Rational Harvesting Policy and Sustainable Development of Community in Forest Regions

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Strategic Planning of Sustainable Development on the Estate Level – Contributions from Forest Growth and Yield Science

Zusammenfassung:   Die Nachhaltigkeit richtete sich in der Gründerzeit der planmäßigen Forstwirtschaft auf die Holzproduktion (v. Carlowitz 1713, Cotta 1828, Hartig 1804, Hundeshagen 1826). In der Folgezeit wurde ein zunehmend breiteres Spektrum von Leistungen des Waldes in die Planung mit einbezogen (v. Hagen, 1867; Dieterich, 1957). Das heutige Verständnis von multifunktionaler Forstwirtschaft spiegelt sich in den sechs gesamteuropäischen Kriterien und Indikatoren für nachhaltige Forstwirtschaft wider (McPfe, 2000). Vorliegender Aufsatz umreißt, wie diese gesamteuropäischen Kriterien und Indikatoren für den Nachweis und die strategische Planung von Nachhaltigkeit auf Forstbetriebsebene eingesetzt werden können und was die Waldwachstumsforschung dazu beitragen kann. An einer Reihe von Beispielen wird ausgeführt, dass die Forstwirtschaft über eine solide Datenbasis für die Ableitung von Nachhaltigkeitskriterien und Indikatoren verfügt. Diese kann für das Monitoring der Waldentwicklung genutzt werden. Gestalterische Kraft entwickeln die Kriterien und Indikatoren aber erst, wenn sie auch in die strategische Planung einfließen. Für die strategische Planung stehen der Forstwirtschaft Wuchsmodelle, Betriebssimulatoren und Entscheidungsstützungssysteme zur Verfügung. Sofern diese die genannten Kriterien und Indikatoren berücksichtigen, ermöglichen sie Szenariorechungen auf Betriebsebene und eine umfassende Bewertung von Handlungsalternativen. Konzepte und Werkzeuge für den Übergang zu einer multifunktionalen strategischen Nachhaltsplanung sind weit entwickelt (v. Gadow 2003, Hanewinkel 2001, Pretzsch et al. 1998, Spellmann et al. 2001); ihre Einführung in die Forstplanung könnte einen beträchtlichen Innovationsstau beseitigen.     

The Study on Conflicts and Relieving Paths in the Utilization of Forest Resources──Inspiration of the practice of Sino-Netherlands Forest Development Project

The conflicts in the utilization of forest resources refers tothe clashes between the owner anduser produced in the occupation,utilization, handling andbenefits getting of forest, foresttrees, forest land and other forestresources including wild animalsand plants. With the constantincrease of demands for forestresource utilization, the conflictsbetween ma nagement a ndutilization are more and moreconspicuous. In order tounderstand the important roleforestry sub-project 'played in theSino-Nethe…     

Impact of Community Forest Management on Biomass Carbon Stocks in the Uatumã Sustainable Development Reserve,Amazonas, Brazil

Forest management can result in net losses of carbon stock. To quantify the impact of the management it is important to assess losses or gains of carbon, as well as the sustainability of the management system. This study quantified the impact management under a Small-Scale Sustainable Forest Management Plan, which is a recently created category of authorized management for small managers in the state of Amazonas, Brazil. Impact was quantified on the number of individuals, the biomass of natural regeneration, and the damage to the remaining trees 2 months after logging. The impact of these changes on carbon stock was estimated. The study was carried out in the Uatumã Sustainable Development Reserve, Amazonas, Brazil, where two areas of small-scale forest management and one control were evaluated. Average total carbon stock previous to logging was estimated at 161.25 ± 9.66 MgC ha^?1. Two months after logging, reductions were found of 3% in one managed area (MA1) and 8.3% in the other (MA3), including the carbon stock from the harvested timber. For each harvested tree, the logging caused damage to 12 trees in MA1 and four trees in MA3. The reductions in carbon stock and number of trees damaged per harvested tree were less than the reductions found for higher impact forest management and other experiences in community forest management. No significant alteration was found in the carbon stock of natural regeneration. However, there was an increase in the number of individuals, both in the logged areas and in their respective control areas.     

Conservation and Sustainable Exploitation of Forest Ecosystem in Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River -Case Study on Gongga Mountain

The deforestation on large scale in the upper reaches of Yangtze River has caused serious problems of ecosystem and environment. Restoration of the degenerated forest ecosystems is one of the main research fields. Taking Gongga Mountain as an example, degeneration features and existing problems of forest ecosystems are analyzed in this paper, and the measures are also proposed.     

