Pelyukh O. Evaluation of ecological and economic efficiency of secondary Norway spruce stands conversion in the Ukrainian Carpathians

The dissertation is devoted to the study of theoretical and methodological bases of evaluation of ecological and economic efficiency of secondary Norway spruce stands conversion in the condition of the Ukrainian Carpathians based on the paradigm of ecosystem services with systematic coverage of stakeholders’ interests. The dissertation contains scientific provisions, conclusions and scientific and practical recommendations for improving the ecological and economic efficiency of implementing silvicultural measures of secondary Norway spruce conversion for forestry enterprises in the Ukrainian Carpathian. Essence of forest conversion and its economic and legal bases were analyzed. Based on the analysis of modern theoretical approaches to the evaluation of economic efficiency of silvicultural measures, the essence of the economic category “ecological and economic efficiency of secondary Norway spruce stands conversion” is defined. Potential benefits of the forest conversion project have been identified and the choice of methods for evaluation of their values has been substantiated. It is established that in order to successfully evaluate the ecological and economic efficiency of the secondary Norway spruce stands conversion it is necessary to determine the value of all potential benefits, including those that are not valued by the market. The analysis of the state of the secondary Norway spruce stands in the Ukrainian Carpathians revealed the critical condition of these forest ecosystems and their negative impact on the socio-economic systems. It is established that in order to solve the problems of drying of secondary Norway spruce stands a transition to the principles of the close-to-nature silviculture is necessary, the implementation of conversion measures in particular. Analytical tool for analyzing the stakeholders’ interests has been improved and the degree of involvement of identified stakeholders into the decision-making process regarding forest conversion is determined. Stakeholders were classified according to their interest level and importance while considering the relationships among them (social network analysis). The results of stakeholder analysis highlighted seven “supporters” and six “opponents” as well as three key stakeholders and four primary stakeholders. Involving up to three stakeholders from each homogeneous group to balance stakeholder contributions and enhance the democratization of the forest conversion decision-making process was proposed. The developed methodological basis for the study of the public perception of the forest stands characteristics allowed to identify the preferences of the respondents, namely the positive perception of mixed forests (54.55% of all respondents) with uneven location of trees (53.25% of all respondents), in which less than 15% of deadwood medium size. The necessity of integrating the obtained research results into forest decision-making for expanding the recreational use of forests and the formation of recreationally attractive forest landscapes and woodlands resistant to climate change and anthropogenic pressure is substantiated. Calibration of the tree growth simulator SIBYLA allowed us to minimize the differences between simulated conversion scenarios and observed features of the research site on the territory of the Rakhiv State Forest Enterprise. Analysis of the simulation showed that application of only four conversion strategies allows us to obtain target tree species composition with enough height and diameter diversity. Using the choice experiment method, the value of forest conversion benefits was estimated. It was found that respondents’ marginal willingness to pay for the visit to the mixed forest estimated using logit model is UAH 83.77, and to the uneven-aged forest UAH 77.30. Respondents' willingness to pay for forest care in accordance with their preferences was estimated using regression analysis. In particular, respondents were willing to pay an average of UAH 457.30 per year for maintaining their preferred species and age forest structure. Cost-benefit analysis of secondary Norway spruce stands conversion was evaluated based on the proposed theoretical approach and obtained values of non-market benefits for the best conversion strategy, revealed by multicriteria analysis. The evaluations show that, from the point of forest enterprise, as well as from the point of view of society, forest conversion is profitable. However economic profitability is much higher than commercial one.