphasis on the time perspective for expected benefits. Benefits transfer was used to estimate use values for sport ffishing and nonuse values in terms of existence values. The results show that large-scale forest soil liming is not socioeconomically profitable, while lake liming is, if it is done efficiently—in other words, if only acidified surface waters are treated. The beguiling logic of “solving” an environmental problem at its source (soils), rather than continuing to treat the symptoms (surface waters), is thus misleading.
Economic studies concerning environmental functions of forests are often partial in the sense that they focus on either benefits or costs. In other words, benefit/cost analyses indicating whether it is economically motivated to change forestry to make it compatible with environmental demands are relatively rare. This benefit/cost analysis deals with the forest as recreation environment, where benefit estimates from a study conducted in the county of Västerbotten, Sweden, are compared with cost estimates from another study in the same county. It is shown that adjustments of forest management to meet recreational demands do largely affect both benefits and costs, and that the results are sensitive to how soon the effects on the recreation environment occur after the adjustments of forest management.
Sweden has a vast quantity of forests and the Right of Common Access allows tourists to freely enter any forest no matter who owns it. An economic valuation study was carried out in two tourism areas, one in the southern part of the country and one in the northern part. It was shown that a considerable portion of the value to tourists is attributable to forest characteristics. Furthermore, the results suggest that this value can be increased by modifying forest management practices; for example, by making clearcuts smaller, even if there were more of them, and by increasing the proportion of broad leaved trees in forest stands.
Financial inclusion is an important development impetus, where knowledge of saving and borrowing behaviour provides valuable insights. This study focuses on access to and use of financial services among agropastoralists in rural Kenya, using survey-based household data from 2007 and 2017. Surveys show that households with savings increased from about 57% to 71%—coinciding with increased access to financial training and growing use of informal group-based savings organizations. Share of households that had access to credit also increased during this period, from about 26% to 54%. Support to group-based savings organizations can stimulate financial inclusion among agropastoralists.
Woody biomass is the largest source of renewable energy in Europe, and the expected increase in demand for wood for energy purposes was the stimulus for writing this paper. Opportunities to increase the supply of forest biomass in the short and long term are discussed, as well as environmental side effects of intensive forest management. Focusing on northern Europe, national estimates of potential annual fellings and the corresponding potential amounts, simulated by the European Forest Information Scenario model, are then presented, as well as reported fellings. For the region as a whole, there seems to be substantial unused biophysical potential, although recent data from some countries indicate underestimated annual felling rates. We argue that an economic perspective is lacking in the debate about wood production for energy purposes in Europe and harvest potentials, and we discuss the effects of biophysical capacity limits in forest yield from a partial equilibrium perspective. Using a larger proportion of the biophysical potential in northern Europe than at present will entail trade-offs with environmental and social values, which means that strategies are needed to protect and account for the benefits and costs of all forms of ecosystem services.
Woody biomass is the largest source of renewable energy in Europe and the expected increase in demand for wood was the stimulus for writing this paper. We discuss the economic effects of biophysical capacity limits in forest yield from a partial equilibrium perspective. Opportunities to increase the supply of forest biomass in the short- and long-term are discussed, as well as environmental side effects of intensive forest management. Focusing on northern Europe, national estimates of potential annual fellings and the corresponding potential amounts, simulated by the European Forest Information Scenario model (the EFISCEN model) are then presented, as well as reported fellings. For the region as a whole, there seems to be substantial unused biophysical potential, although recent data from some countries indicate underestimated annual felling rates. There is a need to discuss strategies to ensure that demand for wood resources in northern Europe can be accommodated without large price increases. However, using a larger proportion of the biophysical potential in northern Europe than at present will entail trade-offs with environmental and social values, which means that strategies are needed to protect and account for all the benefits of all forms of ecosystem services.
