NewsNew Paper Published – The value of logged tropical forests: A study of ecosystem services in Sabah, Borneo

A new paper as been published in Elsevier  investigating the value of logged tropical forests. The field work was conducted in communities through interviews and ranking exercises around logged forest in Sabah, Malaysia, and community members’ provided valuation of Ecosystem Service. The study presents three key findings: 1. Clean water, clean air, regulation of temperature, flood and erosion are the Ecosystem Services ranked as the most important by all community members regardless of their spatial and socio-demographic backgrounds, 2. Prioritisation for other Ecosystem Service varied according to members’ age, gender, ethnicity, dependence on forest resources and distance to forest, 3. Community members’ priorities for Ecosystem Service align with the ecological literature that these services are retained by logged forest. These interesting results emphasise the need to promote people-centred approaches to design sustainable conservation policies of logged forests in Sabah. Read the full publication here.