Abstract
Understanding and promoting South Korean private forest owners’ investment in the Forest Carbon Offset (FCO) scheme is crucial for enhancing carbon sequestration using forests in South Korea. This study aims to identify the factors of private forest owners associated with the investment decision in FCO projects. A total of 132 forest owners in Geumsan-gun, Chungcheongnam-do responded to a mixed-method survey. A chi-square test on the respondent groups shows that a forest management contract has a positive correlation with the forest owners’ willingness to invest in FCO projects. We also developed a logistic regression model for each forest owner group to estimate the effects of forest characteristics, experience of financial support, forest owner characteristics, and management characteristics on the forest owners’ willingness to invest in FCO projects. The results indicate that beliefs in climate change, size of forest holdings, tree species, stand age, experience in cost-sharing for forestry operations with public agencies, and timber harvest experience were significantly associated with the likelihood of a forest owner’s willingness to invest in FCO projects. Therefore, forest policies should take account of the factors influencing the likelihood of forest owners’ investment in FCO projects. We also found that the forest management contract scheme can be used as a policy instrument for promoting private forest owners’ action for climate change in South Korea.
Highlights
The Forest Carbon Offset (FCO) scheme is considered an effective way to serve the goal of national greenhouse gas emission reduction, and can provide various ecosystem services that improve the public’s well-being
In South Korea, in which two-thirds of forests are owned by private hands, if the private forest owners are actively engaged in the FCO scheme, they can help accomplish the national emission reduction target
We addressed this issue by investigating factors influencing private forest owners’ investment decision and the role of a forest management contract regarding investment in FCO projects
Summary
South Korea’s forested areas are about 6,369,000 ha and cover 63.8% of the total domestic land surface [1]. The forests of South Korea are classified into three categories, namely, national forests owned by the central government; public forests owned by local governments; and private forests owned by individuals, clans, temples, churches, firms, and schools, which cover 25%, 8%, and 67% of the total forest area, respectively. South Korea’s timber demand is still growing, more than. 80% of the total demand is met by imported timber. The quantity of timber imported is 24.9 million m3 , while timber supplied from domestic forests was 4.8 million m3 in 2017. The factors limiting timber supply from domestic forests include the age distribution of forests and high cost of timber production
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