Is the private forest sector adapting to climate change? A study of forest managers in north Wales

? Context

Two-thirds of Britain’s forest area is privately owned. Thus, understanding private forest owners and managers, and their attitudes to uncertainty and change, is essential for the success of climate change adaptation policies.

? Aim

The aims of this study are to (1) assess how beliefs in climate change in the private sector have influenced forest management practices; (2) identify constraints related to changes in species choice and silvicultural systems; (3) analyse the implications for implementing climate change policy in forestry.

? Method

Semi-structured interviews with key informants who provide advice to, or manage woodlands in, the private forest sector in north Wales.

? Results

Woodland managers and some advisers are not generally convinced of a need to adapt. They feel the future is uncertain, more usually in relation to tree disease than to climate change itself. Species choice is the principle focus of adaptation activities and reveals a deep divide in opinion. Commercial advisors look to new exotics but are inhibited by absence of markets, while small-scale owners rely more on native genetic diversity.

? Conclusions

Findings that are likely to apply widely include: the influential role of forest agents in forest management decisions including species choice; lack of confidence in climate change predictions, and in markets; more immediate concerns about tree pests and diseases; demand for leadership from the public sector, and for engagement amongst the private sector. Further research is needed across a wider area to test the variability in relationship between attitudes and behaviours, and local conditions including climate change predictions.     

Strategies on natural forest protection of collective forest area in minority nationality community in China─A case of the forest resource management in datu village

IntroductionForestisakindofmulti-function'resourcethatcanbesustaininglyutiIized,butsomeprobIems,suchasinsufficiencyoftimberyieId,soiIerosion,cIimateim-baIanceinpartdistrictetc.,oftenarousedbecauseofincorrectuseandmanagementofnaturalresources.InordertodevelopthefOrestry,IotsoffOrestrypoIi-cieshavebeenissuedandcarriedout.V8rioustypesofforestresourcesmanagementhavebeenaroused,especialIycollectiveforestareasinsouthChina.However,whydiff6rentefficiencies,good,badandworse,eventoresultinthedecrea…     

What can tree plantations do for forest birds in fragmented forest landscapes? A case study in southern Brazil

Despite the fact that tree plantations are not able to completely replace the ecological function of natural forests, the present study proposes to evaluate for which bird species or avian groups tree plantations act as habitat in fragmented landscape in southern Brazil. We compared the richness and abundance of bird species in a natural forest to adjacent plantations of Araucaria, a native tree species and of pine, an exotic plant in South America. Moreover, we evaluated the impact of tree plantations on richness of avian groups with different levels of dependence on forest habitat, feeding habits and foraging strata as well as on threatened species. The fixed 100 m radius point-counts method was used. A total of 114 bird species were recorded in all areas. Of those, 93 occurred in natural forest, 87 in Araucaria plantations and 81 in pine plantations. These results indicate that richness and abundance were lower in the pine plantations than in the natural forest and in the Araucaria plantations. Araucaria plantations can be used by a high number of bird species and their richness was not significantly lower than that observed in the adjacent natural forest. Our results suggest that Araucaria plantations could act as habitat for a large number of bird species, especially for forest-dependents species, insectivores, frugivores and species at different threat categories.     

A comprehensive framework of forest stand property–density relationships: perspectives for plant population ecology and forest management

? Context

There are many stand property–density relationships in ecology which represent emergent properties of plant populations. Examples include self-thinning, competition–density effect, constant final yield, and age-related decline in stand growth. We suggest that these relationships are different aspects of a general framework of stand property–density relationships.

? Aims

We aim to illustrate the generalities and ecological implications of stand property–density relationships, and organize them in a comprehensive framework.

? Methods

We illustrate relationships between stand property and density (1) at one point in time, (2) over time, and (3) independent of time. We review the consequences of considering different variables to characterize stand property (mean tree size, mean tree growth, stand growth, stand yield, stand leaf area).

? Results

We provide a framework that integrates the broad categories of stand property–density relationships and individual expressions of these relationships. For example, we conclude that constant final yield is a special case of the growth–growing stock relationship for life forms were yield is a reasonable approximation of growth (non-woody plants).

? Conclusion

There is support in the literature for leaf area being broadly integrative with respect to various expressions of stand property–density relationships. We show how this is and suggest implications for plant population ecology and forest management.     

Severely insect-damaged forest: A temporary trap for red squirrels?

