Forest management and competing land uses: an economic analysis for Costa Rica

This paper, using site specific data from Costa Rica as an example, tries to explain why sustainable natural forest management, which is a declared goal for governments in the region, is seldom observed with the exception of half a dozen cases of little commercial relevance. Instead, private landowners prefer to mine the forests, convert to cattle ranching, or convert to forest plantations. The main reason is that sustainable natural forest management cannot compete financially with alternative types of land management. The structure of policy incentives prevalent have helped make matters worse. To promote sustainable forest management, which may be economically justifiable under certain conditions and for specific sites, the best policy instruments are likely to be direct incentives for forest management. These will be more effective if offered to small farmers than to corporate owners. Because a large proportion of environmental benefits from forest management accrue to the World, it would not make sense for Costa Rica alone to finance these incentives, and the World should consider sharing in their costs. The paper also calls attention to the importance of discounts rates in explaining land use decisions, a fact widely known but often absent in many of the recent discussions of deforestation. The results indicate that the incentives to deforest increase as the discount rate approaches zero.

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Main Authors: 83222 Kishor, N.M., 58648 Constantino, L.F.
Format: biblioteca
Published: Washington, DC (EUA) 1993
Subjects:BOSQUE NATURAL, MANEJO FORESTAL, SOSTENIBILIDAD, UTILIZACION DE LA TIERRA, VALORACION ECONOMICA, INCENTIVOS, DEFORESTACION, DEGRADACION AMBIENTAL, POLITICA FORESTAL, COSTA RICA,
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spelling KOHA-OAI-BVE:1055552020-02-07T06:44:14ZForest management and competing land uses: an economic analysis for Costa Rica 83222 Kishor, N.M. 58648 Constantino, L.F. Washington, DC (EUA)1993This paper, using site specific data from Costa Rica as an example, tries to explain why sustainable natural forest management, which is a declared goal for governments in the region, is seldom observed with the exception of half a dozen cases of little commercial relevance. Instead, private landowners prefer to mine the forests, convert to cattle ranching, or convert to forest plantations. The main reason is that sustainable natural forest management cannot compete financially with alternative types of land management. The structure of policy incentives prevalent have helped make matters worse. To promote sustainable forest management, which may be economically justifiable under certain conditions and for specific sites, the best policy instruments are likely to be direct incentives for forest management. These will be more effective if offered to small farmers than to corporate owners. Because a large proportion of environmental benefits from forest management accrue to the World, it would not make sense for Costa Rica alone to finance these incentives, and the World should consider sharing in their costs. The paper also calls attention to the importance of discounts rates in explaining land use decisions, a fact widely known but often absent in many of the recent discussions of deforestation. The results indicate that the incentives to deforest increase as the discount rate approaches zero.This paper, using site specific data from Costa Rica as an example, tries to explain why sustainable natural forest management, which is a declared goal for governments in the region, is seldom observed with the exception of half a dozen cases of little commercial relevance. Instead, private landowners prefer to mine the forests, convert to cattle ranching, or convert to forest plantations. The main reason is that sustainable natural forest management cannot compete financially with alternative types of land management. The structure of policy incentives prevalent have helped make matters worse. To promote sustainable forest management, which may be economically justifiable under certain conditions and for specific sites, the best policy instruments are likely to be direct incentives for forest management. These will be more effective