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Abstract
Forest externalities represent today an emerging source of income. Carbon sequestration, biodiversity
maintenance and recreation activities in mountain woodland areas are three forest services
that have been a core issue in the recent political framework. However, the stiff legislative
system and unclear property rights have been two mayor themes that have inhibited the implementation
of payment for environmental service (PES), especially in the Italian civil law system.
The paper shows the potential willingness to pay (WTP) of forest externalities generated in
the in the Eastern Alps, for Veneto’s dwellers: basic information to develop any market-based
mechanism to stimulate the commercialization of forest services. Using choice experiment approach,
an estimation of marginal values has been assessed for each service. The results report
the trade-off effect among the different use of forest externalities. Higher WTP was found on
direct use-value services by sub-grouping the sample on target socio-demographic categories.
Unfamiliar externalities, like biodiversity, have had irrelevant role compare to the other forest
services. Finally, based on these findings a specific PES scheme on target externalities has been
drafted for the alpine context.