This thesis investigates a relatively new approach to the valuation of the environment the Choice Experiments method, as a way of incorporating social values in forest planning and management processes It is shown that in previous research multidimensional forest values are found to largely reflect more general environmental values and that there is at present a sound rationale for looking for innovative ways of capturing such values in the United Kingdom (UK) forestry decision making processes. The thesis includes a detailed examination of the theoretical principles behind the traditional approaches to valuing the environment which have been dominant in the formation of the UK environmental policy. The main theoretical argument developed in the present research is that in the context of valuing environmental goods and services, elicitation of trade-offs between the conflicting value dimensions is of higher importance and usefulness than the conventional monetary estimation. In the light of this main argument the Choice Experiments( CE) method is examined in detail as a suitable approach for establishing trade-offs. This includes a discussion of both theoretical and methodological aspects of the method which influences the design of the empirical elements of the research. The empirical research is based on a study related to state-owned woodlands in the South East region of England. The CE survey in the local communities around Friston Forest and Abbot's Wood near Eastbourne East Sussex England is designed to explore and explain the relationship between three major dimensions of forest management nature conservation provision for public access and experience of nature. The analysis of the survey data analysis is used to estimate several multinomial logit models which describe the effect of each of the specified dimensions to the overall value placed on the forest environment The models are estimated for the whole sample as well as for sub-groups of the sample distinguished by socio-demographich characteristics There are three key findings from the CE survey. First, the analysis of the choice data reveals strongly expressed preference so wards higher levels of woodland conservation and lower levels of provision for public access in the form of recreational facilities. Second, in different preferences are observed in relation to the form of nature experience in the woodlands. Third, the use of sub-groups and separate models allows differentiation between segments of the population within the whole sample and hence the exploration of heterogeneity in tastes. The application of the CE method demonstrates the usefulness and suitability of this approach for identifying preferences and trade-offs between specified environmental value dimensions including both use and non-use values. A mong the main strengths of the method is the richness of the information obtained as well as the flexibility for estimating separate models to represent preferences of different segments of the studied population.

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Habitat fragmentation as a result of human activity is of growing concern. Direct habitat loss results in small habitat patches separated by an increasingly hostile matrix of arable land. This has implications for species and habitat conservation, which are required under national and international legislation. The study area has two internationally important woodland sites that are separated by arable land and a small number of isolated woodland patches. Habitat networks are one response to the impacts of habitat fragmentation on biodiversity and such approaches are recognised in national and international policy instruments.

Research assessed the ecology, conservation interest and restoration potential of Ancient Woodlands at the Natural Area scale, as a model for examination of biodiversity-abiotic data associations. Biodiversity indicators including richness, composition and structure were collected. Biodiversity scores were developed directly from the indicators in addition to ordination, detailing associations and clustering between indicators and allowing further analysis of biodiversity-abiotic variable associations in reduced dimensions. A woodland GIS was constructed including classification of the landscape matrix, incorporating modelling of native semi-natural woodland "clough" landform topography zones. Analysis showed abiotic, GIS collated, woodland patch and landscape data to be associated with biodiversity levels. Habitat type and within-patch habitat quality were significant predictors of biodiversity levels within theory developed sequential multiple regression models (r2 = . 37 to . 72). Most variance was explained by patch-level variables (habitat type, area and within-patch habitat quality), with lower levels explained by landscape-level connectivity, once patch-level factors had been included in models. However several regional trends remained. The models showed significant interaction occurred between effects of patch area and within-patch habitat quality. Examination revealed that while within-patch habitat quality was consistently associated with higher biodiversity levels, patch area showed a contradictory relationship when examined among the biodiversity ordination scores. Small, but topographically diverse, woodlands occurred which had high biodiversity levels for their unit area. Analysis indicates that in upland areas woodland patch biodiversity may successfully be predicted by use of woodland habitat type and within-patch habitat quality levels (topographic diversity and presence / distance to watercourses). As a case study a GIS model was used to map predicted woodland biodiversity as areas of conservation priority for Upland Oakwood conservation, restoration and creation, within the Dark Peak Natural Area, using targets set by the Local Biodiversity Action Plan, illustrating the use of the method in strategic conservation planning.