To Join Small-Scale Forest Owners’ Associations or Not? Motivations and Opinions of Small-Scale Forest Owners in Three Selected Regions of the Czech Republic

This article analyses motivations and attitudes of small-scale forest owners in the Czech Republic towards joining associations. The research is a follow-up to a field investigation performed within the National Forest Programme II for 2007–2013 in the Vyso?ina region in 2010. The present research was carried out in the Pilsen region in 2012 and the Central Bohemia region in 2015, applying the same method of investigation as in 2010—a questionnaire survey. The findings are based on the results of all three surveys and supported by the analysis of legal and forestry-related documents concerning financial subsidies for forest owners’ associations. The study has revealed reluctance of small-scale owners to join associations. Their lack of motivation is caused by insufficient funding from the government supporting the administration and management of associations. The reluctance also results from the request for associations to be legal entities, which most applicants do not meet as they are either not registered or are registered under unsuitable legal forms. Between 2011 and 2013, no contributions were paid by the government to associations, and no new small-scale forest owners’ associations were formed. To increase associations, we propose that the government should provide sufficient funding not only for the administration and management of associations but also for the process of establishing associations and initial investments. It is also necessary to make major innovations in legislature regarding the transition of ownerships to more convenient legal forms.     

Self－Help Development，Sustainable Management and Use of Forests and Trees at the Local Community Level The Forests，Trees and

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Rural Governance, Forestry, and the Promotion of Local Knowledge: The Case of the German Rural Development Program ‘Active Regions’

This article investigates the role of local knowledge in the policy approach of neo-endogenous rural development, which may be held by local and regional actors such as municipal and county level politicians, local and regional level administration, entrepreneurs as well as local third sector representatives. The main question addressed is whether local knowledge under this approach is merely mobilised or if rural development processes are even based on such knowledge, placing it at the centre of such policy. The relevance of this approach to forestry is also explored. The types of forest owners for which the neo-endogenous rural development approach is appropriate and the types that may have difficulties in coping with this cross-sectoral and area-based approach are especially examined. Using a case study design on the German Active Regions funding program it is shown that the neo-endogenous approach is most relevant to large private forest owners and small-scale corporate enterprises, but also has potential for small- and medium-sized private owners. Concerning the role of knowledge held by local and regional actors, the approach is shown to largely build on the use of local expertise, and hence policy acceptance increases. However, scientific knowledge as well as politics are found to play a major role in the use, production and interpretation of local knowledge.     

“A Privilege and a Challenge”: Valuation of Heirs’ Property by African American Landowners and Implications for Forest Management in the Southeastern U.S.

African Americans have historically struggled to retain land that has been held in their families for generations as heirs’ property, or land held collectively by heirs of the original owners without clear title. Ethnographic interviews with sixty landholding African American families in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Alabama reveal the cultural meanings associated with family land, forestland in particular, and the role of heirs’ property in inhibiting forest management, including the threat of land loss, intra-family conflict, and legal limitations on forestry activities. The majority of interviewees have a strong desire to pass family land on to their heirs, but they also need the land to be economically productive. Sustainable forest management offers both an incentive to obtain clear title to heirs’ property land and a means of paying property taxes and generating intergenerational wealth within families. The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities is currently collaborating with local institutions in several states in an innovative program designed to help African American landowners navigate the legal system in order to obtain clear title and provide educational workshops about the financial and ecological benefits of sustainable forestry as well as site visits by consulting foresters. Analysis of the situations faced by African Americans with heirs’ property adds to the diversity of our understandings of the complex relationships between land tenure and forestry, with potential application for other minority communities in the U.S. and elsewhere.     

New Forest Owners: Change and Continuity in the Characteristics of Swedish Non-industrial Private Forest Owners (NIPF Owners) 1990–2010

This paper presents a total survey of the characteristics and changes over time (1990–2010) within the entire population of Swedish non-industrial private forest owners (NIPF owners). By charting the changed demographic, socio-economic and geographic profile of the NIPF owners, it also provides a baseline for a discussion and analysis of potential implications for forest management, policy and values. NIPF owners differ in important ways from the general population of Sweden. However, the gap has narrowed over time with regard to, e.g., educational level and sex composition. The ongoing urbanization process is evident in the growing share of non-residential NIPF owners who live at a distance from their forest property and who differ from their residential (rural) peers through, e.g., higher education, higher income and a higher prevalence of co-ownership of their forest holdings. Although these changes might translate into updated views on forest values among NIPF owners, there could be a delay before this impacts on forest management practices and output.     

