Data Envelopment Analysis in Measuring the Efficiency of Forest Management

One major concern in environmental management is how to manage efficiently the scarce natural resources necessary to improve the standards of life. To this end, a tool is required to measure the relative efficiency of the management achievements. In this paper, an approach entitled data envelopment analysis (DEA), which is widely used in management science, is introduced to measure the efficiency of forest management. The detailed steps in application, some technical problems to be noticed and the models available for selection are described. In addition to measuring efficiency, the DEA approach can also be used for generating directions for making improvements. A real case of Taiwan forests in used as an example.