Multiple-use tradeoffs in Swedish mountain region forests

Published Date
Forest Policy and Economics
January 2005, Vol.7(1):39–52, doi:10.1016/S1389-9341(03)00010-8

Author 

• Wenchao Zhou ^,
• Peichen Gong

• Department of Forest Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-901 83 Umeå, Sweden

Received 15 March 2002. Revised 18 November 2002. Accepted 3 February 2003. Available online 18 April 2003. 

Abstract

This paper examines the tradeoffs between different uses of forests in three communes in the mountain region in northern Sweden. The most important uses of the forests include timber production, preservation of biodiversity, reindeer grazing and recreation. Management outcomes with respect to the different uses are measured in terms of the net present value (NPV) of timber production profits, the sum of deadwood volume over time, the minimum periodic lichen production, and a minimum periodic recreation index (RI). The analysis shows that the forests can be managed to achieve dramatically different mixes of NPV, deadwood volume, and lichen production, whereas the RI varies only within a narrow range. To maximize the NPV, lichen production would reduce by 40% from its maximum level, and the volume of deadwood would be close to 0 in period 2 and thereafter. Maximization of deadwood volume would lead to the maximum lichen production, while the NPV would fall below 0. Maximization of lichen production reduces the NPV by at least 20%, and could reduce the amount of deadwood by up to 75%. When lichen production is restricted to its maximum, there is a wide range of possible choices with respect to the mix of the NPV and deadwood volume. The marginal cost of increasing the deadwood volume ranges from 1.12 to 20 SEK/m³. The choice between lichen production and deadwood volume is most flexible when the NPV is fixed at approximately 93% of its maximum.

Keywords

Biodiversity

Recreation

Reindeer grazing

Multiobjective programming

Noninferior set estimation method

Forest planning

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Copyright © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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