Social Valuation of Forest-based Ecosystem Services of Female Forest Landowners in Georgia, United States

View the project final report

Commodities

• Additional Plants: trees

Practices

• Crop Production: forestry, forest/woodlot management
• Farm Business Management: land access, land management
• Sustainable Communities: public policy, quality of life, values-based supply chains

In the United States, about 24% of forest landowners who own 10+ acres are female, collectively owning 52 million acres. This percentage is even higher in the Southern United States (Southern US), as about 27% of forest landowners are females owning 30 million acres in total. While trends show that female forest landowners (FeFLs) are on the rise, FeFLs are less actively involved in forest management, compromising the sustainability of these forestlands and the flow of ecosystem services (ESs). No substantial research efforts have been made to understand the perceptions of ESs and the underlying value orientations of FeFLs. This lack of knowledge about FeFLs has resulted in a situation where extension efforts to engage FeFLs positively were either not launched or failed due to a mismatch between the information provided and information needed resulting in lower recruitment and funding support. In this context, the project aims to capture the perceptions, motivation, synergies, and trade-offs of FeFLs for sustainable management of forests in the Southern US, in general, and Georgia, in particular. A value-based approach to decision-making will help us understand the factors influencing forest management decisions. As part of the first objective to capture the perceptions and underlying motivations for the preferred ESs, we employed mixed methodology using a combination of conceptual content cognitive mapping (3CM) and cultural consensus analysis. Our findings highlight the ESs benefits and the underlying motivations of FeFLs in five thematic areas. These are primary benefits for self and family, economic benefits, forestland as a place for family time, forestland as a place for social activity, and environmental benefits, including provisioning, regulating, and supporting services. As part of the second objective to assess value-based ESs bundles (synergies) and trade-offs,  we utilized principal component analysis. Our findings revealed that FeFLs held a high preference for cultural, regulating, and supporting services. ES bundles encompassed environmental, economic, heritage & social, recreation & aesthetic, and urban escape. The strongest trade-off appeared between the environmental and economic bundle. Underlying biospheric and altruistic values along with conservation and climate change motivations influenced the environmental bundle. The heritage & social bundle was influenced by altruistic values and motivations, including heritage, finance, recreation, and social benefits. In contrast, egotistic values and motivations encompassing home site, aesthetics, sustainability, and education influenced the urban escape bundle. Aligning forest management policies and programs with FeFLs’ ES preferences, values, and motivations would promote sustainable forestry, foster gender equality, and ensure the continued provision of diverse ESs in the region. Our results will inform the decision-making of forestry management activities. This will, in turn, cater to the needs of FeFLs, which will bring a sense of community to FeFLs, ensuring the sustainability of forestlands and the flow of ESs in the Southern US.

The social valuation of ESs will provide knowledge on the perceived benefits of FeFLs and their underlying motivations for managing forest lands. The social valuation of ESs can be understood through preferences, synergies and trade-offs of ESs. ESs that are preferred together would appear in bundles, revealing the synergies between ESs. Those ESs that compete with other preferred ESs would emerge as trade-offs.

Value dimensions will help us understand the motivations and how synergies and trade-offs emerge based on the perceived benefits ¹³. The underlying values of FeFLs will reveal the driving factors that motivate the preferences for ESs. Further, diverging values and varying stakeholder preferences of ESs will reveal the FeFL perceptions of ESs trade-offs. Considering a value-based approach will help us examine the trade-offs of ESs as well as the motivations for ESs preferences of FeFLs.

Social preferences of ESs, and the resulting ESs bundles (synergies) and trade-offs will enhance our understanding of FeFL decision-making for forestland management in order to develop targeted outreach and policy interventions. Further, motivations for ESs will help evaluate the trade-offs, reveal land management intentions, and develop land-management options ¹⁴.

Goal: The goal of the study is to assess the social valuation and perceptions of ESs benefits based on socio-cultural knowledge that influence forest management decisions of FeFLs in order to safeguard the sustainability of forests, sustain the flow of ESs and empower FeFLs in Georgia.

Objectives:

1. Assess the perceptions and preferences for ESs and the underlying motivational factors contributing to the preferences of ESs based on socio-cultural knowledge of FeFLs.
2. Evaluate the value-based ESs trade-offs and bundles based on the perception of FeFLs.