In order to have sustainable wood value chains, it is essential to understand the factors that determine the incorporation of wood resources into them. Forest contractors are among the key players in this process. This study evaluates the preferences of forest contractors when purchasing forest parcels. The variables considered are: slope of the terrain, distance to the nearest road, parcel size, parcel shape, and the fragmentation of the surrounding land. The study area is Galicia, a region in northwestern Spain that is dominated by small-scale family forestry An Attribute Levels Survey was designed to establish threshold values of the considered variables to afterwards perform a Choice Based Conjoint Analysis (CBCA). The CBCA allowed to analyze the preferences of forest contractors in relation to the values of these variables and their relative importance. Also, it allowed to generate a map of the level of preference for all the Galician forest parcels with individual, private ownership. The most noteworthy result of this survey was that size greatly impacts the preference of timber contractors, preceded by slope and followed by distance to roads. These results will aid in the design of landscape-scale policies in a geospatial dimension, like the promotion of forest associations, and will lead to an improvement in the sustainability of wood supply.

中文翻译：

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通过联合分析解读森林承包商购买立木时的地块偏好


为了拥有可持续的木材价值链，必须了解决定将木材资源纳入其中的因素。森林承包商是这一过程的关键参与者之一。本研究评估了森林承包商在购买森林地块时的偏好。考虑的变量包括：地形坡度、到最近道路的距离、地块大小、地块形状以及周围土地的破碎程度。研究区域是西班牙西北部的加利西亚地区，该地区以小规模家庭林业为主。属性水平调查旨在确定所考虑变量的阈值，以便随后执行基于选择的联合分析 (CBCA)。 CBCA 可以根据这些变量的值及其相对重要性来分析森林承包商的偏好。此外，它还可以生成所有加利西亚个人私有森林地块的偏好程度地图。这项调查最值得注意的结果是，尺寸极大地影响了木材承包商的偏好，其次是坡度，其次是距道路的距离。这些结果将有助于设计地理空间维度的景观政策，例如促进森林协会，并将改善木材供应的可持续性。