RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Mitigating Climate Change by Planting Trees: The Transaction Costs Trap
JF Land Economics
JO Land Econ
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 559
OP 572
DO 10.2307/3146853
VO 78
IS 4
A1 van Kooten, G. Cornelis
A1 Shaikh, Sabina Lee
A1 Suchánek, Pavel
YR 2002
UL http://le.uwpress.org/content/78/4/559.abstract
AB Land-use change and forestry projects are considered a low-cost option for addressing climate change mitigation. In Canada, afforestation is targeted to sequester enough carbon to meet one-fifth of its international obligations, and at lower cost than emissions reduction. We examine economic aspects of the institutions and incentives needed to encourage landowners in Canada to adopt tree planting on a large scale. Based on data from a survey of landowners, the transaction costs of getting landowners to convert their land from agriculture to plantation forests appear to be a significant obstacle, possibly increasing the costs of afforestation projects beyond what conventional economic analysis suggests. (JEL Q25)