Sustainable Forest Management in Tropical Rain Forests

Abstract

In planning of sustainable forest management, economic, environmental and social demands often conflict. Forest management in Southeast Asian tropical dipterocarp forests has been particularly biased towards maximizing immediate economic return from extensive logging. Overexploitation and other forms of uncontrolled land use within these forests have led to the situation where the remaining natural forests, most of them in Indonesia, will be liquidated within the next 10-15 years at the current rate of deforestation. In this paper we present an approach for sustainable forest management planning in which economic, environmental and social sustainability are considered simultaneously in order to define an optimal management strategy from a set of available alternatives.

We carried out a case study within a rain forest logging concession in Indonesian Borneo by using a participatory planning approach involving interviews of the local people, environmental assessment and economic analyses. We used the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method for resource allocation and priority setting in order to identify an optimal strategy which yields a sustained economic output from timber production, while at the same time being environmentally and socioculturally sustainable. Despite their relatively high costs, strategies involving selective harvesting combined to complete restoration of original dipterocarp stock in logged-over areas were superior in terms of economic, environmental and social sustainability. Priorities set by local communities for the strategies to meet their socioeconomic and cultural needs coincide well with those ensuring the restoration and biodiversity.     

杭州市森林资源可持续发展的基底分析与对策

森林资源可持续发展是实现人类社会资源、经济、环境可持续发展的物质基础。森林资源在杭州市社会经济发展中起着发展山区经济、保障水土安全、保存生物物种、构建绿色景观、提高城市品位与投资环境质量等重要作用。现状分析表明，在森林资源发展进程中存在着林地面积发展受制、蓄积增长缓慢、结构不够合理、经营管理工作运转不力等许多限制因素，必须通过构建有效的组织工作体系、建立先进完善的资源监测管理系统、进行制度创新、加强科技创新和科技成果转化等相关对策，才能达到实现森林资源可持续发展的目的。     

Forest resources and timber production of Ghana: Current instruments for sustainable development

The decline of the natural tropical high forest has reached a critical stage in Ghana’s forestry history. Timber resources are over-exploited, degraded and further production prospects are questionable and of concern to forest management. The objective of this paper is to discuss some of the institutional measures and development instruments being taken in Ghana towards the feasibility of achieving sustainable management of the high forest for timber and other commodity products, as well as conserving other forest resources. This paper, therefore, provides institutional measures and structures, regulatory and economic instruments, currently being taken to ensure effective forest management and increase the productivity of the land and logging. The role of collaborative management approach of both natural reserved and unreserved high forests and to promote integrated farm forestry is explained. Effective management of the high forest resource demands close harmonizing of instruments and mechanisms, both internal and external to forestry, and which encourage stakeholders to participate actively in decision making that affects the resource quality and its production status. Currently, different instruments including regulatory, property rights, motivational, hypothecation, information supply and economic are being applied in Ghana to achieve sustainable forest resource management and timber production. These instruments are not mutually exclusive in their current application, but rather complementary. Thus, an effective mix of instruments is necessary to promote and make feasible, sustainable forestry in Ghana’s socioeconomic development objectives.     

Sustainable forest management as an approach to regional development in the Russian Federation: State and trends in Kovdozersky Model Forest in the Barents region

Abstract

The Russian forest sector is under transformation, and the Model Forest (MF) concept is used as an innovative approach to regional sustainable development based on forest goods, ecosystem services and values. This study evaluates the development of the MF concept in north-west Russia's Barents region, using Kovdozersky MF in Murmansk region as a case study. This report (1) describe the main historical phases of forest use, (2) summarizes the state and trends of the economic, ecological and sociocultural situation, (3) explores reasons for establishing the MF, and (4) evaluates the main steps towards implementation of the MF concept. Qualitative and quantitative methods were applied. Actors were identified and interviewed to understand the process of MF development. Statistic data were collected and analyzed. The main goal of this MF is to support development through participatory collaboration regarding (1) balancing needs and interests among actors and stakeholders, (2) implementation of sustainable forest management, (3) encouraging the development of ecotourism and bioenergy production in the area, and (4) increasing public awareness with respect to sustainable forest management. Potential challenges for the MF partnership include: (1) domination by partners from the traditional forest sector, with their potentially more narrow needs and interests in the partnership development, and (2) disparity in sharing responsibilities and power between regional and local levels in MF management.     

