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The existing cost-benefit methods addressed to the developing countries are based on the premises of a growth strategy or its variants. They are, therefore, unsuitable to evaluate projects in the context of a basic needs strategy. This thesis attempts to formulate a methodology suitable to analyse the impact of projects on basic needs fulfilment. A pre-requisite for the application of the methodology - basic needs analysis - is the identification of a basic needs basket and the corresponding basic needs income. Analysis of projects then involves the construction of a goods balance sheet and an income balance sheet. " The goods balance sheet highlights the effect of projects on the social stock of basic goods. Social value of inputs and outputs is derived from the market prices using goods-specific and use-specific conversion factors. The value of the conversion factors varies from 0 to 1, the extreme values representing luxuries and essentials respectively. ) , Product mix considerations are thus taken into account in the'goods balance sheet.; (The effects on basic needs income resulting from projects are measured by the income balance sheet. J -=ý Income changes above the basic needs level are given a social weight of 0, whereas changes at or below this level are attributed a weight of 1. Thus, income distributional considerations are directly incorporated into the analysis. Opportunity costs of funds and resources are based on the forgone basic needs benefits from their alternative uses. Aggregation of costs and benefits over time is carried out without resorting to discounting. At the final stage, the two balance sheets are aggregated using weights which reflect the relative priority given to the objectives of basic goods production and basic needs income generation. The usefulness of the methodology is demonstrated by applying it to a forest land use problem in the tropics.

A vegetation survey in four regions (Deltaic, Dry, Hilly and Plain) in Bangladesh was conducted with reference to marginal (> 0.02 - 0.08 ha), small (> 0.08 - 0.14 ha), medium (>0.14 - 0.20 ha) and large (> 0.20 ha) farm categories. Eighty homegardens (five from each farm category in each of the four regions) were assessed in terms of structure, species composition and diversity of the perennial species. Ordination of floristic data from the 80 homegardens showed a distinction between the Dry and the other regions due to a combination of lower species richness in the Dry region homegardens and several species exclusive to the regions. Floristic differences led to less marked but nevertheless important differences among the other regions, also. Most species were planted in the border of the homegardens irrespective of farm size and region. Food and fruit producing species dominated near the living quarter and working areas and small plots of annual vegetables and crops separated this part of the garden from the more distant parts favoured for timber species. Six vertical strata were recognised with higher plant density and species richness recorded in the lower three (< 7 m). In total ninety two perennial species were recorded for the set of 80 homegardens surveyed. From gardens in the Deltaic region 67 species were recorded. Corresponding figures were 56 for the Plain region, 54 for the Hilly region and 46 for the Dry region. Diversity was highest among food and fruit producing species, followed by the timber species. Indigenous management techniques in homegardens were investigated using different PRA methods. Farmers' used all sorts of planting materials to regenerate homegardens plants. Homegarden provided more than three quarters of the required planting materials. Mother trees were selected for fruit species only. Farmers practised simple cultural operations (weeding and pruning) which were rarely intensive. The fertility of homegardens was maintained naturally from leaf litter, faeces of animals, kitchen waste and the mud of fish ponds. There was a clear separation of tasks between men and women for homegarden management. Farmers spent only 5-12 % of their labour and 4-7.5% of their active time in homegarden management. Farmers have considerable knowledge about mother tree selection, silvicultural protection, as well as about positive and negative interactions. Farmers' had more knowledge about above-ground interaction than below-ground interactions. Women are more knowledgeable than men in many management aspects of homegardens, but their access to various resources is limited. Farmers are very much aware of different functional aspects of homegardens, but due to the lack of good planting materials, funds and extension supports do not utilise their full awareness and knowledge of these matters for homegarden development.