The overall purpose and contribution of this thesis is increasing the understanding of components of the value of environmental goods. It investigates how the public perceive environmental goods (lay people's perception) and the elements of it that they value. Providing such knowledge contributes to improving valuation methods e.g. the use of the Choice Experiment (CE) for valuing forest biodiversity conservation. Increasing knowledge oflay people's perception and mental constructs of environmental goods can help researchers to know how they can present environmental goods in CEs which align with respondents' perceptions and to further understand the appropriate way of measuring these values. To fulfill the aim of the thesis, the broadleaved forests in southem Scandinavia were chosen as a case study area where both qualitative and quantitative methods were applied to increase understanding of lay people's perception of forest environmental goods and services and to use this for improving stated preference valuation methods. The thesis includes two parts. The first is an introduction to the overall framework of the thesis, an overview of the objectives and an explanation of the main theories behind the CE method. The second part includes four papers. The first two papers mostly focus on improving methodological aspects of CEs, while the next two papers use the result of a CE to generate a better and more comprehensive information base for policy formulation and decision making procedures. The first paper provides input for the three other papers which investigate lay people's perceptions and mental constructs of concepts of nature, forest envirOlID1ental goods and services. The results contribute to the research field by illustrating that 'diversity of animals and plants', 'natural appearance and dynamics of ecosystem', and 'peace and quiet' are the most preferred attributes of forest ecosystems which were most frequently mentioned by lay people compared with other attributes of forest ecosystems. In addition, it was found that regardless of familiarity with the various ecological scientific telminologies, lay people had an intuitive understanding of ecological concepts such as biodiversity. The analyses demonstrate that respondents' perceptions and values of biodiversity could be framed in two categories: as a good in itself, and for its regulatory function. It was also revealed that attitudes to forest and its biodiversity may be rooted in respondents' mental constructs. This can be useful in targeting policies conceming conservation management. The second paper applies these insights from the qualitative investigation of nature perception to estimate WTP for forest biodiversity conservation.

There is major concern internationally, and specifically in the Ethiopian afromontane biodiversity hotspot, about the impact of forest habitat fragmentation on biodiversity conservation. This study assessed the effect of land-use change on land-cover pattern, forest patch spatial structure and consequent effects on plant species richness and composition in two areas of southwest Ethiopia: Illubabor and the Gamo highlands of Gamo Gofa. Land-use change analysis was conducted on three sites, I (1500-2000 m altitude) and II and III (1878-2422 m altitude), each of 47,648 ha, in Illubabor and one area of 66,765 ha in the Gamo highlands. Two Landsat images from the years 1986 and 2000 and one Spot image from 2007 covering Illubabor and two Landsat images from 1995 and 2010 covering most of the Gamo highlands study area were analysed. The change in area, number, shape and edge density of patches of each land-cover class were quantified between the years. Field sampling of woody plants was conducted in plots within 30 forest patches in Illubabor stratified between the three sites, and ten in the Gamo highlands stratified between sacred groves and non-sacred forests. Information on local knowledge, cultural association, institutions, practices and threats of the sacred groves was obtained by interviewing 24 of their traditional custodians. The landscape pattern in both Illubabor Zone and Gamo highlands has changed rapidly over 20 years. In highland areas there has been a rapid conversion of forest to farm, settlement and grazing land. At lower altitude forest cover has been retained but it has been degraded by its use for understorey coffee cultivation. The area and number of forest patches has decreased while patch shape and edge density has increased. In Illubabor forests' woody plant species richness was higher in the lower altitude site I (70.8±9.2) than in sites 11 (50.9±6.3) and III (54.3±4.9), with little difference in the shape of their species accumulation curves. Species composition also differed between site I and sites II and III; altitude and disturbance were more strongly associated with this difference than were patch size, shape and edge density. There was little difference in tree density or basal area amongst the sites. Within forest patches, tree basal area was higher in the patch interior (96.8±9.4 m2 ha-l) than in the edge zone (77.2±15.3 m2 ha-1), however total tree density did not differ significantly. The interior forest had twice the density of trees taller than 22 m and a higher density of small trees (5-14.9 cm DBH) than the edge. Tree species richness did not differ significantly between the two habitats, however including shrubs and vines total woody species richness was higher in the edge (69.3±5.9) than interior (52±3.5) forest. While the upper canopy of interior forest was dominated by species with a wide habitat distribution range, it also had a higher abundance of forest-habitat specialist species than the edge. Species with a distribution associated with forest-margins were, as expected, more abundant in the edge habitat. No association was found between tree density, basal area or height in both habitat types and any fragmentation variables (patch size, shape or edge density) or environmental variables (rainfall, altitude or cumulative disturbance). However, edge habitat basal area was negatively associated with disturbance. Shrub, vine and geophytic angiosperm herb species composition differed between forest edge and interior habitats. Species richness of vascular epiphytes was higher in interior (28.9±1.8) than edge (13.6±1.4) habitat, as was their individual density (114.5±6.5 and 42.7±3.7 respectively), which was associated with the density of large DBH trees. Epiphyte density was not associated with any fragmentation variables, rainfall or altitude, however in the edge habitat it was negatively associated with disturbance. Species composition varied between the two habitats, with forest-habitat distribution species, which tended to have herbaceous stems and leaves, being more abundant in the interior habitat. However, the same three epiphyte species were dominant in both habitats, and species with succulent stems and leaves or woody stems had similar abundance in both. Geophytic fern species richness was higher in interior (29.4±1.8) than edge (22.1±1.4) habitat, as was individual density (104±22.3 and 59.8±13.7 respectively). Species with forest-habitat distribution, those with creeping or erect rhizomes and those with tufted fronds were more abundant in the interior, while generalist distribution species and those with spaced fronds showed no difference. In the Gamo highlands, sampled woody plant species richness and diversity were higher in sacred groves than in non-sacred forests, however, the species accumulation curve showed no difference between the two categories of forest. Their species composition differed and the sacred groves had a higher proportion of species endemic to Ethiopia (12.5%) than the non-sacred forests (9.2%). Two national conservation priority species, Cordia africana and Hagenia abyssinica, were only recorded in the sacred groves, and one IUCN red list species, Prunus africana, was more abundant there. Mean basal area was significantly higher in the sacred groves (1.55±0.45 m2 ha-1) than the non-sacred forests (1.28±0.41) as was tree seedling density (1111.7±393.2 ha-1 and 476.8±87.3 ha-1 respectively) but not sapling density. In conclusion, forests in southwest Ethiopia are undergoing a high rate of fragmentation and degradation. The resulting loss of forest interior core habitat is associated with a loss of biodiversity, especially of vulnerable forest-specialist species of woody plant, vascular epiphyte and geophytic fern. Nonetheless, the remaining small forest patches do still have high biodiversity value and they should be made a high conservation priority. In the Gamo highlands these small patches are generally sacred sites with high cultural value, however they have recently come under high levels of threat which risks loss ofbiocultural diversity. Their conservation through strengthening of traditional community institutions is a high priority.