Forests in northern Sweden are used for both timber production and reindeer grazing. Negative externalities and open access effects threaten the ability of the region to sustain economic benefits from these uses. A discrete time simulation for three municipalities in northern Sweden suggests that modifying forest harvest practices can enhance profits from reindeer production, with relatively low timber opportunity costs. Such efforts to sustain joint benefits from these boreal environments are more likely to be successful in combination with control of reindeer herd sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
In this paper, we use a discrete choice experiment conducted among pastoralists in four different semi-arid counties in Kenya characterized by different land tenure regimes to analyze how pastoralists make tradeoffs between tenure security and grazing flexibility – the so-called pastoralist paradox. Results show that there is one group of respondents who are desperate for change and seem to prefer either group or private title deeds to their current situation. A second, smaller group has strong preferences for the status quo, which could be driven by their relatively short migration distances. Concerning index-based livestock insurance, the basis risk suffered by insured pastoralists due to underprediction is high, but willingness to pay (WTP) for livestock insurance should still be high enough to ensure maximum uptake, leaving current low uptakes hard to explain. The worry about climate change is high but does not translate into increased WTP for more secure tenure or formal livestock insurance.
Analysis of transaction costs in multiple land use situations is helpful in policymaking and land use management, especially in natural resource management situations where interdependence prevails. By using reindeer herding forestry land use management as an example, the aim of this study is to analyze transaction costs among stakeholders in a comanagement situation. The results demonstrate that a key variable driving transaction costs is the presence of a "land use plan for reindeer husbandry," which is an interesting paradox as reindeer herders pursue the development of these land use plans even though this drives their transaction costs.
A tax-fund system has been proposed to advance Swedish forest conservation. We present a choice experiment with Swedish private forest owners on preferences for attributes of a taxfund system. Focusing on three aspects: (i) freedom to choose set-asides, (ii) equity issues, and (iii) frequency of nature inventories, we find two groups of forest owners. The first is opposed to interventions that could curtail liberty and oppose frequent nature inventories, while a smaller group would derive positive utility from joint decision-making. A tax-fund system would need to be designed in a participatory manner to reconcile forest owners, forest industry, and conservationists.
A tax-fund system has been proposed to advance Swedish forest conservation. We present a choice experiment with Swedish private forest owners on preferences for attributes of a tax-fund system. Focusing on three aspects: (i) freedom to choose set-asides, (ii) equity issues, and (iii) frequency of nature inventories, we find two groups of forest owners. The first is opposed to interventions that could curtail liberty and oppose frequent nature inventories, while a smaller group would derive positive utility from jointly deciding on the location of set-asides with society. Both groups have a preference for changing the current tax-base to soil productivity or timber volume. The tax-base chosen together with the modalities of re-distributing the funds will determine the program's efficiency. The paper concludes that a tax-fund system could indeed be a way forward but would need to be designed in a participatory manner to reconcile forest owners, forest industry representatives, and conservationists.
Data from a unique nationwide recreational fishing survey in Sweden is used to estimate benefits of recreational fishing in Sweden, differences between regions and age groups, and how they relate to expected catch. The data targets the whole Swedish population, and as a consequence a large fraction of zero fishing days exists in the sample. To consider this, a zeroinflated Poisson model was used. Swedes fished around 16 million days in 2013, of which twothirds was spent on inland fishing, and one third was spent on marine and costal fishing. Expected consumer surplus per fishing day vary over the season, from about SEK 23 for winter fishing, to SEK 148 for summer fishing. The highest consumer surplus values are found among the youngest and the oldest age groups that were surveyed. Expected catch is an important determinant for number of fishing days, but catch increases mainly influence summer fishing.
A nationwide recreational fishing survey in Sweden was used to estimate the benefits of recreational fishing in Sweden. The survey targeted the Swedish population and, consequently, the sample contained a large fraction of zero fishing days. To consider this, a zero-inflated Poisson model was used in the estimations. Swedes fished about 15.6 million days in 2013, of which two thirds were spent on inland fishing, and one third on marine and coastal fishing. Expected consumer surplus per fishing day varied with the season; SEK 193 for winter fishing, SEK 787 for summer fishing and SEK 95 for autumn fishing. Although about 70 per cent of total fishing days were spent on inland fishing, the weighted consumer surplus per fishing day in marine and coastalareas were higher. The results also demonstrated strong positive effects of increases in expected catch per day on number of fishing days demanded and consumer surplus, which have important implications for fishery policies directed at recreational fishing.