Efficient ecosystem services and naturalness in an ecological/economic model

The research area—the Kolkhety National park (Georgia)—is situated in the western part of the Kholhida lowland and includes coastal waters of the Black Sea. It was established in 1998, but its economic value was not assessed. The purpose of the work was to identify the ecosystem services of the park’s geosystems, to carry out an ecological-economic assessment of part of the ecosystem services, and to create map of ecological-economic assessment, which is necessary for its nature management regulation, including its buffer zones, as well as nature conservation and recreation activities. Using our field data and thematic publications we compiled a map, presenting 4 large areas of ecosystems: the Kolkhida woodlands, wetlands, the lake Paleostomi, the Black Sea water area. 25 ecosystem services were identified within them. The following were among them: resource ecosystem services—provision of feed for cattle, commercial products of water bodies, etc.; regulating—creation of the coastal line, wetlands water filtration, etc.; supporting—carbon deposition by terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems; information—recreation services. Information data base was compiled for several of them and used for assessments based on the widely used international methods. The assessment result of only seven ecosystem services demonstrated their cost—10.5 mln dollars annually. The results of ecological-economic assessments were used for compiling of an ecological-economic map presenting spatial distribution of different ecosystems services costs. The results may be used for the Georgian coastal area territorial planning and demonstrate the economic value of nature protected lands.

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Economics of Reforestation and Afforestation

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Environmental Science ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780199389414.013.473 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Daowei Zhang

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Interest Rate ◽

Tree Growth ◽

Economic Model ◽

Large Scale ◽

Public Policies ◽

Public Lands ◽

Factors Influencing ◽

The World ◽

Private And Public

Reforestation is the natural or intentional restocking of existing forests and woodlands that have been harvested or depleted, and afforestation is the establishing of a forest in an area where there were no trees. For economic and practical purposes, reforestation and afforestation have similar goals and processes and thus can be treated as identical activities. Although reforestation and afforestation have a long history, large-scale reforestation and afforestation activities started with industrialization, which caused scarcity in timber and forest-based ecosystem services. In a unified economic model of reforestation and afforestation, factors influencing investments in reforestation and in afforestation on private and public lands include timber prices, unit reforestation cost, interest rate, the responsiveness of tree growth to silviculture, and the value of nontimber benefits, such as ecosystem services. Market and public policies may facilitate, enhance, or hinder reforestation and afforestation activities, and nontimber benefits are an increasingly important motive for reforestation and, especially, afforestation efforts around the world.

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