Landowner-Driven Sustainable Forest Management and Value-Added Processing

Summary

The Massachusetts Woodlands Cooperative, LLC (MWC) is working to help members conduct sustainable forestry of the highest standards while increasing financial returns from harvest activities. The forests of Massachusetts, the third most densely populated state in the United States, are threatened. Decades of high grading and the threat of forest conversion to alternative use present challenges for maintaining a forested landscape. Despite being 60% forested, Massachusetts imports approximately 98% of the wood fiber that its citizens consume.

The Massachusetts Woodlands Cooperative is a forest management, processing, and marketing cooperative organized by and on behalf of forest landowners in western Massachusetts. An umbrella group certification protocol was developed to provide cost-effective forestland management certification. Members benefit from cooperative management of harvest operations, above-market stumpage payments, and value-added processing and production including marketing traditionally low-value and small-diameter material. The added revenue from developing these new markets is used to fund timber, wildlife habitat, recreation, and other sustainable forest management activities. The cooperative works in partnership with local wood-processing businesses to spur community economic development. This study on cooperatives may be a successful example of sustainable forest management that can be applied in other regions with private land ownerships.     

Forest policy reform and the restructuring of the forest industry in Russia

The Russian forest is the last big wood basket of the international timber market and the conservation of the Russian forest is critical to protect global environment. There is a strong need to analyze present situation of forest policy and forest industry in Russia. The basic direction of forest policy reform of Russia is decentralization and introduction of market principles. However, the lack of specialists in forest policy in the regions and the conflict between central and regional governments has accelerated the confusion of forest policy. Forest management organizations cannot spare enough money for forest management because of the financial crisis of Russian government. Forest industry has also deteriorated. Although privatization of the forest industry was completed, it did not improve the management of enterprises and they could not survive the economic crisis. Output of the forest industry has decreased and most enterprises came close to bankruptcy. Under these circumstances, the former regional amalgamation of forest industry, which has accumulated hard currency earned by timber export, re-took control of the industry and tried to increase timber exports even more. However, logging enterprises, facing economic crises, cannot observe forest regulations and forest management organization cannot control these violations. A recovery of forest industry may accelerate the degradation of forest resources in Russia.     

我国天然林的多目标综合管理

文中提出了天然林多目标综合管理的概念、原则、方法和管理程序。天然林多目标综合管理以社会经济信息和资源信息为数据基础, 以生态系统评估为依据, 以土地利用战略规划为核心, 以多部门共同管理为保障, 打破传统的针对天然林经营规划的管理方式, 实现以天然林区为对象的综合管理方式, 把天然林资源的经营与当地林区的发展结合起来, 实现天然林可持续经营和当地可持续发展的双赢。这种管理模式可解决我国天然林管理中存在的诸多矛盾, 发挥天然林的多种功能。     

The Great Lakes Forest Alliance

Summary

The Great Lakes Forest Alliance, created by charter in 1987 at the direction of the governors of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, is a mutual aid, public/private partnership that integrates global, national and local interests by bridging the gap at a regional level. It expanded in 1997 to include Ontario. Trustees include key leaders of government and industry and citizens from a broad range of forest interests. It was designed to be as learning environment to address the resurgence of forest growth and the increasing demand for conservation, wood products and recreation. The need for the Alliance resulted in part from a perceived underrepresentation of regional forest-related issues in the national arena. The Alliance attempts to consider leading-edge strategies over the long-term in a pro-active manner, and trustees recognize the need to build respect, trust, information exchange, cooperation, coordination and collaboration among diverse interests. Among the projects that demonstrate the bridge role played by the Alliance: a regional forest resources assessment, public and private funding that supports research toward a more frequent forest inventory process, training for communities to use the collaborative learning process to address economic prosperity and environmental protection strategies and the development of sustainable forest management criteria and indicators for the region. A continual challenge is relationships among diverse forest interests across jurisdictional and institutional boundaries in a manner that promotes exchanges that build collective wisdom.     

