Staff
Eleanor Gardner
MSc
MSc
Eleanor’s work at Forest Research mostly contributes to the ‘Economics of Woodland Creation’ project, focusing on the opportunity costs of woodland creation (including from renewable energy and biodiversity net gain) and financial mechanisms to overcome barriers to woodland creation. Other topics of research include green finance, spatial economic modelling and the economics of public access provision.
Eleanor joined Forest Research in May 2023 following a six-month internship at the OECD and completing her MSc in Agricultural and Food Economics from the University of Bonn (Germany) and UCLouvain (Belgium). She also holds a BA in Economics and Arabic from the University of Durham. During her degrees she researched a range of topics in forest economics, from models of biofuel-induced deforestation to the drivers of reliance on forest incomes in sub-Saharan Africa.
Alice Holt
The Economics of Woodland Creation project aims to build England’s forest economic evidence base to help land managers and businesses make informed decisions on land use change and woodland management. This will be achieved through the collection and economic analysis of information on the financial implications of woodland creation options.
This review summarises the available economic literature on barriers and enabling factors affecting the ability of specific publics to access woodlands. In particular, distance to woodland, income, socioeconomic variables, health and disability are analysed as factors affecting individuals’ frequency of visits to woodlands and willingness to pay (WTP) for woodland recreation.