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Forest ecosystem services

 

 

Forest ecosystem services are critical for human well-being as well as functioning and growth of economies. They are hardly given due consideration, however, in public policy formulation.

In developing countries, the values attached to these services by local communities are generally unknown. Hence, the research work valued the salient forest ecosystem services among forest adjacent communities in Kenya.

The results reveal a high level of preference heterogeneity across Kenyan households: communities would prefer conservation programs that would guarantee them improved forest cover, reduced flood risk, and high water quality and quantity for drinking.

Communities living adjacent to forests tend to have an altruistic nature. They have a high willingness to pay for flood mitigation measures to counter the effects of climate change. They are not just concerned with the private benefits accruing to them as individuals but also by society's welfare.

As a result, forest adjacent communities tend to be pro-conservation, because they are motivated by the direct use and non-use values of the forest.

 

Read further

Okumu, Boscow Odhiambo (2017). “Economic analysis of participatory forest management in Kenya.” Ph.D. diss., University of Cape Town.