Is economic valuation utilized in policy-making? Monetary evaluation of forest multi-functions at national and sub-national levels in Japan
2022
Suzuki, Yuya | Kohsaka, Ryo
Internalizing the value of biodiversity has been discussed in the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. The importance of capturing values of biodiversity in policy-making among various actors is frequently emphasized through the implementation of Ecosystem Services economic Valuation (ESV). However, ESV-related studies focusing on the policy-evaluation interface are still limited. This study contributes to this knowledge gap by analyzing the use of ESV in policy making in the case of forests’ multi-function roles at the national and sub-national levels in Japan. This work carried out document surveys, phone interviews, statistical analysis, and framework analysis. Results showed that ESVs in Japan were implemented in 34 (72%) prefectures (sub-national level) and four times at the national level. Most of these ESVs have not been updated for over 20 years. In addition, the ESVs were mainly used as an “Informative” type in both levels. These findings indicated that ESVs of macro-level forests were rarely utilized in a specific policy and updating them were not a necessity in implementing forest policies. Furthermore, results of the Pearson’s chi-squared test showed that no significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed when (1) the average values of prefectural indicators related to forests between the two groups (“prefectures with ESVs” and “prefectures without ESVs”) were compared and (2) relevancies and magnitude of those indicators were analyzed, suggesting that the presence or absence of ESV can be driven other factors such as the administrative organization. The results of this work can be used to further understand and illustrate the essential role of ESV implementation in drafting frameworks and/or policies for forest ecosystems management.
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