Recent insect infestations in the spruce-fir forest in the Pinaleño Mountains of southeastern Arizona provided an opportunity to document response to severe forest disturbance and existence of an ecological trap for an endemic montane isolate, the endangered Mt. Graham red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus grahamensis). From September 2003 to December 2005 we assessed habitat selection and home range dynamics, and monitored potential correlates of fitness (body mass, reproduction, survivorship) in red squirrels living in insect-damaged forest, while drawing comparisons to squirrels inhabiting undamaged mixed-conifer forest. Although Mt. Graham red squirrels demonstrate equal-preference for habitat within insect-damaged forests and reproduce as well as individuals in undamaged forest, poor survivorship and reduced potential to reproduce suggest insect-damaged forest may function as an ecological trap. In addition, areas selected within insect-damaged forest had <69% dead trees, suggesting an upper limit to the extent of tree mortality tolerated by red squirrels. Habitat selection and sensitivity to disturbance will influence use of insect-damaged areas by forest-dwelling species. Although insect-damaged forest may retain habitat patches for a few individuals, low survivorship may generate an ecological trap.     

Socio-economic and ecological outcomes of community based forest management: A case study from Tobé-Kpobidon forest in Benin,Western Africa

Community forestry, promoted as a “win–win” forest management strategy yielded a variety of results that includes both failure and relative success. The willingness of government to hold control over forest resources while transferring only part of property rights to local communities is one of the major constraints. Therefore, there is a need to explore alternative approaches, which enhance the position and accountability of local communities in community forest management. This study evaluated socio-economic and ecological outcomes of community forestry in a context of important property rights conceded to local communities. The study was conducted using focus groups discussions, forest income evaluation and assessment of forest resources and their dynamics. Findings showed that institutional design with important property rights conceded to local communities partially empowered local communities and reduced threats while improving the condition of forest resources. The approach also yielded positive economic outcomes that enabled bordering populations to make up to 25% of their global annual income from the forest. However, the sustainability of this scheme of forest management was mostly limited by the financial dependency on local non-governmental organization, by local institutions and discrepancy in forest benefits sharing among local forest users.     

Does communal forest intervention management enhance forest benefits of smallholder farmers? Evidence from Hugumbirda forest,Tigray, Ethiopia

Forest rehabilitation activities within centrally controlled state-owned forests in Ethiopia could not deliver communities with increased income. A study aiming to assess the benefits of forests for smallholder farmers whose land falls close to the state forest was conducted in Hugumbirda and Endedo kebele, two villages located adjacent to the Hugumbirda forest. Semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect data from 251 randomly selected households living near or adjacent to the state forest. A logit model was used to analyze factors affecting household’s willingness to scale up forests at the communal level. Most of the respondents living near or adjacent to the national forest were found to be dependent on the forest for fuelwood and therefore energy, timber products, and farming equipment. Furthermore, households were found to perceive that communal intervention management is a significant factor in attempts to further scale up forests. Scale-up of forests at the community was one option to enhance the vegetation cover and therefore increase primary production by promoting infiltration and decrease evaporation and runoff water. Finally farmers have suggested the state forest should be devolved to the community to improve the current level of forest contributions to the livelihood of smallholder farmers.     

Ecological control of forest pest： a new strategy for forest pest control

In comparison with integrated pest management and chemical control, the authors put forward a new strategy of forest pest control, named ecological control of forest pest （ECFP）. This paper reviewed the development history, summarized the concept and principles of ECFP, discussed the technology and methods of ECFP, and evaluated the ECFP and its application conditions.     

Problems and relevant strategies on natural forest protection in Changbai Mountain forest area

Changbai Mountain forest area is not only is a national timber base but also a green ecological defense for Songliao Plain of NE China. The Natural Forest Protection Project of this area has an important bearing on the social and economic sustainable development of Jilin Province or even the whole forest area in NE China. This paper summarized general conditions of natural forest in Changbai Mountain state-owned forest area and put forward six problems need to be urgently solved and five strategic suggestions on natural forest protection and sustainable management.     

Why do forest owners fail to heed warnings? Conflicting risk evaluations made by the Swedish forest agency and forest owners

In the aftermath of a hurricane in Sweden that felled some 250 million trees, the Swedish Forest Agency advised forest owners to reduce forest vulnerability by planting different tree species. This paper analyses why forest owners failed to heed the Forest Agency's recommendation, thereby reproducing a forest vulnerable to storms. This paper focuses on the deliberations and risk evaluations of forest owners when deciding which tree species to plant. The analysis identifies three main categories of reasoning that guided the forest owners' decision-making process: short-term economic reasoning caused by the pressing situation they faced; an understanding of windstorms as natural catastrophes that are impossible to influence; and the uncertainties associated with alternative forest management practices. Furthermore, given their risk-averse strategy, their approach to understanding and coping with uncertainty was crucial in determining their responses. This paper concludes that the forest owners primarily employed experience-based, practical and embodied knowledge, implying that abstract risks and theoretical knowledge regarding future developments were not deemed relevant. An additional conclusion is that even if a huge storm felling shows the need to change forest management practice, it does not provide the most favourable social conditions for achieving change.     

