The Benefit Transfer Method for the Economic Evaluation of Urban Forests

Abstract

The communities’ interest in urban forestry is growing, recently also in order to face the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Although the multiple benefits (ecosystem services) that forestry provides in cities are recognized by the international community, the issue of economic evaluation of each service in the context of urban renewal processes is still little debated. This paper describes the Benefit Transfer Method (BTM) as a framework for estimating the total economic value of urban forests. This is done with the aim of outlining an economic model to support decision-making processes. The model is tested on a set of Italian cities. Research perspectives are in the conclusions. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.