Agroforestry systems in the highlands of the Tehuacán Valley,Mexico: indigenous cultures and biodiversity conservation

In this study we analysed: (1) the biodiversity conservation capacity of Agroforestry Systems (AFS) in temperate highlands of the Tehuacán–Cuicatlán Valley, Central Mexico, (2) human cultural motives and actions for conserving such diversity and (3) problems endangering that capacity. We evaluated the richness and diversity of perennial plant species maintained in AFS through vegetation sampling of 14 agricultural plots and compared their composition with that of natural forests (14 plots of 500 m² each). We examined the situations among communities of Náhuatl, Ixcatec and Cuicatec people, documenting through interviews the management practices of plant species and the whole system, reasons why people maintain vegetation cover within AFS, and factors influencing changes in decisions favouring agriculture intensification. In the AFS studied we recorded a total of 79 species of trees and shrubs, 86 % of them being native species and representing 43 % of all species of trees and shrubs recorded in the sampling of the natural forests the AFS derive from. People leave standing on average a total of 40 individual trees and shrubs per agricultural plot. Reasons for leave plant species standing were more frequently associated with their use as fruit trees, firewood, shade, beauty, respect to nature and other environmental benefits. Water availability for irrigation, land tenure, and dependence on agriculture and forest for peasant's subsistence were main decision factors influencing AFS variation in their composition. AFS in temperate zones are important reservoirs of biodiversity and biocultural heritage and should be keystones for conservation policies in the Tehuacán–Cuicatlán Valley.     

Traditional agroforestry systems of multi-crop “milpa” and “chichipera” cactus forest in the arid Tehuacán Valley,Mexico: their management and role in people’s subsistence

Agroforestry systems (AFS) derived from the cactus forest “chichipera” and cultivated with “milpa”, the traditional multi-crop system of maize-beans-squash were studied in the Tehuacán Valley, Mexico. Plant management types practiced by people, role of agricultural and forest resources in households’ subsistence, and consequences of changes in AFS were investigated through ethnobotanical, ecological, and economic approaches. People maintain in this AFS 122 plant species that provide useful products for 14 different purposes. Nearly 90% of useful plants are native to the region, representing 54% of all plant species recorded in the chichipera forest. Management strategies were identified occurring on 63 species at landscape, parcel, and individual plant levels. About 67% of managed plant species are left standing during clearance of vegetation; 35% are transplanted to the parcels’ surrounding area, 32% receive particular protection, and 10 species from other areas are cultivated inside the fields. During years of higher rainfall (~745 mm) AFS supply nearly 75% of the maize grain and 50% of the maize straw used as fodder by households. AFS with intermediate vegetation cover have higher economic value than monocultures and forest. However, plots with low forest cover and monocultures are progressively more common as consequence of socio-cultural processes. Local traditional ecological knowledge and management techniques are crucial for managing resilience of these AFS.     

Occupation and Use of the Eucalyptus Plantations in the Tzaneen Area by Indigenous Birds / OKKUPASIE EN GEBRUIK VAN DIE EUCALYPTUS PLANTASIES IN DIE TZANEEN AREA DEUR INHEEMSE VOËLS

The eucalyptus plantations, mainly Eucalyptus grandis, which cover large areas in the North-eastern Transvaal are usually accused of being sterile and unsuitable for birdlife. This supposition is exaggerated and proved to be wrong. One must admit, however, that some less adaptable birds which occur in the area, and which must have inhabited the planted area prior to the establishment of plantations have been driven out. Plantations are obviously completely unsuited to the mode of life of certain birds for various reasons. The most obvious example in this area is the fruit-eating purple-crested lourie (Gallirex porphyreolopus) which is very seldom seen in a plantation. Other species which prefer open country for example widow birds and bishop birds, and certain larks and pipits have also of necessity moved out.     

Does Remoteness from Urban Centres Influence Plant Diversity in Homegardens and Swidden Fields?: A Case Study from the Matsiguenka in the Amazonian Rain Forest of Peru

Swidden cultivation is the traditional agricultural system in most parts of the Amazonian rain forest. In a remote area in the Manu National Park, Peru, this system was analysed in two indigenous Matsiguenka communities. Diversity of cultivated plants on fields and in homegardens are presented in the current study. Cultivated plants were noted on two to four plots per field on 46 fields, making a total of 126 survey plots. Nineteen homegardens were studied as well. Dominating species cultivated on fields is cassava (Manihot esculenta). Fruit trees such as the peach palm (Bactris gasipaes), guava (Psidium guajava) or Inga edulis, but also cotton (Gossypium barbadense) and a medicinal plant (Cyperus sp.) predominate in more than 75 % of the homegardens analysed. Species diversity increases steadily from 18 and 24 species on 1- and 2-year-old fields to 26, 29 and 66 species in young, medium old and old homegardens, respectively. Seventy-one different species in total were found in all homegardens analysed and 25 in swidden fields. Diversity of species cultivated in homegardens is low compared to other studies in the rain forest of the Amazon. This seems to be due to their remoteness from the next urban centre and to the fact that they are native communities with still low external exchange of information. These findings are in contrast to the hypothesis that remoteness from urban centres increases species richness because subsistence production is based on a broad variety of species. In contrast to species richness in homegardens, differences in species richness in swidden fields between the present and other studies could not be found.     

