The Economic Valuation of Non-Marketed Forest Benefits in Saxony

Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)

• A. Introduction
• The Importance of Sustaining Non-Marketed Forest Benefits in Saxony
• Forests as an Economic Good
• Internalization of Benefits through Economic Valuation
• Problem and Purpose
• B. Research Objective and Hypothesis
• C. Theory and Methods
• C.1 The Economic Valuation of NMFB
• The Total Economic Value
• The Scope of Influence of Economic Valuation
• The Neoclassical Welfare Theory
• Dependence of Accuracy Requirements from the Decision Context
• C.2 Economic Valuation Techniques
• Overview on Primary Valuation Techniques
• Secondary Valuation with Benefit Transfer
• Properties of and Conditions for Benefit Transfer
• Simple Unit Transfer
• Unit Transfer with Income Adjustment
• Function Transfer
• Tailoring Temporal and Spatial Preference Changes
• Reliability and Validity Tests
• Guidelines for Benefit Transfer
• Literature Collection of Primary Studies
• C.3 Review of benefit transfer applied to NMFB valuation
• Valuation initiators, valuation objectives, and types of NMFB valued
• Overview on the application of BT approaches
• Management of differences in NMFB characteristics
• Management of spatial difference
• Management of time differences
• Tests on Reliability and Validity
• Conclusion
• D. Case study: Application of benefit transfer to the valuation of NMFB in Saxony
• Saxony's forests: The policy site
• Saxony's Development Plan Goals
• Using benefit transfer to evaluate NMFB in Saxony
• Step 1) The expected change in NMFB
• Step 2) The affected population in Saxony
• Step 3) Conduction of a literature review to identify relevant primary studies
• Step 4) Assessment of the relevance and quality of primary data
• Step 5) Selection and summary of the data available from primary data
• Step 6) Transfer to Saxony
• Step 7) Calculation of total benefits
• Step 8) Assessment of uncertainty and acceptable transfer errors
• Step 9) Sensitivity analysis
• Discussion
• E. Conclusion
• F. References
• G. Appendix
• Electronic Annex

Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)

This diploma thesis examines the potential and limitations of benefit transfer (BT) as a method for valuing non-marketed forest benefits (NMFB) in Saxony, Germany. The study aims to assess the applicability of BT for informing policy decisions related to forest management and conservation in Saxony, focusing on the specific context of the region.

• Economic valuation of non-marketed forest benefits
• Application of benefit transfer methods
• Assessment of the reliability and validity of benefit transfer
• Policy implications for forest management and conservation in Saxony
• Economic valuation of ecosystem services

Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)

The introduction provides background information on the importance of sustaining non-marketed forest benefits in Saxony, highlighting the significance of forests as an economic good. It also introduces the concept of internalizing these benefits through economic valuation. The chapter concludes by outlining the problem addressed and the purpose of the thesis.

Chapter C.1 presents the theoretical framework for the economic valuation of NMFB, including the concept of total economic value (TEV), the scope of influence of economic valuation, the neoclassical welfare theory, and the dependence of accuracy requirements on decision context. The chapter also introduces economic valuation techniques, focusing on both primary and secondary valuation methods.

Chapter C.2 provides a comprehensive overview of benefit transfer, outlining its properties, conditions, and various approaches, such as simple unit transfer, unit transfer with income adjustment, function transfer, and tailoring temporal and spatial preference changes. The chapter also explores reliability and validity tests for benefit transfer, as well as guidelines for its application. A literature review is included to examine existing studies that have applied benefit transfer to NMFB valuation.

Chapter C.3 delves into the case study of applying benefit transfer to the valuation of NMFB in Saxony. It begins by presenting the specific characteristics of Saxony's forests and the region's development plan goals. The chapter then outlines the steps involved in using benefit transfer to evaluate NMFB in Saxony, which includes identifying relevant primary studies, assessing data quality, transferring data to the Saxon context, calculating total benefits, and conducting sensitivity analysis.

Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)

This diploma thesis explores the key concepts of non-marketed forest benefits (NMFB), benefit transfer (BT), economic valuation, ecosystem services, and their application in policy decision-making for forest management and conservation. It specifically focuses on the region of Saxony, Germany.