Forests, not Only for Hikers or Bikers
The best thing with hiking in the forest is the price. It’s free. Most of the time, hikers do not have to pay any fee to go inside the wood. Neither bikers.
Economists are trying to find the recreational value hikers give to the forest. It is not easy. Two main methods are used:
- Willingness to pay ; ask hikers how much they would pay to hike in this wood. The price obtained with this method may depend on the weather, the interviewee’s income or his mood.
- Travel-cost ; how much money hikers are ready to pay in transportation to arrive at the hiking spot. The resources hikers might invest to go somewhere is often a trade-off including various factors such as the distance to the forest, its beauty or the time hikers have.
Despite creating a first estimation of the cultural value of the forest, these methods are not completely reliable. That is why, forests cannot be defined only by hikers. Thus, people do not hike in all forests. For example, what about tropical forests?
One may argue that tropical forests have more value because they ensure the livelihood of indigenous people. The dwellers of these woods are totally dependent of the fruits, animals and materials they get from Nature. If we put the price of all these products together, we may obtain a good idea of the value this forest brings to its inhabitants. The monetary value of these products is part of what economists call the growth domestic product.
In my opinion, those forests really need to be conserved, not only for the products they provide but for the people they protect. Indigenous societies might totally disappear if these forests are cut down.
Yet, indigenous are not the only victims of the deforestation. The living organisms of the forest are also threatened. Plant and animal species which were living there for million years may be blown out. This loss is also a loss of future opportunities to find new medicine and food sources. Furthermore, in case of perturbations, a biologically diverse forest adapt more easily and is more resilient.
A forest is valuable as a whole. It’s not possible to determine a value using only one or few pieces of the whole. Moreover, the value shouldn’t be only monetary but moral and ethical.
You should love and conserve forests, not because you use it as a hiker or biker, but because you are human. You are a living organism, you are part of this whole.
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