对中国林业可持续发展问题的基本认识

林业是环境再生产的主导产业。林业可持续发展,关键在于规范和调整林业部门的经营、管理行为。而森林的可持续经营强调通过对森林生态系统的有效经营管理。为社会经济发展提供多种物质产品和环境服务功能。中国林业发展面临着：巨大的人口压力、经济运行体制和变革、现行林业政策体系不健全,以及土地资源相对不足、水资源总量少、生态环境形势依然严峻的现实。林业发展目标取向的现实差异,要求政府建立起活当的协调机制,在保障森林经营者、部门,乃至全体公民合法权益的基础上,实现林业可持续发展社会、经济、生态环境目标的协调。关于林业可持续发展实践,一是要明显特定区域对林业的需求结构和自然基础;二是建立相应的社会、经济、生态环境目标和森林目标;三是构筑起配套的技术体系;四是完美政策保障体系。中国自然资源结构、地理特征和社会经济发展进程中,对于林产     

Characterization of nonindustrial private forest owners and their influence on forest management aims and practices in Northern Spain

Explaining and predicting nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) owner land management based on social, economic, and environmental factors is an increasingly important issue in policy arenas and academic research on rural development and planning. This study empirically explores and assesses management behavior by NIPF owners by analyzing attributes of landowner profile (age, educational level, primary occupation, engagement in farming, membership of professional groups, training in forestry, availability of market information, and specific knowledge and use of production criteria for timber harvesting). With the aim of predicting outcomes, a multiple regression model was constructed to investigate and quantify the probabilities of and factors influencing the participation of owners in agricultural and forestry associations. In March 2004, 103 resident forest landowners were interviewed about their commitment to and involvement in land management during 1999–2003 in Mariña Oriental, a forest region of Galicia, Northern Spain. Results suggest that professional occupation, particularly farming background, is the main factor affecting, either directly or indirectly, the forest management behavior of NIPF owners in the area. In particular, our logistic regression model for landowner membership of professional groups explained 77.9% of the variability observed in the study population, which suggests that the agricultural background of NIPF owners and their expectations from forests, represented by their future intention to enlarge the forestland base, play an important role in membership. In the region, forestry could be a valuable economic activity but it is not considered as such today. Findings could be used as a guide for design, planning, and implementation of research and policy measures that allow NIPF landowners to promote sustainable forestry for rural development.     

全球人工林环境管理策略研究

全球人工林为木材生产和缓解贫困做出了重要贡献, 在减缓和适应气候变化中起到了非常重要的作用。文中在介绍全球人工林资源的基础上, 分析了人工林对生物多样性、水分循环、养分循环和碳循环的影响和相互作用机制, 提出了人工林环境管理策略, 即建立人工林多功能经营制度、通过森林认证助推人工林可持续经营、充分利用REDD+机制提高人工林固碳效应的政策推动策略, 加强生物多样性保护、降低人工林对水循环负面影响、提高人工林的养分循环、促进人工林生态系统碳循环的生态系统完整性策略, 以及保育高保护价值区域策略和鼓励利益相关者参与人工林规划与管理策略。     

A United States View on Changes in Land Use and Land Values Affecting Sustainable Forest Management

