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An Integrated Assessment of Climate Change on Timber Markets of the Southern United States

Informally Refereed

Abstract

There is growing public concern that continued emissions of greenhouse gases could cause the global climate to change (Gore, 1992). Altered global climate could, in turn, have impacts on the earth's natural systems and, ultimately, on human welfare (Office of Technology Assessment, 1991). Economic assessments of these potential welfare impacts are useful to government officials who ultimately may need to evaluate the costs and benefits of global change legislation. The purpose of this chapter was to examine the potential economic impacts of climate change on pine timber markets of the southern United States. Southern pine forests are commercially important as they account for approximatelyone- half of the softwood timber volume harvested in the United States (Haynes, 1990). The three specific objectives of the study were 1) to develop scenarios of climate change using historic climate data and general circulation models (GCMs),2) to use the climate scenarios to predict changes in the growth and merchantable inventory of southern pine forests from eastern Texas to Virginia, and 3) to estimate the economic impact of this inventory change on timber producers and consumers in the southern pine sawtimber and pulpwood markets.

Citation

de Steiguer, Joseph E.; McNulty, Steven G. 1998. An Integrated Assessment of Climate Change on Timber Markets of the Southern United States. The Productivity& Sustainability of Southern Forest Ecosystems in a Changing Environment Edited by Micklerand Fox
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/1217