Some methodological and practical aspects of accounting the returns from clearfelling natural forests in the evaluation of intensive forest development projects

Abstract

The Forest Development Corporations (FDCs) in India have the responsibility of formulating and implementing intensive forest development projects for their respective areas. Since the FDCs operate on the lands currently under natural forests, it is important to decide on the procedure for handling the net returns from clearfelling the natural stands in the project area. The forest development projects prepared under the State Planning Programme included the net returns from clearfelling the natural forests with the benefit streams of man-made forestry. The National Commission on Agriculture, a n umber of foresters and economists have agreed with this procedure. The paper has summarized the arguments behind this procedure. These arguments have been examined and found inconsistent with the generally accepted practices of economic analysis.