Estimating potential preferences for wood products sourced from forests that are managed using sustainable forest management schemes

Abstract

SUMMARY Deforestation of tropical forest is serious problem around the world. In this study, we aimed to reveal peoples' potential preferences for sustainable forest management such as REDD+ scheme, focusing on a comparison of the attitudes of people in Malaysia to those of people in Japan, through choice experiment survey of the hypothetical choice behavior of consumer purchasing certified wood product. Choice experiment is one of stated preference methods. The results suggest that both the Malaysian and Japanese people are willing to pay a premium for certified wood product made from materials produced under the sustainable forest management as the REDD+ aimed at reducing CO2 emissions and preserving biodiversity. The two peoples shared a common concern about the environmental problem of deforestation, which could contribute to global warming and the destruction of biodiversity. Thus this study indicated the importance of REDD+ and its certification programme for future development of REDD+.