Recreational value of regional forests: the case of Belgium's Walloon region Online publication date: Wed, 14-Jan-2015
by Vincent Colson; Philippe Lejeune; Jacques Rondeux; Bertrand Hamaide
International Journal of Sustainable Society (IJSSOC), Vol. 6, No. 4, 2014
Abstract: The Walloon forest, which is geographically close to densely populated areas of Atlantic Europe, fulfils an important recreational function. Two surveys were set up, among which a large-scale statistical survey in 40 woodlands, distributed throughout the Walloon forest and resulting in over 4,000 questionnaires collected. These give information about the recreational activities carried out in the forest, which helps determine the unit value of visits. The regional value is based on the estimated number of visits annually for the total woodlands. Contingent valuation is used to estimate recreational values for this data set comprising the whole regional level with heterogeneous visits and comparisons with other methods and other hypotheses are undertaken. Although the valuation varies depending on the method and the application modalities selected, it is very large and confirms the importance of this non-benefit service and the weight it could carry in terms of regional forest policy.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Sustainable Society (IJSSOC):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com
Our Blog 
Follow us on Twitter 
Visit us on Facebook