From 1993-1994, a study of Vitellaria paradoxa was carried out. This study involved an in-depth review of biological and ecological information on Vitellatia throughout its range. Stand studies and an analysis of the climate in relation to fire risk. There were also experimental investigations of germination and pollination. All field studies were at the site of the Cocoa Research Institute outstation at Bole. Stand characteristics of Vitellaria (>10 cm dbh) at the 68 kM2 plot of the Cocoa Research Institute's Sheanut Research Station, Bole were examined in two strata distinguished on the basis of distance from the nearest village: >3.0 km and <3.0 km. Regeneration (<10 cm dbh) was assessed and recorded for height, root collar diameter and mode of regeneration. Analysis of variance indicated higher stocking of individuals > 10 cm dbh further from villages but significantly more Vitellaria trees >10 m tall close to villages. Suckers accounted for > 86% of regenerating individuals, and more than 90% of regenerating plants were < 50 cm high. Analysis of climatic data indicated a mean drought index (1990-1994) of 514 ± 61 points. However, the fire danger index never reached an extreme value. The germination response of depulped, cracked and intact seeds of Vitellaria sown under- and outside the canopy of mature Vitellatia trees (> 30 cm dbh), showed a significant association between germination and seed treatment: a higher proportion of depulped than intact seeds germinated. Open pollinated flowers, gave significantly lower fruit set than hand-pollinated flowers. There was no difference, however, in the amount of fruit set achieved with pollen from sources 50 m, 500 m and 1000 m away or from flowers of two different style lengths. It is concluded that fires are adversely affecting the population structure and natural regeneration of stands at Bole, and that low fruit set in Vitellaria is due at least in part, to low vector activity. Suggestions are made for future research on the species.

The basis of scientific forest management in India has been the principle of maximum physical sustained yield of timber and other highvalued products in the interest of posterity. This leads to long rotations, slow turnover of the crop, and slow conversion of existing forest into more productive crops. The needs of the local population have generally been given a lower priority. The community is thus often not in sympathy with the forest departments. This makes the job of protecting and managing the forests as envisaged more difficult. It would therefore be desirable to compare the relative merits of alternative management regimes: maximizing long-term flow of physical product as professed by foresters, maximizing economic efficiency as demanded by neo-classical economists, or maximizing net social value to the current generation, as suggested by modern welfare economists. One framework for such an analysis is afforded by social cost benefit analysis (SCBA). The Little-Mirrlees methodology of SCBA has been used for a study of the teak-bearing forests of North Kanara in Karnataka State, India. Generally, applying economic criteria hastens the liquidation of existing crops, and shortens the optimal rotations of future plantations. Teak plantation as an investment activity is seen to be highly sensitive to the discount rate chosen. This is ultimately a subjective parameter. Hence there is no objective case against long rotations. The social value of maintaining basic needs supplies may, under some conditions, compensate for the loss due to postponement of exploitation of the existing crop. This would support a slow pace of conversion. On the other hand, fuelwood plantations may be more valuable socially than commercial timber crops, thus favouring faster turnover of short rotation smallwood crops in place of timber crops on long rotations. There is thus no inherent social advantage to maximizing physical yield. In conclusion, it is suggested that forestry can serve the interests of posterity better by being more responsive to social needs. On the other hand, economists might make a better contribution to forest management by clearly pointing out the subjective elements in their 'objective' prescriptions.

The economics of two selective logging systems were investigated in Sabah, Malaysia. Both logging systems employed chainsaws and bulldozers to extract timber. Reduced impact logging (RIL) differed from conventional logging (CL) in that it included comprehensive preharvest planning, pre-harvest climber cutting, stock mapping, tree marking, directional felling, and a set of environmentally-friendly skidding guidelines. RIL has been widely recognised as the logging technique to achieve sustainable utilisation of tropical forest. The main objective of this research was to compare the immediate and long term (60 years) economic costs and benefits of RIL with those of conventional logging (CL) practice in terms of timber and nontimber values. The suit of non-timber benefits included carbon, soil, non-timber forest product namely, rattan, water and wildlife values. The study was carried out in Sabah, Malaysia within the Sabah Foundation forest concession. The primary source of data for this research came from a commercial project that was initiated between Innoprise Corporation Sdn Bhd (Malaysia) and the New England Electric Supplies (USA). The RIL project was aimed at reducing logging damage using RIL, hence, increase carbon sequestration potential in forest biomass. The economic analysis comprised two parts, namely (i) an assessment of the logging impacts on the ecological parameters, and (ii) carrying out an economic cost-benefit analysis. Primary data were collected for the timber, carbon, soil values and rattan values using a system of rectangular plots. The water and wildlife values were based on secondary data from published information. To determine the timber harvest for the second cut, a forest growth model (DIPSIM) was adopted for this purpose. Similarly, the potential future carbon in the logged forest was projected using a carbon recovery model (C-REC). The valuation of the timber and non-timber values was based on the market price and opportunity costs techniques. Future costs and benefits were discounted at rates between 2% and 10 % using standard method except where costs and benefits were not derived on annual basis. The findings of this study showed that using RIL to harvest timber had reduced logging damage on the forest vegetation and soils by 50 % compared with CL techniques. Timber production per area logged was comparable with conventionally logged forest, but differed significantly when compared on per management unit basis. There were fewer skid trails and log landings in RIL forest. In addition, soil disturbances was lower on skid trails and log landings, hence, the negative effects of off-site sedimentation was reduced. The lower disturbance in the RIL forest resulted in higher timber stock for timber and non-timber product such as rattan. The timber yield for the second harvest from RIL forest was also higher compared with CL forest. However, RIL was more expensive than CL techniques under some assumptions and constraints. Non-timber benefits other than carbon in the cost-benefit analysis were relatively unimportant. Carbon prices were variable, ranging from negative prices, through prices quite comparable with other results, to very high prices. The study concluded with justifications to relax the RIL harvesting guidelines that were pertinent to the area left unlogged in RIL. There was also a case for exploring alternative logging technologies such as helicopter logging to harvest the unlogged area. These airborne technologies were conceivably costlier than ground based logging system, but the international community could share this burden in a united stand to strive towards sustainable utilisation of tropical forests.

