Progress and Trend in Forest Scientific Researches in the World

Editor's note The 9th session of the general assembly of IUFRO was held atMontreal, Canada on August 5-11, 1990. The Chinese delegationpresent at this conference was headed by Liu Yuhe, the president     

Open woodland in Europe in the Mesolithic and in the Middle Ages: Can there be a connection?

In Grazing Ecology and Forest History F.W.M. Vera published his hypothesis that Europe's primeval vegetation was not closed forest but a more open, park-like landscape maintained by the grazing of large herbivores. The palaeoecological evidence has been re-examined a number of times, however, Vera's research and conclusions about more recent periods (ca. 500–1900 a.d.) have so far been neglected. These, nonetheless, are equally significant elements in the testing of the hypothesis, and deserve to be evaluated. It is argued in this paper that historical sources could be used in testing the hypothesis; however, analysis should concentrate on particular areas and periods and derive a synthesis from these. Vera mixes sources from many regions and periods in the same analysis, which therefore does not provide useful information about the hypothesis. Furthermore, Vera's analysis is based on the assumption that early medieval written sources depict a landscape that is in direct connection with the pre-Neolithic open vegetation, although in some early medieval landscapes domestic animals replaced the original large herbivores. He also claims that medieval coppices were formed straight out of this primeval vegetation. However, current landscape archaeological research shows that areas unaffected by human activity were virtually non-existent in the European lowlands by the Early Middle Ages, therefore early medieval Royal Forests and high medieval coppices were not formed out of primeval ‘wilderness.’ Because there is no direct connection between pre-Neolithic and medieval landscapes – although they can be analogous – the historical ecological evidence in Grazing Ecology and Forest History is irrelevant to the hypothesis. The hypothesis could only be tested if it were first proved that at a particular place the pre-Neolithic vegetation survived until the Early Middle Ages.     

Conflicts and Their Resolution in the Utilization of Forest Resources

ByTangCaifuForestsaretherichestrenewableplantresourcesandembraceeconomic,ecologicalandsocialbenefits.Variousconflictsandcontradictionsariseinexpandingtheutilizationofforestresources.AparticipatoryevaluationmethodwasusedtoinvestigateconflictsinforestresourcesutilizationinLongweiandLinwanVillages.ThesearetwoplojectsitesoftheCommunityForestryProjectofQuxianCounty.Thesolutionstotheseconflictshavebeensummarizedandnewapproachestoaddressingtheconflictssought.1.Tilelandconjlictbetweenforestryanda…     

Farmer Participation in the Management and Policymaking of Forestry Projects

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Overview of restoration and management practices in the degraded landscapes of the Sahelian and dryland forests and woodlands of East and southern Africa§

The highest deforestation and forest degradation rates in Africa occur in the dry forests and woodlands where pressure for land is increasing, poverty is rampant, livelihood options are few and climate change effects are severe. This paper examines factors that cause land and forest degradation in the Sahel and dry forests and woodlands of eastern and southern Africa and highlights some successful restoration practices, technologies and approaches. In the Sahel, enclosures are used to protect young growing trees while in East Africa enclosures are implemented on degraded land as a mechanism for environmental rehabilitation with a clear biophysical impact. The choice of techniques for rehabilitating specific degraded areas depends first on the priorities and management objectives of stakeholders followed by the costs and benefits associated with available rehabilitation techniques and the economic, social, and environmental values of the land resources in their current and desired future states. In the Sahel, sustainable land management is considered to be an imperative for their sustainable development and the practices include soil and water conservation activities and structures. In all regions, natural forest rehabilitation has used both natural and assisted regeneration to promote the growth of especially indigenous species through coppice regrowth and root suckers rather than seeds. Assisted regeneration was especially prevalent in the Sahel where indigenous tree species have been identified to dominate the degraded sites during early stages of secondary forest succession. The success of any rehabilitation activities depends on community-based natural resources management. In addition, the forest policies and their related policies need to be enabling in order to address issues of concern, including (1) the full participation of communities, (2) clear land and tree tenure and (3) equitable benefit sharing.     

