Forest and rangeland ecosystem condition indicators: Identifying national areas of opportunity using data envelopment analysis

Abstract

This article reports the methodology and results of a data envelopment analysis (DEA) that attempts to identify areas in the country where there is maximum potential for improving the forest and rangeland condition, based on 12 indicator variables. This analysis differs from previous DEA studies in that the primary variables are measures of human activity and indicators of forest and rangeland condition in place of the traditional economic inputs (costs) and outputs. It also involves a different (ecological) production process than traditional DEA analyses, and a statistical preanalysis is developed and applied to homogenize the large and highly diverse landscape where this ecological production process takes place for the purposes of the DEA. It is concluded that, based on this analysis, there are opportunities to improve the forest and rangeland condition without reducing the amount of human activity, but not over large areas, only for some indicators, and typically not for a large number of indicators in the same place. This means that large-scale improvements in environmental condition across many indicators may often not come about without a reduction in human activity.