Economic analysis of cork oak woodland natural regeneration in the region of Ain Snoussi, Tunisia

Both the lack of natural regeneration and the depletion of cork oak trees have encouraged interest in cork oak conservation in Tunisia. The objective of this paper is to compare the economic results of sustainable natural regeneration and unsustainable management of the Ain Snoussi cork oak woodland. Two ma- nagement scenarios were simulated: under the first one, cork oaks naturally regenerate at infinite horizon whereas, in the second one, cork oak trees age until they eventually disappear and are replaced by scrubland. For this purpose, an economic analysis was conducted to indicate expenditures and revenues of the entire production cycle of cork oak forests under the two management sce- narios. The market results show that nowadays, compared to the unsustainable scenario, sustainable cork tree management has a higher total social income or discounted net value added (NVA) and a lower capital income (CIMP) at infinite horizon using a real social discount rate of 2%. The CIMP under sustainable management does remain high, however, at 8,449 Tunisian dinars (TND)/ha. In addition, the capital income distribution shows that sustainable management is more profitable for the government, with a gain of 981 TND/ha, and much less advantageous for families (a loss of 1,417 TND/ha). Therefore, a financial mecha- nism to compensate for income losses suffered by families under sustainable management is necessary.