if offered to small farmers than to corporate owners. Because a large proportion of environmental benefits from forest management accrue to the World, it would not make sense for Costa Rica alone to finance these incentives, and the World should consider sharing in their costs. The paper also calls attention to the importance of discounts rates in explaining land use decisions, a fact widely known but often absent in many of the recent discussions of deforestation. The results indicate that the incentives to deforest increase as the discount rate approaches zero.BOSQUE NATURALMANEJO FORESTALSOSTENIBILIDADUTILIZACION DE LA TIERRAVALORACION ECONOMICAINCENTIVOSDEFORESTACIONDEGRADACION AMBIENTALPOLITICA FORESTALCOSTA RICA
institution IICA
collection Koha
country Costa Rica
countrycode CR
component Bibliográfico
access En linea
databasecode cat-sibiica
tag biblioteca
region America Central
libraryname Sistema de Bibliotecas IICA/CATIE
topic BOSQUE NATURAL
MANEJO FORESTAL
SOSTENIBILIDAD
UTILIZACION DE LA TIERRA
VALORACION ECONOMICA
INCENTIVOS
DEFORESTACION
DEGRADACION AMBIENTAL
POLITICA FORESTAL
COSTA RICA
BOSQUE NATURAL
MANEJO FORESTAL
SOSTENIBILIDAD
UTILIZACION DE LA TIERRA
VALORACION ECONOMICA
INCENTIVOS
DEFORESTACION
DEGRADACION AMBIENTAL
POLITICA FORESTAL
COSTA RICA
spellingShingle BOSQUE NATURAL
MANEJO FORESTAL
SOSTENIBILIDAD
UTILIZACION DE LA TIERRA
VALORACION ECONOMICA
INCENTIVOS
DEFORESTACION
DEGRADACION AMBIENTAL
POLITICA FORESTAL
COSTA RICA
BOSQUE NATURAL
MANEJO FORESTAL
SOSTENIBILIDAD
UTILIZACION DE LA TIERRA
VALORACION ECONOMICA
INCENTIVOS
DEFORESTACION
DEGRADACION AMBIENTAL
POLITICA FORESTAL
COSTA RICA
83222 Kishor, N.M.
58648 Constantino, L.F.
Forest management and competing land uses: an economic analysis for Costa Rica
description This paper, using site specific data from Costa Rica as an example, tries to explain why sustainable natural forest management, which is a declared goal for governments in the region, is seldom observed with the exception of half a dozen cases of little commercial relevance. Instead, private landowners prefer to mine the forests, convert to cattle ranching, or convert to forest plantations. The main reason is that sustainable natural forest management cannot compete financially with alternative types of land management. The structure of policy incentives prevalent have helped make matters worse. To promote sustainable forest management, which may be economically justifiable under certain conditions and for specific sites, the best policy instruments are likely to be direct incentives for forest management. These will be more effective if offered to small farmers than to corporate owners. Because a large proportion of environmental benefits from forest management accrue to the World, it would not make sense for Costa Rica alone to finance these incentives, and the World should consider sharing in their costs. The paper also calls attention to the importance of discounts rates in explaining land use decisions, a fact widely known but often absent in many of the recent discussions of deforestation. The results indicate that the incentives to deforest increase as the discount rate approaches zero.
format
topic_facet BOSQUE NATURAL
MANEJO FORESTAL
SOSTENIBILIDAD
UTILIZACION DE LA TIERRA
VALORACION ECONOMICA
INCENTIVOS
DEFORESTACION
DEGRADACION AMBIENTAL
POLITICA FORESTAL
COSTA RICA
author 83222 Kishor, N.M.
58648 Constantino, L.F.
author_facet 83222 Kishor, N.M.
58648 Constantino, L.F.
author_sort 83222 Kishor, N.M.
title Forest management and competing land uses: an economic analysis for Costa Rica
title_short Forest management and competing land uses: an economic analysis for Costa Rica
title_full Forest management and competing land uses: an economic analysis for Costa Rica
title_fullStr Forest management and competing land uses: an economic analysis for Costa Rica
title_full_unstemmed Forest management and competing land uses: an economic analysis for Costa Rica
title_sort forest management and competing land uses: an economic analysis for costa rica
publisher Washington, DC (EUA)
publishDate 1993
work_keys_str_mv AT 83222kishornm forestmanagementandcompetinglandusesaneconomicanalysisforcostarica
AT 58648constantinolf forestmanagementandcompetinglandusesaneconomicanalysisforcostarica
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