Empirical evidence of the ecosystem service of forests in Chile, in local climate regulation

Abstract

The capacity of large forest units to influence local weather has been well stud- ied. Evidence from the Amazon suggests that these forests can affect regions deep within the continent through a spillover effect in wind direction, which promotes vegetation growth. Are we therefore witnessing an impact of an ecosystem service provided by forests in regulating local weather? In this work, I test this hypoth- esis for central-south Chile, because of the presence of a large forestry industry and remnants of native forests. Using satellite remote sensing data spanning the last two decades and a Spatial-Panel model to estimate the impact of the spatial effects of forest units. A positive correlation between forest units has been found suggesting the existence of this phenomenon. Given these discoveries, when test- ing heterogeneous effects by municipalities of an increase of forests NDVI, suggests the existence of a positive externality, but a direct mechanism that increases the production in nearby croplands, because of the better conditions given by forests, meaning an increase in the income of the agricultural related workers, remains still unclear because ambiguous results.