Do forest decision-makers in Southeastern Norway adapt forest management to climate change?

To study whether, why, and how forestry decision-makers in Southeastern Norway adapt to climate change, we conducted a series of semi-structured interviews in focus groups consisting of non-industrial private forest owners, forest managers, and forest advisors. Our results show that a majority of the participants believed in climate change as a phenomenon, and had experienced events or observed changes that they attributed to climate change. However, we found little evidence of concern regarding climate change impacts on forest ecosystems and forestry among the participants. Instead, the majority regarded climate change more as an opportunity for the Norwegian forest-based sector than a threat. A minority had implemented proactive practices motivated by climate change but in all but one case, the adjustments were adaptation of forest infrastructure. In general, the participants agreed that the uncertainty associated with the effects of climate change and the (economical) uncertainty associated with adaptation of forest ecosystems were too large to change forest management practices at present. However, many participants, in particular the managers, are already adapting in response to experienced problems, such as increased frequency and duration of periods with low carrying capacity of the ground implying reduced or no accessibility within and to stands.     

Does the effect of forest roads extend a few meters or more into the adjacent forest? A study on understory plant diversity in managed oak stands

Roads are recognised as having different ecological roles such as barrier, corridor or habitat, but the spatial extent of road effects on plant communities in forests remains unclear. We studied the effect of forest road distance on plant understory diversity at 20 sites in young and adult oak stands in a French lowland forest with a long history of management and road construction. All vascular and bryophyte species were collected at five distances ranging from the road verge to 100 m into the adjacent forest stand. We analysed species composition, individual species response, a priori life-history traits response – life form, habitat preference and dispersal mode – and environmental indicator values in relation to road distance and stand age. Plant composition strongly differed between road verge and forest interior habitats. The main road effect extended less than 5 m into the forest stand. A third habitat was detected at the forest-road edge resulting from the road effect on light and soil conditions, and from edge-specific topography. Non-forest species were almost absent from the forest interior. In contrast, many bryophytes and several vascular plants kept away from the road. We identified a posteriori six species groups that better explained the variability of plant response profiles than a priori life-history traits. Plant response to road distance was also dependent on stand age: some species colonised from the road into the forest interior in young stands following regeneration cutting, while other species displayed the reverse pattern in adult stands once canopy closed above the forest road. Even if the depth of forest road effect measured in lowland managed stands was narrow, building of a new forest road has non-negligible effects on plant population dynamics. Forest managers should take into account the impacts of roads on biodiversity, since the expected intensification of silviculture in response to global changes is set to accentuate the effect of forest roads. We recommend further study on the role of dispersal by vehicles (i.e. agestochory) in road effects.     

The forest as a taskscape: seeing through the good forest owner’s eyes

This article is a reanalysis of interviews conducted in 2006 and 2009 with forest owners and their families. It gives a complementary interpretation of the forest owners’ decisions to replant spruce despite strong criticism from the public and from experts. The interviewees’ visual conception of the forest landscape and how they relate to it through their forestry practices is analysed. The results show that the forest owners prefer landscapes that are clean and tidy, showing characteristics indicative of forestry skills. At the same time they remain sensitive to the existence of other value systems among the public. The forest owners’ way of looking at the forest was characterized by the fact that they worked with the landscape; for them the forest is not only a symbolic project linked to identity, but also a taskscape, an imprint of performed work. In the discussion, the forest owners’ aesthetic value system is discussed and a supplementary answer is given to why forest owners refused to heed warnings about the replanting of spruce, a question that earlier studies generally attributed to forest owners’ wish to avoid short-term economic risks.     

Strategies on natural forest protection of collective forest area in minority nationality community in China

In the recent 20 years, it is a trend that forest will be distributed to villagers to manage in the world. Also in China, “forestry three determinations” has been carried out since 1980, and many new forestry devolutions have been put forward to and come into being. To face the fact of overusing up natural forest to result in the deterioration of ecology environment, the strategy of natural forest protection project (NFPP) is raised after the heavy flood in 1998. Now, it is paid close attention to systematically study to carry out the strategies of NFPP in collective forest area, especially in the community of minority nationalities. Based on the case of forest resource management in Datu Miao Village, the experience of its forest management in the past is analyzed and the strategies of NFPP in collective forest area are put forward. Foundation item: This project is a part of research project “forest devolution management of IFAD/CIFOR” Biography: L{upuo} Ming-can (1961-), maie, associate professor, vice director of post-graduate school of Southwest Forestry College, Kunming 650224, P.R. China. Responsible editor: Song Funan     

