Economic Benefits of Watershed Protection and the Tradeoff with Timber Production: A Case Study in Malaysia

This study was conducted to determine the production trade-off between two land use options. In the first option - total protection from logging (TP) - water is used for hydroelectric power(HEP)generation and in a water regulatory dam to support continuous treated water production downstream. The other option - reduced impact logging (RIP) - integrates water uses with logging practices. With TP, natural sediment flow into the river system is low. Under RIP, sediment volume increases severalfold: almost five times in the water regulatory dam and almost three times into the three HEP water intake ponds.