The study's most important finding is that when valuing ecosystem services in the aggregate, rather than specifically at extractive uses, such as logging, we reveal forests are far more valuable when let intact. This is an important implication on the trade-offs between industrial and multifunctional forest management and in how, when and who captures the monetary and non-monetary values of forests. Conservation efforts and alternative land use planning decisions also require consideration of the public goods value of ecosystem services and the trade-offs between these services and those captured privately.
For instance, plantation forests managed for industrial production have been purported to have higher values (without carefully considering the social opportunity costs of externalities) from extractive uses (e.g. timber production), potentially leading to conversion of multifunctional natural forests. Capturing the value of timber, however, could lead to a reduction in value estimates of other ecosystem services influenced by market-oriented forest management practices.
Our results demonstrate the importance of considering the value of multiples of ecosystem services and, hence, supports public policy against the management of forest for single-use, extractive industrial production, or clearing for mineral extraction and agriculture. Therefore, our results support local, regional and global efforts to protect indigenous access and use rights of forests, reduce biodiversity loss, and minimize atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, as articulated in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which supports the survival, dignity and well-being of the Indigenous peoples, and cuts across the majority of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
In general, it is hoped that this study provides useful insights into the drivers of the economic values of forest ecosystem services.
Finally, this study reveals the role of non-market valuation methods in providing monetary values of important ecosystem services and proposes more applications of such methods to account for non-use ecosystem services, for the fact that relying on market-based methods alone is likely to systematically underestimate the values of ecosystem services derived from the world's forests.