Shifts in the bacterial community structure and function along a vegetation gradient in the Great Xing’an Mountains

The aim of this study was to compare soil bacterial communities in the Great Xing’an Mountains that represent three dominant vegetation types (Quercus mongolica forest, shrub mixed with herb and grassland). Soil bacterial communities were analyzed by both culture-dependent physiological profiling (Biolog) and culture-independent DNA-based approaches. The Q. mongolica forest and shrub mixed with herb had higher average well color development than the grassland, and the Q. mongolica forest and shrub mixed with herb soil bacterial communities easily utilized miscellaneous and amines/amides. The bacterial community structure was distinct across the three sites. Most of Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were found in grassland soil, while Firmicutes was present at a higher percentage in the Q. mongolica soil. Extracellular enzyme assays indicated that the soil ecosystem in the grassland experienced altered N and P nutrient cycling dynamics. pH, available phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen were important in shaping bacterial community structure. These results suggest that vegetation type was a strong determinant of the structure and function of bacterial communities, which may subsequently lead to significant changes in ecosystem functioning.     

The Status and Conservation of the Great Bustard in Northeast China

DistributionandPopulationTherearetwosubspeciesofGreatBustardsinChina;OtiStardatardaarareresidentofinKashiregion,TianshanMountainsandTurpanregioninXinjiangUygurAutonomousRegioninnorth-westernChina.TheotherisO.t.dybowsklifoundinnortheasternChina(ChengTso-hs…     

Reviewing on the Development of Forestry Sciences and Technology in China

This essay reviews and sums up about the major achievement of forestry sciences-and technology in the past 50 years in China, from 8 fields including hereditary breeding of forest, silviculture, forest ecology, forest management, forest protection, combating desertification, wood sciences and technology, and forestry chemistry and technology.     

Effects of Forest on the Budgets of Water，Energy and Gases in the Environment

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State of Art and Knowledge of Urban Forestry in the Philippines

1 INTRODUCTIONUrban Forestry is an emerging science and art in thePhilippines. Its concepts and principles are quite similarwith traditional forestry being both resourcemanagement systems. However, urban forestrysobjectives are more focused on the protective,ameliorative, aesthetic and amenities rather than onproductive roles.As a resource management strategy, urban forestryinvolves wise use, management and/or manipulationof the resources that include individual trees and otherplants com…     

Variability of the seeds and cones and key taxonomic charactersselection of Larix in Northeast China

IntroductionLarisoIgensiSHenryandLarisgmeIinii(Rupr.)Rupr.areboththenativetreespeciesinChina,buttheirdiStributingcentersarenotwithintherangeofChina.LarisoIgen$isismainlydistributedinNoFthKoreaandadjacentNortheastChinaandRussia(Dylis1961).lnChina,itsdistributingcenterisintheChangbaiMountains.Nevertheless,LarisgmeliniiismainlydistributedintheFar-EastandEastSiberiaofRussiaandNortheasternChina.ItsdistributingcenterinChinaisintheDaxing'anMountains.Thecharac-tersofthesexuaIreproduction…     

Attending to the Needs of Local People in Nature Reserves-An Important Measure in the Establishment and Protection of Nature Reserves

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Forest plant and macrofungal differences in the Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains in Northeast China: A regional?historical comparison and its implications

Forests in Northeast China in the Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains (GKM and LKM) account for nearly 1/3 of the total state-owned forests in the country. Reg...     

Future orientation and planning in forestry: a comparison of forest managers’ planning horizons in Germany and the Netherlands

Long range (or strategic) planning is an important tool for forest management to deal with the complex and unpredictable future. However, it is the ability to make meaningful predictions about the rapidly changing future that is questioned. What appears to be particularly neglected is the question of the length of time horizons and the limits (if any) to these horizons, despite being considered one of the most critical factors in strategic planning. As the future creation of values lies within individual responsibility, this research empirically explored the limits (if any) of individual foresters’ time horizons. To draw comparisons between countries with different traditions in forest management planning, data were collected through telephone surveys of forest managers in the state/national forest services of the Netherlands and Germany. In order to minimize other cultural differences, the research in Germany concentrated on the federal state of Nordrhein-Westfalen, which has considerable similarities with the Netherlands, e.g. in topography, forest types and forest functions. The results show that, in practice, 15 years appears to be the most distant horizon that foresters can identify with. This is in sharp contrast to the time horizons spanning decades and even generations that are always said to exist in forestry. The “doctrine of the long run”—the faith in the capacity of foresters to overcome the barriers of the uncertain future and look ahead and plan for long-range goals—which in many countries still underlies traditional forest management, can therefore be rejected.

