Nonindustrial Private Forest Landowners (NIPF) Willingness to Pay for Forest Certification in Arkansas

Abstract

Forest certification is a global voluntary, market-based approach to promoting sustainable forest management. A major barrier for small landowners like nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) landowners in the southeastern United States to participate in this program is certification costs. We conducted a mail survey of NIPF landowners in Arkansas to uncover whether they are willing to pay for forest certification and factors that influence their willingness to pay. Most of these landowners were not familiar with (68.7%) nor interested in (51.4%) forest certification. Younger or well-educated landowners and those with a higher household income, having a desire to protect nature and biodiversity and wildlife, or having received information or professional advice about forest management were more likely to pay for the certification. A clear picture also emerged of how these landowners desired to be educated about certification via both active and passive education methods. Our findings indicate that there is limited potential for expanding the participation of the NIPF landowners in the existing forest certification programs. A large-scale expansion, however, would require forest certification programs to effectively address the certification cost barrier and to incentivize those who desire to protect nature and biodiversity as well as privacy.