ESTIMATING THE NONMARKET COSTS AND BENEFITS OF NATIVE WOODLAND RESTORATION USING THE CONTINGENT VALUATION METHOD

The restoration of native forests is an important priority for forestr y and conservation organizations in the United Kingdom. The economic c ase for public sector support for native woodland restoration in the U nited Kingdom rests almost entirely on the provision of non-market ben efits related to wildlife, landscape and recreational opportunities. T his paper describes a discrete choice contingent valuation (CV) to est imate the value of the non-market benefits of restoring two native pin ewood forests in Affric and Strathspey. If only the willingness to pay (WTP) of those who supported the restoration plan was considered, the average benefit estimate per household was pound 35 for Affric and po und 53 for Strathspey. When the compensation required by a small propo rtion of respondents who preferred the current moorland landscape, was estimated mean WTP was unchanged for Affric, but fell to pound 24 for Strathspey. The study highlights the need to take account of non-mark et benefits and costs when evaluating land use change, otherwise benef its may he overestimated and there is a possibility that the wrong pro jects will be selected. The sensitivity of CV values to the scope of t he environmental change are also investigated and the issue of embeddi ng discussed.