Summary

With increasing opportunity costs of keeping land in forests because of increasing values for other land uses, such as for developed uses, forest ownership may become less attractive for some landowners and the return on investment less viable for both private and public landowners. This raises the question of what will become of the forests and the resources the forest supports, such as water and wildlife, if owners of the forests find it too costly to manage the forest. Land markets provide evidence on revealed behavior about what people are willing to actually pay for a bundle of rights necessary to gain access to land that can provide forest-based goods and services into perpetuity. However, owing to market failures and the nature of some forest land values, markets do not always reveal true forest land values, as discussed below. Allocation of land by use and cover types is a key determinant in sustainable forest management, with changes in land values providing important signals to land managers. Land valuation differs under market-oriented economies, emerging values in transition economies, and administered values in countries with command economies and is influenced by interactions between the environment and humans, including land ownership, use, and management.     

Barriers to Sustainable Forestry in Central America and Promising Initiatives to Overcome Them

Summary

Over the past decades, Central America has suffered some of the highest deforestation rates worldwide. Vast tracts of forest have been converted to agriculture and pasture, encouraged by ill-designed government policies and perverse incentives. Recently, however, progress has been made toward more sustainable use of forest resources by adjusting forest policies, decentralizing forest administration, and providing conducive incentives through environmental service payments and forest certification. Valuable forest management experiences have been gained by indigenous and peasant communities. Community forestry in Central America is being increasingly recognized by national governments. Examples include the community concessions in Peten, Guatemala, and community-based forest operations in Honduras and Nicaragua. Stakeholder networks have been established that strengthen horizontal and vertical alliances among wood producers and manufacturers and that help promote both community development and forest conservation. However, illegal logging, poor law enforcement, and lack of economic viability of forest management involving nontraditional species still provide barriers to the sustainable management of tropical broadleaved forests in the region. Future challenges include improved governance through decentralized forest administration, private sector involvement, and third-party certification. To improve traceability and value adding, development of integrated supply chains of forest and wood products is recommended.     

Peasant charcoal production in the Peruvian Amazon: rainforest use and economic reliance

Recent studies point to the promise of rain forest extraction for more sustainable rural development in Amazonia but often overlook important differences within traditional communities in terms of relative economic reliance upon specific forest resources. This paper reports on a study of charcoal production among forest peasants in an Amazonian river community, near Iquitos, Peru. In-depth household interviews (n=36) provided information on household economic activity, demographic composition, and access to land, labor and capital as well as on the nature, role and economic importance of charcoal in the household economy. Our results indicate that peasant charcoal production — often cast as a rapacious, wasteful use of the forest — can provide significant cash income for forest peoples and high returns per hectare, particularly when integrated into swidden-fallow agroforestry systems, without causing notable forest destruction. Low returns to labor, however, limit prospects for peasants to prosper by charcoal production. Variations in household output of charcoal are explained by differential access to intra- and extra-household labor. Among those households most reliant upon charcoal, two subgroups are found — ‘charcoal-dependent’ households and ‘charcoal-specialized’ households — both of which rely on charcoal production, but for different reasons and with distinct outcomes. These two sub-groups are divided by differences in non-market mediated access to local land and labor. Clearly, to be successful, initiatives aimed at promoting rain forest conservation and management among ‘resource-reliant’ households must be informed by careful attention to the underlying conditions that give rise to differential rain forest reliance.     

Formal Address

Summary

A combination of social, economic and physical factors contribute to a decision to migrate for a peasant farmer. Seventy percent of Panamanian land comprises steep topography with low soil fertility. Campesinos (peasant farmers) must perpetually migrate when the land they have settled in the forest loses fertility. This process of continual migration results in deforestation and conversion of forest land to pasture land, which then becomes degraded and subsequently abandoned. Also, government policy has not favored the activities of small land owners, but loans from national banks have financed the promotion of large-scale cattle ranches.

Migration patterns consist of moving to a forested area, clearing it for agriculture for one to three years, and thereafter sowing it for pasture. These conditions eventually result in low agricultural and cattle production. Campesinos therefore sell the land to cattle ranchers who can afford to invest in better management practices. Deforestation in the Canal Watershed, therefore, has left a pattern of land ownership comprising a matrix of a few large landowners, within which remain numerous but small peasant land holdings.

