Tourists' perceptions and willingness to pay for the control of Opuntia stricta invasion in protected areas: A case study from South Africa

Invasive alien plants have a long history of establishment in the national parks of South Africa.In particular, Opuntia stricta (sour prickly pear) has invaded several protected areas in thecountry, threatening the biodiversity conservation mandate of these conservation areas. Thisarticle focuses on the economic estimation of O. stricta's negative impacts in protected areas byusing Contingent Valuation surveys conducted amongst a sample of tourists in the PilanesbergNational Park (North West Parks and Tourism Board, South Africa). Tourists' familiarity andawareness of selected invasive alien plants and their willingness to pay for the implementationof a control programme for O. stricta were assessed. The results show that many tourists arefamiliar with invasive alien plants and their (positive and negative) impacts and, in particular,perceived the presence of O. stricta to be negative, due to the impacts on aesthetics and recreation.Socio-demographic characteristics, as well as individual attitudes and biocentric beliefs, have aninfluence on the willingness to contribute financially to a control programme for O. stricta. Theindividual willingness to pay assessment found that the majority of respondents (78%) werewilling to pay a higher entrance fee (an additional R57.30 or $7.00 per day) for a hypotheticalprogramme to control the invasion of O. stricta in the Pilanesberg National Park.Conservation implications: The willingness of tourists to pay for O. stricta managementprovides useful insights in the decision-making process of park management. The resultsare encouraging, since, in general, tourists are aware of the problem and are in support ofproviding additional economic input for preventing future alien plant invasions

Effects of different thinning systems on the economic value of ecosystem services: A case-study in a black pine peri-urban forest in Central Italy

Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) should be able to produce an optimal level of bundle of Ecosystem Services (ES), thus ensuring more resilient forest ecosystems also creating benefits for local population and human well-being. Yet, choosing between alternative forest management practices is not straightforward as it necessarily involves ES trade-offs. Forest management decisions have to reconcile the socio-economic and ecological contributions of forest ecosystems by fostering a synergistic relation between multiple ES while lowering ES trade-offs. The aim of the study is to analyze different forest management practices (selective and traditional thinning) in black pine peri-urban forest in Central Italy, by investigating their contribution in terms of provisioning (wood production), cultural (recreational benefits), regulating (climate change mitigation) ES. For each management option was performed: (1) the biophysical assessment of selected ES by using primary data and calculating indicators for wood production with special regard to biomass for energy use (living trees and deadwood volume harvested), recreational benefits (tourists’ preferences for each forest management practice), climate change mitigation (carbon sequestration in above-ground and below-ground biomass), and (2) the economic valuation of wood production, recreational benefits and climate change mitigation ES using direct and indirect methods (environmental evaluation techniques). The results show that the effects of the selective thinning on ES is higher that the effects of the traditional thinning. The economic value of the three ES provided by traditional and selective thinning are respectively: bioenergy production 154.2 € ha-1 yr-1 and 223.3 € ha-1 yr-1; recreational benefits 193.2 € ha-1 yr-1 and 231.9 € ha-1 yr-1; carbon sequestration 29.0 € ha-1 yr-1and 36.2 € ha-1 yr-1. The integrated (biophysical and economic) assessment of ES in addition to the trade-off analysis can provide multi-perspective insights for forest policy makers and can be included as a part of the local forest management plans.</p

Stakeholders’ preferences and economic value of forest ecosystem services: An example in the Italian alps

