Cost-Benefit Analysis in Relation to Plantation Development Programmes

Abstract

Cost-benefit analysis is coming into prominence as an aid to comparisons of investment proposals, particularly in the public sector. The significant new features of the technique as far as forestry is concerned, are the specific attempts to evaluate and include in the analyses the social benefits and costs which are not normally covered by the price system. A simplified application of cost-benefit analysis to a set of forest management alternatives, reveals outstanding deficiencies in the factual basis needed for formulating forest policies consistent with the changing public demand for forests. The main research effort in forestry therefore might be best directed towards the measurement and evaluation of the non-wood effects of timber production programmes being developed to meet forecasted rises in wood consumption.