Forest regeneration on European sheep pasture is an economically viable climate change mitigation strategy

Livestock production uses 37% of land globally and is responsible for 15% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Yet livestock farmers across Europe receive billions of dollars in annual subsidies to support their livelihoods. This study evaluates whether diverting European subsidies into the restoration of trees on abandoned farmland represents a cost-effective negative-emissions strategy for mitigating climate change. Focusing on sheep farming in the United Kingdom, and on natural regeneration and planted native forests, we show that, without subsidies, sheep farming is not profitable when farmers are paid for their labour. Despite the much lower productivity of upland farms, upland and lowland farms are financially comparable per hectare. Conversion to 'carbon forests' is possible via natural regeneration when close to existing trees, which are seed sources. This strategy is financially viable without subsidies, meeting the net present value of poorly performing sheep farming at a competitive $4/tCO2eq. If tree planting is required to establish forests, then ~$55/tCO2eq is needed to break-even, making it uneconomical under current carbon market prices without financial aid to cover establishment costs. However, this break-even price is lower than the theoretical social value of carbon ($68/tCO2eq), which represents the economic cost of CO2 emissions to society. The viability of land-use conversion without subsidies therefore depends on low farm performance, strong likelihood of natural regeneration, and high carbon-market price, plus overcoming potential trade-offs between the cultural and social values placed on pastoral livestock systems and climate change mitigation. The morality of subsidising farming practices that cause high greenhouse gas emissions in Europe, whilst spending billions annually on protecting forest carbon in less developed nations to slow climate change is questionable

Comparing money and labour payment in contingent valuation: the case of forest fire prevention in Vietnamese context

The contingent valuation method for valuing public goods is a relatively new method in Vietnam. In developed countries, payments are often requested in money, but the form of payment should be more flexible in developing countries that do not have extensive cash economies. Drawing on historical precedent in Vietnam, payment in working days was also used and accepted by the local people; payment in money was less acceptable for the firebreak establishment and maintenance programme. The household mean willingness to pay for the firebreak establishment and maintenance programme was five days a year. The contingent valuation method was found workable at least for a forest fire prevention programme in the Vietnamese context. The lessons learned from this study should be of interest to researchers and policy makers considering applying the contingent valuation method in newly emerging market economies. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.