TY - JOUR
T1 - Value of wild mushroom picking as an environmental service
AU - Martínez de Aragón, Juan
AU - Riera, Pere
AU - Giergiczny, Marek
AU - Colinas, Carlos
PY - 2011/7/1
Y1 - 2011/7/1
N2 - Among the environmental services provided by Mediterranean forests, wild mushroom picking is particularly appreciated. Where access to the forests is free, and when the property rights to the products that can be picked from the ground are not clearly assigned, forest owners bear a cost, in the form of forest damage by pickers, and receive no benefit. These owners therefore have little incentive to provide the public with more or better forests, however socially desirable this would be. If the value of this environmental service to society was known, an appropriate policy could be applied. The first step in assessing this value (evaluation) is illustrated here in a case study in central Catalonia, Spain. A travel cost method was applied to a sample of mushroom pickers over three years. The results show an estimated recreational surplus of €39 per journey. The second step (policy) was explored by asking mushroom pickers for their views on various different payment schemes. The results suggest that paying for this environmental service would be supported to varying degrees depending on how the policy is designed. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.
AB - Among the environmental services provided by Mediterranean forests, wild mushroom picking is particularly appreciated. Where access to the forests is free, and when the property rights to the products that can be picked from the ground are not clearly assigned, forest owners bear a cost, in the form of forest damage by pickers, and receive no benefit. These owners therefore have little incentive to provide the public with more or better forests, however socially desirable this would be. If the value of this environmental service to society was known, an appropriate policy could be applied. The first step in assessing this value (evaluation) is illustrated here in a case study in central Catalonia, Spain. A travel cost method was applied to a sample of mushroom pickers over three years. The results show an estimated recreational surplus of €39 per journey. The second step (policy) was explored by asking mushroom pickers for their views on various different payment schemes. The results suggest that paying for this environmental service would be supported to varying degrees depending on how the policy is designed. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.
KW - Environmental services
KW - Forest externalities
KW - Forest recreational value
KW - Mushroom picking
KW - Saffron milk-cap
KW - Travel Cost Method
U2 - 10.1016/j.forpol.2011.05.003
DO - 10.1016/j.forpol.2011.05.003
M3 - Article
SN - 1389-9341
VL - 13
SP - 419
EP - 424
JO - Forest Policy and Economics
JF - Forest Policy and Economics
IS - 6
ER -