Can nonmarket values be used as indicators of forest sustainability?

Abstract

A distinction is made between the economic benefits of recent British Columbian (BC) forest policies and their income distributional consequences. Changes in employment and tourism are examples of the latter, while economic surpluses accruing to recreationists and citizens as passive-use values are an important form of economic benefits. Recent controversies about the contingent valuation method for determining passive-use values are reviewed, as are estimates of the values residents attach to the protection of forest amenities in BC. It is argued that constantly updated estimates of annual non-market values can be used as an economic indicator of forest sustainability, to be compared against the sustainable rent from logging operations. -Author