A short history of Dutch forest policy: The ‘de-institutionalisation’ of a policy arrangement

Over the past thirty years, forest policy in the Netherlands has almost entirely been integrated into nature policy. This process of ‘de-institutionalisation’ is surprising in view of widely accepted theories of institutional stability and ‘path dependency’. The process is investigated in this paper along the four dimensions of the policy arrangement approach: discourse, power, rules and actors. It is argued that a discursive shift, moving the focus from production forest to ‘forest as part of nature’ and fuelled by a number of underlying factors, lies at the heart of the process. In concordance with this shift, advocates of timber autarky lost power in favour of ‘nature advocates’. A more diverse set of actors became involved in forest policy, also reflecting a more general trend in Dutch politics towards greater openness and the erosion of neo-corporatist rules. Thus, changes in all four dimensions of the policy arrangement worked into one direction. This may explain the unusually quick and radical ‘de-institutionalisation’ of Dutch forest policy.     

FORESTAR：A decision—support system for multi—objective forest management in Northeast China

Past monoculture forestry in China has contributed to countrywide ecological disasters and economic difficulties in forestry regions. China‘s new forestry programs, Natural Forest Conservation Program and Returning Farmlands to Forests Program, provide opportunities for ecosystem management of mountain forests in China. A decision support system, FORE-STAR, has been developed for better managing and protecting natural forests in Changbai Mountain area. It uses GIS-based forest inventory data at a scale of forestry bureau. The first version contains two sub-modules: forest operation and forest res-toration. Under each sub-module, users can compare several decision options and make optimal choices. It can help field for-esters, forest managers, and policy makers make multi-objective and consistent decisions in planning forest management at hierarchical administrative scales.     

Housing pattern and food habit of the Mro-tribe community in Bangladesh： A forest dependence perspective

An exploratory study was conducted on the housing pattern and food habit of the Mro tribe in Bandarban region,Bangladesh, highlighting their indigenous knowledge. The study was carried out with respect to three income groups. A total of 36 households (12 from each income groups) were assessed using different participatory appraisals through semi-structured questionnaires. A special type of indigenous knowledge on housing pattern and food habit was explored in the Mro community, which correspond to the severe dependence on forest resources.     

The impact of climate change on forest fire danger rating in China’s boreal forest

The Great Xing’an Mountains boreal forests were focused on in the northeastern China.The simulated future climate scenarios of IPCC SRES A2a and B2a for both the baseline period of 1961-1990 and the future scenario periods were downscaled by the Delta Method and the Weather Generator to produce daily weather data.After the verification with local weather and fire data,the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System was used to assess the forest fire weather situation under climate change in the study region.An increasing trend of fire weather severity was found over the 21st century in the study region under the both future climate change scenarios,compared to the 1961-1990 baseline period.The annual mean/maximum fire weather index was predicted to rise continuously during 2010-2099,and by the end of the 21st century it is predicted to rise by 22%-52% across much of China’s boreal forest.The significant increases were predicted in the spring from of April to June and in the summer from July to August.In the summer,the fire weather index was predicted to be higher than the current index by as much as 148% by the end of the 21st century.Under the scenarios of SRES A2a and B2a,both the chance of extremely high fire danger occurrence and the number of days of extremely high fire danger occurrence was predicted to increase in the study region.It is anticipated that the number of extremely high fire danger days would increase from 44 days in 1980s to 53-75 days by the end of the 21st century.     

Not seeing the forest for the trees? The environmental effectiveness of forest certification in Sweden

Forest certification can be conceived as one of many rapidly growing non-state market driven (NSMD) modes of governance. The environmental effectiveness of forest certification is oftentimes evaluated by indicators such as stringency of standards, degree of participation by key stakeholders, certified area, etc. In political science, forest certification as an NSMD governance arrangement is usually evaluated in terms of the quality of the decision-making procedures (input legitimacy) rather than for its problem solving capacity, i.e. its environmental performance or effectiveness. We conceptualize environmental effectiveness as a function of a standard's environmental stringency and the area covered by the standard, the latter dependent on the degree of social acceptance. Accordingly, the environmental effectiveness of different certification schemes ought to be evaluated taking both the standard stringency and the area certified into account. The forest certification process in Sweden illustrates how forestry history and regional differences affect the development, acceptance and adoption of different certification schemes. Industrial and Northern forestry owners favour the NGO led Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards whereas Southern small-scale private forest owners preferred to develop an alternative scheme the Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). We demonstrate that there is a bifurcated geographical coverage of the two certification schemes along a north–south divide coupled with a similarity in standard stringency and a high degree of acceptance in their different areas of dominance. Both forest certification schemes display a similar degree of environmental effectiveness — but in different parts of the country and for different types of ownership.