The socio-economic evaluation of the impact of forestry on rural development: A regional level analysis

This paper describes the methods devised to evaluate the contribution of forestry to rural development at regional or sub-regional level in the UK in a research project undertaken by the author and others for the Forestry Commission. It discusses the adequacy of existing methods (including cost–benefit approaches and regional economic modelling) in capturing the full array of socio-economic benefits generated by forestry. It proposes a method to estimate the ‘halo’ or ‘shadow’ effect of forestry on surrounding economic activity, which, although acknowledged by some authors, have not previously been enumerated. In two applications of this technique in southern England, the halo/shadow effect would appear to be greater than the economic impacts on the rural economy arising from conventional forestry. This conclusion raises important questions about the role of forestry as a contributor to economic activity and how this might be enhanced, challenging more productivist notions of forestry and replacing them with a more consumption-oriented emphasis. There are important implications of such findings on the ways in which evaluations of forestry programmes or projects are undertaken.