Cost-effectiveness analysis of woodland ecosystem restoration

Ecosystem restoration has emerged as an important approach to safe-guarding biodiversity. In Scotland, the government is committed to restoring the na tural woodland ecosystem of mountain areas and gives payments to landowners for establishing new woodlands. Although the aim of the policy is to resto re a natural woodland ecosystem, the rate of payment available is correlate d with the costs of establishment rather than the contribution new woodland s make to restoring the natural ecosystem. In this study, the cost-effectiv eness of government expenditure is investigated by comparing the cost of gr ant aid with the ecosystem restoration potential of new woodlands. An exper t-based system for scoring ecosystem restoration potential is described and applied to over 200 new woodlands in a Geographic Information System. New woodlands varied considerably with respect to both cost and ecosystem resto ration score, with the most cost-effective woodlands established close to e xisting woodlands using natural colonisation techniques. Overall ecosystem score was negatively correlated with government expenditure. Alternative ap proaches to improving the cost-effectiveness of grant aid are discussed. (C ) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.