Different methods of estimating the value of recreational areas are discussed with particular attention being given to socioeconomic methods - the survey method and Clawson's method. Aspects of consumer's surplus and aggregating welfare measures have been dealt with. A Clawson method has been applied to empirical data from a forest area in Wales and data from a region in Denmark. In the case from Wales, it was found that 73% of all visitor groups in the sample were on holiday. In addition, for many visitor groups (48%) the visit to the forest area was just one part of the day's outing. Therefore, it was considered necessary to modify the Clawson method. Problems with the weighting of points for the trip demand curve have been given considerable attention. The data from Denmark give rise to consideration of the problem of substitute areas and a classification system was used to select population zones for the Clawson analysis. Different models for the trip demand curve have been tested and the exponential was found to be the most appropriate.

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In view of the Indian Government's growing commitment to forestry, a number of afforestation projects have been implemented. But most projects in developing countries do not conclude as per plan, uncertainty being a major factor. This study undertakes physical, financial, economic and social appraisal of the afforestation programme through case studies of the farm forestry (FF) and the rehabilitation of degraded forest (RDF) components and discusses the conceptual and methodological issues in appraisal of these projects under risk, threat and uncertainty. We have used three different approaches to risk appraisals in the present study. They are: the expected value of NPV through the illicit felling models; the cumulative distribution function comparisons through stochastic efficiency rules; the utility function of the project managers. Physical (logistic and Weibull models), financial and management decision (deterministic and probabilistic models) models developed in the study help in threat appraisal through quantification of physical loss, financial appraisal of its consequences and formulation of a management strategy under the threat of illicit felling. The risk analysis of the FF and the RDF component using Monte Carlo simulation is used to generate probability of return profiles and the results are compared through stochastic efficiency rules. The utility functions of the project managers are used to describe their risk attitude. The study shows that most managers are risk averse and the analysis of their utility functions supports the decreasing absolute risk aversion hypothesis. It emphasizes the need for a risk policy in the Forest Department. The economic appraisal examines the interaction of the FF and the RDF components with the economy rather than the treasury. Illicit felling is accounted for as a benefit to the economy. A 'Shadow pricing approach' is adopted for economic and social appraisals. For the social appraisal, inputs and outputs are estimated in terms of net discounted utility-weighted consumption flows. All the parameters of social and economic appraisal such as the consumption value of unit reinvestment, utility weight for incremental consumption at different consumption levels, social discount rate and economic discount rate are estimated. To study farmers' adoption behaviour, principal component analysis is used to explore significant factors and a logit model is developed after that to estimate probability of adoption. The study indicates that adoption of FF can be explained in an overall framework of evolutionary theory proposed in this study. The evolutionary theory posits that farmer tree growing can be considered as a land use strategy in response to both changing macro and micro factors, many of which relate to characteristics of the farmers, their resource endowments etc. It is concluded that success of projects can be assessed by taking account of the factors influencing the variability in the project outcome and understanding the whole process of people's interaction and participation in the project.