Methodology for non-forest woody plants appraisal including calculation of compensatory measures for felled or damaged woody plants NCA CR (version 2021)
Abstract
Methodology for non-forest woody plants appraisal NCA CR is an updated version of the original methodology (2018). The novelty and main contribution lies in the comprehensive approach that links the fields of science already represented in the existing methodological procedure (arboriculture, dendrology or biology) with additional science fields: social science knowledge about the value of trees (especially sociology and environmental economics, including expert evaluation methods and non-market valuation) and with knowledge from the field of environmental law.
Particular steps and levels of the existing methodological design are systematically validated, innovated, extended and objectified in this update of the methodology based on a multidisciplinary approach. The main innovations in the valuation procedure compared to the previous version encompass a new categorisation of solitary trees, explicit consideration of invasiveness in the valuation of both solitary trees and woody plant stands, and a more precise distinction between the values of dry and decaying trees with regard to their biological potential.
Altogether the updates to the 2021 methodology result in a slight increase in the value of most of the felled solitary trees and wood plant stands compared to the previous version of the methodology. In case of felling of mature/older trees, the new version of the methodology still leads to compensation with a few new tree individuals, while replacements of young trees roughly matches to the size of new plantations, leading to tree-for-tree replacements as in previous versions of the methodology.
While the updated methodology NCA CR on tree assessment (version 2021) contains mainly the updated valuation procedure, which is only briefly commented so that the text retains clarity, the comprehensive background to the methodology and the innovation of the methodological procedure for 2021 is summarized in the publicly available Technical Report on the Methodology for Valuation of Woody Plants Growing Outside Forests (version 2021), which complements the AOPK CR methodology (version 2021) in this respect.