Valuing Forests: Context, Issues and Guidelines

In recent years, issues related to forests have come to prominence on the international agenda. This reflects growing concern over the fate of forest ecosystems and possible loss of the benefits which they provide. In the process of moving towards sustainable management of forests, there is growing demand for practical methodologies for full valuation of forests which permit the contributions of forests to be presented more clearly and in a manner which decision-makers can readily appreciate. Appropriate techniques should be able to adequately capture forest values in terms of the environmental, social and production functions and to recognise the worth of both marketed and non-marketed goods and services. This publication reviews approaches which can overcome the limitations of conventional analysis and provides a reference framework to help clarify what approaches to forest valuation can or cannot work. The publication is not itself a manual on valuation techniques but by reviewing the various approaches, makes it possible to select appropriate methodologies for which it then refers readers to other publications which can provide ''how to do'' details.