Hidden in the woods? Meaning,determining, and practicing of ‘common welfare’ in the case of the German public forests

This article addresses the German debate on the issue of the common welfare designation of public forests. In the first part, drawing on two case studies, the political discourse on the issue is introduced. Two major competing ‘story lines’ can be made out that are both based on a long tradition of controversially discussed concepts of regulatory forest policy. While they both emphasise that common welfare services in forestry run counter to profit orientation, they fundamentally differ with regard to the consequences for forest policy, e.g., considering the degree of state intervention. Afterwards, an overview on the scientific debate on common welfare in the German context is given, and different concepts of common welfare determination are distinguished. Existing approaches of common welfare determination in German forest policy are related to these concepts and discussed. It is argued that the common welfare designation of the public forest is only insufficiently implemented by the actual governance arrangements. Based on this consideration, eventually, the implementation of a procedural concept of common welfare operationalisation in Germany’s public forests at the local level is proposed. While such a concept will not solve all complex problems related to the determination of common welfare in public forestry, it would notably contribute to a more operational definition of common welfare in public forestry and a more informed public debate on the issue.     

Service logics and strategies of Swedish forestry in the structural shifts of forest ownership: challenging the “old” and shaping the “new”

ABSTRACT

Sweden is one of the most forested countries in Europe, and it has one of the highest shares of productive forest. Production in forestry is largely reliant on the private non-industrial forest owners, who own half of the forest land. As in many countries, however, forest ownership is changing towards a higher extent of urban, female or non-forestry-background owners. This poses a challenge for the forestry services sector, mainly forest owners’ associations and companies, but also broadly the sector at large. By exploring the sales and marketing processes, this paper analyses the service logics and strategies of Swedish forestry under changing forest ownership, drawing on an interview study covering all the large actors in the Swedish forestry sector. The study illustrates an increased focus of forestry organizations on services from a strategic and managerial perspective, in customer-oriented relationship development and in value creation and sales processes, specifically in order to manage “new” forest owners and the demand of forest industries. The results highlight the domination of service logics associated with timber production and the challenges for the service market and the provision of diversified services to forest owners.     

Improving the science–policy–practice interface: decision support system uptake and use in the forestry sector in Great Britain

Over the last decade, researchers have developed a range of decision support systems (DSS) which seek to improve the evidence-base for decision-making in the forestry sector in Great Britain. Many are now integral to the systems of forest management and planning used. However, in some cases, levels of adoption have been lower than expected. This problem is neither unique to Great Britain nor to forestry, and increasingly it is being explained in terms of the quality of stakeholder engagement during DSS development and implementation. Thus, social research was undertaken to understand the factors affecting DSS uptake. The methods included an online survey completed by 81 members of the Institute of Chartered Foresters and Forestry Commission staff and 30 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders. Four sets of factors were seen to influence uptake: professional judgement and cultural resistance; communication and access; training, support and consolidation; and meeting user requirements. More generally, our conclusions highlight the need for a shift in the quality of interactions at the science–policy–practice interface: from knowledge-transfer (a unidirectional “bridging of gaps”) to knowledge-exchange (dialogue between collaborating partners) and knowledge-interaction (shared cultures and institutions).     

Field-scale influence of karité (Vitellaria paradoxa) on sorghum production in the Sudan zone of Burkina Faso

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) production in 15 transect blocks, each with a karité (Vitellaria paradoxa C. F. Gaertn.) tree at each end, was evaluated on-farm in a village of southern Burkina Faso in a season of below-average rainfall. Under tree crowns, plant height and grain yield were significantly lower, by a factor of 16% for grain yield, than elsewhere in transects. In addition, mean plant height, and mean biomass and grain production per area as well as per plant were higher at the outside edge of tree crowns than in the middle of the field. Soil moisture content decreased significantly with increasing distance from the tree in the 0–20 cm soil layer. Top soils were also richer in organic carbon and potassium around tree crowns than in the middle of blocks. Sorghum performance in the zone under and around canopies was projected at field scale and compared to central transect controls. Grain production in karité parklands was higher with trees of mean crown radii of 225 to 275 cm, average densities of 12 and 31 trees/ha than in areas without trees. Therefore, farmers do not improve cereal production by reducing parkland tree densities below these levels. When nut production is included in the analysis, maintaining trees in fields can be economically advantageous at all densities.This revised version was published online in November 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.