| Foresty Commission programme manager: | |
| Research contact and location: | Pat Snowdon External providers, Corporate and Forestry Support and Forest Research |
Prior to 2006, economic and socio-economic research was commissioned as a series of studies from external providers. From 2006 we will also institute a longer-term programme of economic research from the Social Research Unit in Forest Research. This will add to the Forestry Commission’s capacity in economic research and, in particular, will allow Forest Research to integrate economics into research on sustainable forest management. The details of this programme are still being planned.
All recent economic research is available at the Economics and Statistics homepage.
Date: August 2006
Title: Valuing forest recreation
Author: Dr Mike Christie, Professor Nick Ranley, Dr Tony Hyde et al.
Full report: Economics and Statistics homepage.
Valuing forest recreation
This study investigates the economic value and regional economic impacts of specialist forest recreation activities, focusing on cycling, horse riding, nature watching and general visitors. It also analysed the values that users attach to their visits as well as preferences for additional services.
Commissioned reports
Date: October 2005
Title: Economic Benefits of Accessible Green Space for Physical and Mental Health: Scoping Study
Author: CJC Consulting (R Crabtree) with K Willis & L Osman
Full report: PDF
Summary:
This scoping study investigates the economic benefits, in terms of physical and mental health, of changes in the provision of accessible greenspace. The study reviews existing research, evidence and methodologies, and sets out proposals for subsequent research.
Date: January 2004
Title: The Economic Impact of British Forestry
Author: CogentSI and PACEC
Full report: PDF
Summary:
This report presents estimates of the economic impacts of forestry in Britain. It is based on the three separate country studies of the economic impacts of forestry in England, Scotland and Wales.
Date: December 2003
Title: Forests' Role in Tourism: Phase 2 (summary report)
Author: G. Hill
Full report: PDF
Summary:
The aims of this study were to:
- Quantify the economic significance of forest-related day visit tourism expenditures in England, Scotland, Wales and at the Great Britain level.
- Quantify the economic significance of forests in relation to tourism in the wider countryside. Measure the attitudes of tourists towards the environment and forests, and to investigate links between these attitudes and tourist visitor behaviours.
Date: August 2003
Title: Forests' Role in Tourism: Phase 2 (main report)
Author: G. Hill
Full report: PDF
Summary:
The primary aim of this study was to quantify the economic significance of forest-related tourism expenditures in England, Scotland, Wales and at the Great Britain level. This was based on the premise that a proportion of all tourism expenditure in GB is incurred by tourists to the countryside more generally. The second specific aim of the study was to quantify the economic significance of forests in relation to tourism in the countryside. A third aim was to measure the attitudes of tourist towards the environment and forests, and to investigate links between these attitudes and tourist visitor behaviours. Undertaking a visit to a forest or the countryside, and spending money to do so, are specific examples of individual behaviour. Understanding the factors that motivate these behaviours can provide useful information for those organizations engaged in managing forest-related tourism.
Date: July 2003
Title: Social and environmental benefits of forestry (phase 2)
Author: Ken Willis, Guy Garrod & Riccardo Scarpa
Full report: PDF
Summary:
The aim of this study was to provide empirical estimates of each of these social and environmental benefits in terms of marginal values, as an input into forest management, and their total value across forests and woodlands in Great Britain, to assess the importance of woodlands to the British economy. The study used existing data sources and information where relevant, and commissioned new surveys to up-date the recreational values of forests and to estimate the landscape benefits of forests.
Date: February 2003
Title: Estimating arrival numbers and values for informal recreational use of British woodlands
Author: Andy Jones, Ian Bateman & Jan Wright
Full report: PDF
Summary:
This report encompasses two interlinked research projects. The first of these investigates the potential for generating transferable models for predicting visitor arrival numbers at woodland recreation sites across Great Britain. The second project sets out to estimate transferable monetary assessments of the value of such woodland visits through a meta-analysis of previous valuation studies.
Date: September 2000
Title: Non market benefits of forestry (Phase 1)
Author: Ken Willis, Guy Garrod & Riccardo Scarpa
Full report: PDF
Summary:
The aim of this study was to
- review existing valuation methodologies and research to determine the best approach to valuing non-market benefits (NMBs) of UK forestry;
- investigate existing data to determine which topics future research might address;
- determine which valuation techniques should be used in such research if accurate and robust values are to be obtained.
The review concentrated on the main NMBs of forestry; recreation, landscape amenity, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration. Other benefits briefly reviewed encompassed water quality, pollution absorption, health effects and preservation of archaeological artifacts.
Date: May 2000
Title: Forests' Role in Tourism: Phase 1
Author: Deborah Roberts
Full report: PDF
Summary:
The study aims to provide information on the role of various forest characteristics and attributes in generating visit-related expenditures. For example, to what extent can visitors’ expenditure be attributed to the presence of a visitor center or water feature or the species mix at a given site? In addition it aims to identify the potential visitor-related benefits from expanding the forest area, and how this varies according to forest type, site attributes, and site location. Finally, the study aims to provide a better understanding of how expenditure patterns vary according to visitor type (e.g. day visitors v. overnight visitors v. international visitors).
Date: January 2000
Title: English Forestry Contribution to Rural Economics
Author: Public and Corporate Economic Consultants
Full report: PDF
Summary:
This study has two primary and one secondary objectives:
- To assess the economic impact, in terms of gross output, net output and employment arising from forest establishment and management, and harvesting. This assessment includes both the direct economic impacts from these activities and indirect impacts arising from supplier linkages and induced consumption expenditure from income generated in these activities.
- To determine the economic impact of downstream processing, including distribution and marketing of English produced timber, again capturing the direct, indirect and induced impacts. The input-output linkages are quantified for each stage, from the initial production to final consumption. Multipliers for each stage are estimated at the local and English level, capturing the direct, indirect and induced effects .
Date: November 1999
Title: Welsh Forestry Multiplier Study
Author: Max Munday
Full report: PDF
Summary:
The purpose of this study was to improve the understanding of the role of the forestry industry in the Welsh economy. The forestry industry was defined to include the activities of private forestry owners, Forest Enterprise, forest management companies, timber harvesting, extracting, haulage and marketing companies, and primary processors including saw-mills, wood-based panel manufacturers and papers mills. The research was informed by an extensive questionnaire and interview survey of forestry industry organizations. The financial information generated by the survey was incorporated into an input-output model of the Welsh economy to allow the indirect or ‘multiplier’ impacts of sector changes to be estimated.
Date: May 1999
Title: Scottish Forestry: An input-output analysis
Author: Deborah Roberts
Full report: PDF
Executive Summary
This study quantifies the magnitude of the forestry sector’s contribution to the Scottish economy. By confining the analysis purely to the links arising from production and processing and ignoring the other benefits provided by Scottish woodlands (such as recreation, biodiversity, tourism and enhanced landscapes), the study is limited in scope. However, it focuses on an important component of the sector’s overall contribution to the Scottish economy, and one which is essential to a more comprehensive assessment of the value of Scottish forestry.
There are additional reports available.
