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Valuation and
Incentives
In recent years, significant advances have been made in the development
and use of economic tools and measures for sustainable forest management
(SFM). Despite this, there is still low awareness of these economic
methods and tools among both economic and forestry planners and
policy makers, and most economic measures for sustainable forest
management are still to be institutionalised at the national level.
IUCN's work highlights economic valuation and incentives. These
two tools should be viewed as means to an end, and not as ends in
themselves. A more holistic set of forest values (including both
use and non-use values) should be incorporated in decision making
that affects forests and the communities who depend on them. Valuation
studies need to pay much more attention to the distribution of market
and non-market values to different socio-economic groups, particularly
the rural poor.
IUCN has advocated through the international policy arena that
incentives and environmental and trade-distorting subsidies for
forest-related land-use activities need to be re-orientated and
reformed to enhance, rather than undermine, the functionality of
forest landscapes. By doing so, the future prospects of the poor
can be improved. Markets should be used to provide incentives for
ensuring the long-term viability and sustainability of forests and
of the communities that depend on them.
Click
here for IUCN Position Paper on Valuation and Incentives
at UNFF-3
A Valuation
Tool Kit: The South American Experience
IUCN has produced a toolkit focused on South America with the involvement
of a wide range of partners and collaborators. The toolkit is divided
up according to 4 key themes that contribute towards the use of
economic tools and measures for sustainable forest management:
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Description of the concept of the total economic value of forests,
and methods for quantifying these values and expressing them
in monetary terms.
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Illustration of how in the light of information about such
values, economic incentive measures can be developed and used
for sustainable forest management.
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Generating sufficient finance for sustainable forest management,
at local, national and global levels.
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Ways in which forest policies interact with economic management
issues and tools, including a country-by-country analysis.
Throughout the toolkit, economic methods, concepts, and applications
to on-the-ground forest management issues are illustrated by real-world
examples and case studies from the South American region.
For more information on this toolkit,
please contact:
Consuelo Espinosa
Coordinator Programa Conservacion de Bosques,
UICN Oficina Regional para America del Sur
Tel + 593 2 2261 075 Ext. 205
Email: consuelo.espinosa@iucn.org
To know more about Valuation and Incentives, click
here.
To know more about IUCN's work on Economics, Valuation and Incentives,
click here.
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