Ecosystem Services Benefits and Willingness to Pay for Trees on Farms

Date

Time

2:00pm - 3:30pm AEDT

Venue

Lennox Room, Crawford Building, Australian National University and online via Zoom

Speakers

Sorada Tapsuwan
CSIRO

Description

Ecosystem services benefits and willingness to pay for trees on farms

Agroforestry and on-farm tree plantation provide multiple benefits to landholders, including enhancing on-farm natural capital, improving the flow of ecosystem services to farm production, and increasing enterprise productivity and profitability. Concurrently, the Australian community benefits from increased long-term supply of domestic timber, enhanced environmental and biodiversity conditions, and improved well-being. However, despite the social, economic and environmental benefits of on-farm tree plantation, adoption has been slow. The objective of this research is to 1) estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) of landholders in Australia for different types of on-farm tree planting systems, and 2) estimate the WTP of households to support tree planting programs, including on farms, across Tasmania. We surveyed 150 landholders across Australia and 551 Tasmanian residents using two separate online choice experiment surveys. We also assessed how much landholders and residents value the cultural ecosystem services benefits of trees. The findings will be incorporated into a natural capital accounting framework.