Developing new markets for forest ecosystem services: Assessing buyers' preferences

Forest ecosystems are rich in biodiversity and provide many services that contribute to human well-being. However, biodiversity and forest ecosystem services are not sufficiently taken into account in forest management decisions due to a lack of knowledge about their economic value. While this is typically explained by the lack of markets for many of these services, there are currently many efforts to develop new market-based instruments to enhance the provision of non-marketed ecosystem services. These new instruments are being developed by a variety of intermediaries, including existing certification schemes (e.g. FSC for biodiversity), government agencies, and start-ups that connect sellers (forest owners) with buyers (companies, citizens, foundations). However, few studies have explicitly addressed how potential buyers prioritise different services provided by forests. In this paper, we use a choice experiment in the Grand Est region of France to assess the willingness-to-pay (WTP) of the general population for biodiversity and specific forest ecosystem services in the Grand Est region of France, namely wood provision, climate regulation through carbon sequestration, access to private forests for recreational activities, and water quality regulation. Using a mixed multinomial logit model, we find that WTP is highest for improved water quality, followed by recreational access to private forests, biodiversity and carbon sequestration. In addition, we find negative WTP for both a decrease in water quality and an increase in wood production. A high degree of preference heterogeneity was observed for all attributes except water quality. These findings provide valuable insights for the design of a market mechanism for payments for environmental services (PES) and for prioritisation in public decision-making.