Effect Evaluation of Collective Forestry Tenure Reform and Forest Farmers Willingness to Participate in the Reform: A Case Study of Shaowu, Fujian Province

Since 2003, China has carried out the pilot of collective forest tenure reform (CFTR). Inrecent years, there have been lots of researches about evaluation of the CFTR, which are, however,mostly qualitative research with little focus on the quantitative research. This paper used the AnalyticHierarchy Process (AHP) and expert assignment method to define the comprehensive evaluation indexes and monitoring indexes of the CFTR. In this study, the authors did a quantitative evaluation of the CFTR in Shaowu, Fujia...     

Agroforestry systems and biodiversity conservation in arid zones: the case of the Tehuacán Valley,Central México

The role of agroforestry systems in biodiversity conservation was investigated in the semiarid Tehuacán Valley, Central México. Richness and diversity of native plant species were compared between agroforestry systems (6 sampling sites) and the following forests (6 sampling sites) dominated by columnar cacti: (i) “chichipera” dominated by Polaskia chichipe; (ii) “jiotillal” dominated by Escontria chiotilla; and (iii) “garambullal” dominated by Myrtillocactus schenckii. Our information on genetic variation of dominant arboreal species in the study sites was reviewed and included in the analysis. Factors influencing household’s decisions to maintain vegetation cover were compiled through a survey and interviews and analyzed. All the samples of the agroforestry systems studied maintained on average nearly 59% plant species and 94% genetic variation of dominant cacti occurring in the forests, although their ability to preserve endemic rare species is limited. Social factors favoring maintenance of perennial species in agricultural plots include collective rules, households traditions, use of the plants maintained in the systems, and the environmental information gathered from NGOs, the local Biosphere Reserve, and researchers. However, agroforestry systems are losing their capability to maintain vegetation cover, mainly because of (i) decreasing amount of land managed by households, determined by a progressive fragmentation of the land area given to new families, (ii) adoption of technologies to intensify agriculture, and (iii) governmental programs penalizing the presence of vegetation patches within agricultural lands since they are considered “useless” areas. Necessary policies to stop degradation of the agroforestry systems and to improve their conservation capacity are discussed.     

Increasing Tree Cover in Degrading Landscapes: ‘Integration’ and ‘Intensification’ of Smallholder Forest Culture in the Alutilla Valley,Matiranga, Bangladesh

Research was conducted in Alutilla Valley in eastern Bangladesh to identify the nature of existing agroforestry systems and to identify potential agroforestry models that could ameliorate currently degrading forest resources Data were collected through farmer participatory research and a structured quarterly survey in two villages. Qualitative and supplementary quantitative analysis methods were used to assess the financial potential of agroforestry systems. Various patterns of agroforestry exist in the study site, but all have two common principles, namely ‘integration with agriculture’ and ‘multi-functionality’. Two agroforestry models suitable for adoption by farmers have been identified. Multi-strata agroforestry, based on a fruit and timber tree canopy with vegetables and tuber species in the understorey, can be practiced in the shifting cultivation fields near settlements. Fruit and timber tree-based conservation agroforestry is well suited to manage large-scale biologically depleted landscapes. Both systems yield early financial returns, facilitating the change from shifting cultivation to multi-strata agroforestry or fruit and tree-based conservation agroforestry.     

The rise and fall of the black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) in the “Siro Negri” Forest Reserve (Lombardy, Italy): lessons learned and future uncertainties

? The alluvial forests of the Ticino valley have been greatly reduced in size and are now represented by only a small number of fragmented remnants. To study the natural development of the black locust, an invasive species, on relatively undisturbed lowland forests, two permanent plots were established in 2005 in the “Siro Negri” Forest Reserve.

? The black locust became established almost exclusively between 1940 and 1960. The observed dynamic of the black locust in the Reserve was very similar to what has been observed in its native North American range: following the initial colonization, the black locust firmly established itself in the dominant and intermediate layers but did not regenerate. In addition to the absence of a significant younger population, the decline of the black locust is evident in an elevated mortality rate and higher proportion of black locust biomass in the total coarse woody debris (CWD)

? Our results support the hypothesis that the best strategy to control the spread of black locust is to avoid disturbances that favour black locust colonization, and to wait for natural suppression of the species by other trees. Due to the lack of past reference conditions and the future uncertainties, ongoing monitoring will be needed to fully understand the dynamics of forest ecosystem change in the Reserve.