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Improved measure of the contribution of cultivated forests to national income and wealth in South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2000

RASHID M. HASSAN
RASHID M. HASSAN
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agricultural and Biological Sciences, University of Pretoria, Hatfield, Pretoria 0002, RSA Fax: (27-12)-4203247; Email: Rhassan@scientia.up.ac.za
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Abstract

An environmental accounting approach is adopted to adjust current measures of national income and net savings in SA for the value of net accumulation in timber and carbon stocks as well as for the value of water abstraction externality of cultivated forests. Results indicated that the said values missing from current measures of income and capital formation are substantial, amounting to about 0.6 per cent of NNP, on average over the study period. Potential VAD lost to agriculture due to water abstraction by cultivated forests was estimated at R104 million per annum, on average since 1981. This estimate, however, did not account for the social costs associated with potential losses of environmental services from affected ecosystems.

Type
Research Article
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , February 2000 , pp. 157 - 176
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

Funding provided by the Environmental Economics Network for Eastern and Southern Africa (EENESA) to support this study as well as the valuable comments made on earlier drafts of the research report by members of EENESA's Technical Advisory Committee are highly appreciated. The paper also benefited a great deal from the very useful comments and suggestions made by three anonymous reviewers and managing editor of the journal. The normal disclaimer on errors remains.