Journal of Forest Economics > Vol 36 > Issue 3

Swapping Forests to Preserve Valuable Sites: A Sketch of a Framework for Economic Evaluation

Per-Olov Johansson, Stockholm School of Economics and CERE, Sweden, Bengt Kriström, CERE, Swedish Uiversity of Agricultural Sciences-Umeå and Umeå University, Sweden, bengt.kristrom@slu.se
 
Suggested Citation
Per-Olov Johansson and Bengt Kriström (2021), "Swapping Forests to Preserve Valuable Sites: A Sketch of a Framework for Economic Evaluation", Journal of Forest Economics: Vol. 36: No. 3, pp 183-200. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/112.00000521

Publication Date: 18 Jun 2021
© 2021 P-O. Johansson and B. Kriström
 
Subjects
 
Keywords
Cost-effectivenesscost-benefit analysis forestryconservationuncertaintyrisk aversionnonuse valueskey biotopes
 

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In this article:
1. Introduction 
2. Literature Review 
3. The ESAB-Program 
4. On a Cost-Effective Approach 
5. On the Alternative Scenario 
6. On the Design of a Cost–Benefit Analysis 
7. Concluding Remarks 
Appendices 
References 

Abstract

In 2012 the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency was provided with 100,000 ha of productive forest land. The Agency swapped the land to obtain conservation-worthy forests, and these were turned into natural reserves. Conservation without reference to both benefits and cost typically results in inefficient solutions. In this paper we discuss how to select the forest stands to preserve in a cost-effective manner. We also discuss how to design a cost-benefit analysis of the swapping program. We provide several new results regarding the economics of preservation, when land swaps is a viable instrument.

DOI:10.1561/112.00000521