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Assessing the contribution and linkages of the forest sector to the national economy: Case studies on Finland, Malawi, and the United States of America

XV World Forestry Congress, 2-6 May 2022

Year of publication 2022

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 10p.

Author Li, Y., Mei, B., Linhares-Juvenal, T., Formenton Cardoso, N.

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Article

Synopsis (short abstract) Economic contribution of the forest sector is commonly downplayed by only considering its direct impacts while overlooking the ripple effects on other sectors of the economy. This lack of recognition often puts the forest sector in a less favorable position in developing national development strategy and impedes unlocking the sector’s full potential towards sustainable development. This study used three case studies (Finland, Malawi, and the United States of America) to illustrate how the forest sector contributed to national economies through direct, indirect, and induced effects. It identifies and quantifies how the forest sector is linked to other sectors of the economy via backward and forward linkages, and compares the structure of the sectoral linkages across the three studied countries. A structural path analysis approach based on social accounting matrices was used for the analysis. The forest sector was found having a promising potential to contribute to national economies through direct contribution and pathways via other sectors. The forest sector’s indirect and induced effects were found higher than its direct effects in terms of employment, valued added, and labour income. Wood-based processing subsectors in general had higher economic multipliers than the forestry and logging subsector. The real estate, wholesale trade, and food sectors were among the top backward-linked sectors of the forest sector and the construction sector was among the top forward-linked sectors for all three countries. There were great variations in how the forest sector interacts with other sectors among the studied countries. Stage of development, resource endowments, forest tenure, geo-economics, positions in international trade, and national forest policy all played some roles. The results can advance our understanding of the sectoral linkages of the forest sector in national economy and provide thoughts on how to weave the forest sector into national development strategies in a holistic way. Keywords: economic contribution analysis, sectoral linkage, social accounting matrix, structural path analysis, forest sector ID: 3485504

Language English

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    Article
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    2022
    Also available in:
    No results found.
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