Accounting approaches for valuing forest non-market carbon, soil and medicinal outputs changes in developing countries

Abstract

It can be difficult to identify an optimal land use regime. Some researchers use monetized net benefits as the measure and conclude by summing market values. Non-market values are not often taken into account mainly because of the uncertainties in measuring quantities and the difficulty in estimating values. Consequently, total goods and services from forests are undervalued and their contribution to the national output may have been grossly underestimated. As a result, land use decisions are generally biased in favor of land-use options other than forests. This paper analyzed major issues on the valuation of community forestry, an important forest management strategy in developing countries, and then developed methods for estimating the amount of net carbon sequestration, option value of biodiversity and onsite soil protection value after the forests have been allocated to the designated communities.