Alpine forest environments provide a wide range of ecosystem services essential for human life and well-being. Albeit the benefits they yield, ecosystem services’ value is often underestimated because it is not reflected in a market price. Ecosystem services generate very high economic, ecological and social values largely enjoyed by the stakeholders, who live in their surroundings. Hence, stakeholders’ preferences for both marketable and non-marketable ecosystem services, as well as the possible relationships between stakeholders’ preferences and the economic value of ecosystem services should be broadly investigated to provide better informed and more effective natural resources management. Based on these considerations, the present contribution assesses the economic value of bundle of forest ecosystem services (timber and fuelwood production, carbon sequestration, natural hazards protection, recreation including hunting) and stakeholders’ perceived importance of ecosystem services in a case study in the Italian Alps (Valle di Non, Province of Trento). At first, economic value of the ecosystem services is estimated using different environmental valuation techniques (market price, replacement cost method and benefit transfer method). Secondly, stakeholders’ preferences on ecosystem services were assessed by using a semi-structured questionnaire. Finally, the ranking of the ecosystem services values and the stakeholders’ preferences were compared in order to underline the differences between the perceived importance and the estimated economic value. The results showed that the ecosystem services with the highest economic values were natural hazards protection (103.6 €/ha/year), timber production (78.4 €/ha/year) and recreation in forests (70.8 €/ha/year), while the regulating ecosystem services (natural hazards protection and carbon sequestration) were perceived as the most important. No statistically significant relationship was obtained in the comparison between the economic value and the perceived importance of the forest ecosystem services. Furthermore, many non-tangible and non-marketable ecosystem services (e.g. natural hazards protection and recreation in forests), often neglected during the implementation of forest management plans, were highly perceived by the stakeholders and at the same time economically valuable

Wood-based bioenergy value chain in mountain urban districts: An integrated environmental accounting framework

Using wood biomass for bioenergy production in mountain urban settlements can represent a win-win strategy when it combines a continuous energy provision to households with a sustainable management of local forests, also boosting rural development and stakeholders' cooperation. In this study, we implemented a multi-method environmental accounting framework aimed at investigating environmental costs and impacts of a bioenergy value chain located in Sarentino Valley (North Italy). This assessment framework encompasses material, energy, and emergy demands as well as main emissions generated at each step of the chain: (1) forestry, (2) logistics, and (3) conversion.The resulting global to local ratios of abiotic material calculated for forestry, logistics, and conversion subsystems show that the global (direct and indirect) consumption of abiotic matter was respectively 3.6, 3.2, and 7.6 times higher than the direct material demand. The Energy Return on Energy Investment (EROI) of wood biomass and wood chips production (37.1 and 22.4) shows a high energy performance of these processes, while the EROI of heat generation (11.35) reflects a higher support of human-driven inputs. The emergy renewable fraction, ranging from 77% to 37% across the value chain, shows a high use of local renewable resources in the bioenergy value chain. The total CO2 emissions of the bioenergy value chain (4088tCO2 yr-1) represent only 7.1% of the CO2 sequestration potential of the Sarentino Valley forest ecosystem, highlighting the capability of the local forests to offset the CO2 emissions released by the value chain. The scenario analysis indicates that using both local sawmill residues and local forest wood chips to power the heating plant could further lower the environmental burden of the bioenergy chain, maximizing local and renewable resources use while reducing waste disposal.The multi-method environmental accounting framework provided a large set of performance and sustainability indicators useful for both local managers and policy makers in charge of ensuring a sustainable management of local forests and energy security of urban settlements

Assessing, valuing and mapping ecosystem services at city level: The case of Uppsala (Sweden)

Urbanization is an important driver of environmental changes causing an increasing demand of ecosystem services while altering natural ecosystems. Yet, the sustainable management of urban areas can support the long-term provision of goods and services typical of healthy and resilient ecosystems and essential for human well-being. In this study, multiple ecosystem services generated by forest, agricultural (cropland and grassland), and urban areas in the municipality of Uppsala (Sweden) were first assessed in biophysical terms and then valued in money units. Afterwards, the economic value of provisioning and regulating services was spatialized using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The economic value of all investigated services amounted to 1.81 billion Swedish Kronor (SEK) or 198 million ⬠per year, of which: 80% generated by forest areas, 19% by agricultural areas, and 1% by green urban areas. Considering the size of different land uses, the average economic value of green urban areas was the highest (20,000 SEK haâ1or 2200 ⬠haâ1), followed by forest areas (11,387 SEK haâ1or 1250 ⬠haâ1), and agricultural areas (6398 SEK haâ1or 703 ⬠haâ1). The integration between the assessment of the biophysical and economic value of several ecosystem services provided by different land uses as well as their spatial analysis allowed a deeper understanding on the ecological life-support system to the urban area of Uppsala. In conclusion, we maintain that the interplay between nature services and human settlements can be better explored by using an interdisciplinary approach providing ecological and economic information integrated in support of policy makers and urban planners