Cette thèse évalue les conséquences de différentes politiques climatiques sur la filière forêt-bois française. Nous partons du constat qu'en France, les politiques actuellement mises en place prennent, pour la plupart, la forme de mesures ciblées s'appuyant sur la substitution énergétique à travers une augmentation de la consommation de bois-énergie. Nous étudions les effets de ces politiques sur l'économie de la filière et sur l'évolution de la ressource et nous analysons les conséquences de deux mesures fictives alternatives : une politique de séquestration en forêt et une taxe carbone intersectorielle. Pour cela, nous développons un modèle bio-économique du secteur forestier français : French Forest Sector Model (FFSM) s'articule autour d'un module représentant l'économie de la filière bois en équilibre partiel et d'un module représentant l'évolution de la ressource forestière française. FFSM représente la consommation de 6 produits bois transformés, la production de 3 produits bois primaires et les échanges de ces produits entre les 22 régions françaises et entre la France et l'étranger. FFSM permet d'évaluer l'efficacité économique des politiques en estimant leur coût et en mesurant leurs impacts sur les variables économiques de la filière. L'efficacité environnementale des mesures étudiées est analysée en calculant les bilans d'émissions et en déterminant leurs conséquences sur l'évolution de la ressource forestière. / This PhD thesis addresses the issue of assessing the impacts of various climate policies on the French forest sector. It starts from the observation that, in France, most climate policies are based upon the stimulation of additional fuelwood consumption through bottom-up processes. Besides assessing the economic and environmental impacts of these fuelwood policies, we also analyze the impacts of two alternatives climate policies : a policy based upon carbon sequestration in forest and a policy to stimulate the forest sector through a top-down carbon tax policy. In order to test these policies, we develop a bio-economic model of the French sector called French forest sector model (FFSM). It contains two interconnected modules: the economic module represents the economy of the national forest sector in a partial equilibrium framework while the biological module represents the French forest resources dynamics. FFSM takes into account the consumption of 6 final products, the production of 3 primary products and represents tradesbetween the 22 French administrative regions and between France and the rest of the world. From FFSM, we assess the economic effectiveness of policies by interpreting policies costs and by measuring the impacts on the sector through economic variables. We also assess the environmental effectiveness by comparing their carbon balances and their impacts on the forest resource dynamics.