A program for small land owners in and around the Watershed region that promotes social, cultural, and economic stability of land use is needed. Supporting and promoting agroforestry with uses of native tree species associated with subsistence and market crops is an alternative for slowing deforestation and promoting sedentary land use.     

塞罕坝林地利用现状分析

以2002年塞罕坝机械林场第3次森林资源二类调查数据为基础,对塞罕坝机械林场林地利用现状及存在的问题进行分析,依据区域经济发展和生态环境建设需要,提出从空间和时间上对林地资源进行保护、利用和开发,进而科学、高效、合理利用林地资源,保障林场经济的可持续发展。     

甘肃经济林产业持续发展对策

持续发展成为甘肃经济林产业发展迫切需要应对的问题.应迅速调整甘肃经济林树种布局和品种结构;立足区域优势,发展特色产品;不断加强基地建设,扩大经营规模;依靠先进技术,保障优质丰产;完善政策扶持机制,发挥龙头企业引领带动作用;提高科学经营管理水平,加快产业化进程;全面推进甘肃经济林产业的持续发展.     

Protection efficiency assessment and quality of coastal shelterbelt for Dongshan Island at the coastal section scale

The coastal shelter forest in China is under threat of destruction and degradation because of the impact of human activities. Protection efficiency assessment of the coastal shelterbelt is an important component of shelter-forest remediation planning and sustainable management. In this study, a protection efficiency index (PEI) model was established using the projection pursuit method to assess the protective quality of the coastal shelter forest at the coastal section scale of Dongshan Island, China. Three criteria were used, including forest stand structure, forest belt structure, and windbreak effect; each criterion further comprised multiple factors. Based on survey data of 31 plots in the coastal shelter forest of Dongshan Island, we calculated PEI values using a projection of a pursuit model. The result showed 64.5 % of the PEIs fell at or below the middle level, which can indicate the status of the coastal shelterbelt is unsatisfactory. To further explore whether the different bays and land use types create significant differences in PEIs and evaluation indices, we used an ANOVA to test the influence of various bays and forms of land use on coastal shelterbelts. The results showed that PEI and most of the indices differed significantly by bay; mean tree height, mean DBH, mean crown width, stand density, vegetation coverage, and wind velocity reduction differed significantly by land use. Therefore, relevant measures for different locations, bays and surrounding land use can be proposed to improve the existing conditions of the coastal shelterbelt. The results of this study provide a theoretical and technical framework for future changes and sustainable management of coastal shelterbelt on Dongshan Island.     

Forestry indemnity: a regional case study

The role of forests in the public and private spheres is the standard against which workers in the sector must measure their activities in outlining models for the use of forest resources. The actions of legislators and public administrations are aimed at identifying the intrinsic nature of forests in and of themselves (internal limits), from which flows the identification of their optimal use in terms of society and its economic interests (external limits). Additional measures have reinforced a new set of goals, which has shown a need for a new management approach with an emphasis on environmental uses, in turn calling for an indemnification to land owners for loss of income. This forest policy approach is frequently use in Italy, especially for forest with high environmental value as the forests within protected areas or in forests included in the Natura 2000 network. The workings of law 43/1974 for the Lazio region are reconcilable with this emerging model. This analysis of its 30 years of practice shows both its intrinsic potential for improving the environment, and the seriousness of its influence when it is mistakenly used to intervene in precarious ecosystems. The conclusions will highlight the circumstances and procedures for the proper use of a forestry indemnity as evidenced by the Lazio Region, pointing out the essential characteristics of a forestry policy that efficiently supports sustainable forest management. Conclusions highlighted the circumstances and procedures for the proper use of forestry indemnity, and, according to the Regione Lazio experience, certain essential characters that should typify the forest policy in order to support efficiently the sustainable forest management.