Presentation description

We asked over forty individuals involved in urban forestry how the valuation of public trees comes up during the course of their work. Trees provide huge benefits to humans in the form of environmental and social services, economic impacts, and improved health outcomes, but generally cities only consider their structural value in monetary terms. We found that, while tools exist for the non-market valuation of (some of) the services provided by trees, these are almost never codified into city law or used in management decisions. City trees are an example of a public good, which tend to be undersupplied. We found that, from an economic viewpoint, the current system does not provide enough incentive to reach the efficient outcome.