Exploring the Socio-Economic Situation of Plantation Villagers: A Case Study in Myanmar Bago Yoma

Since the early 1980s, Myanmar Forest Department has been recruiting shifting cultivators, establishing plantation villages and applying the taungya method in establishing teak plantations. From the beginning, there has been an argument about whether the program is creating ‘forest protective groups’ or ‘forest destructive groups’. A key determinant to that question from the research viewpoint is the socio-economic situation; knowing the present situation of the plantation villagers can help to understand their forest management practices. Interview surveys were carried out in three villages in Bago Yoma, the main region of the special teak plantation program, to examine the current economic benefits to plantation villagers. Questions were designed mainly to explore the incentives for people participation and the socio-economic situations of the plantation villagers. Principal component analysis was used to group landholder types. It was found that local people are willing to participate in the initial establishment of plantations. However, all the incentives relating to plantation projects are temporary, with no long-term consideration for taungya farmers, which jeopardizes the plan to create forest protective groups. It is concluded that the time has come for the Myanmar Forest Department to change its main aim of earning foreign exchange from establishment of teak plantations through the taungya method to redressing deforestation through people participation based on rural socio-economic development.

Governance Concepts and their Application in Forest Policy Initiatives from Global to Local Levels

In recent decades the concept of ‘governance’ as interdependent coordination of actors as well as the normative concept of ‘good governance’ have increasingly influenced international forest policy, to varying degrees. Using the three dimensions of multi-actor, multi-sector and multi-level governance to analyse key aspects of governance in the follow-up of global policy after the UNCED conference in 1992, this paper shows that ‘multi-actor governance’ has received considerable attention in international forest policy, mainly through promoting national forest programs. Global forest policy initiatives were less able to develop concepts to address and improve ‘multi-sector governance’ and ‘multi-level governance’, although these two dimensions of governance are particularly relevant for local levels. A number of major international forest policy initiatives, both public and private, have also focused on improving various dimensions of ‘good governance’. A review of the degree to which these international governmental initiatives have been transposed and applied at the local or regional level reveals a major gap between concepts and forest policy initiatives developed and promoted at international and national levels and their application at the regional and local levels. This calls for better concepts addressing in particular the ‘multi-level’ dimension of governance in order to improve connectivity between these levels. A range of governance change approaches can be applied, including adjusting modes of interaction, instruments and institutions.

‘Net-System’ Models Versus Traditional Models in NWFP Marketing: The Case of Mushrooms

Marketing strategies for successful non-wood forest product (NWFP) commercialization are important especially in those rural economies where NWFPs represent a considerable source of income for small and medium-scale forest-based enterprises. Two different organisational models in mushrooms marketing—a ‘traditional approach’ and a ‘net-system approach’—are compared through a case-study research approach. The first model is usually based on single large-scale enterprises producing large quantities of standardized, mass-market oriented products; its main commercial goal is the improvement of the value-chain from producer to end-users, with no special links or integration between the production area and the producers. The second, quite new approach is based on several integrated small and medium-scale rural-based enterprises supplying relatively limited quantities of high quality products, oriented to niche markets. In this case, product specialty identification, complementary actions, integration, and clustering among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) within the same production area are the most important goals. In the case studies, both organisational models have proved to be feasible and working with respect to the respective goals. Traditional large-scale enterprises, based on vertical integration and a short value chain, can achieve substantial economic performance; however, these are unlikely to have a significant positive impact on the socio-economic local context and are threatened by high business risk (mainly due to its strong specialization on a ‘climate-dependent’ NWFP). The analysed forest-based business model founded on networking, which involves not only forest-based SMEs but also other institutional, economic, and social actors, has proved to be not only economically viable and less risky with respect to the traditional model, but also more equitable in distribution of benefits, and effective in stimulating the local economy as a whole, integrated system based on NWFPs and related environmental services.

Adaptation to Change and Re-designing of Governance Systems: Cases from Small-Scale Rural Forestry

Changes in small-scale forest governance as a reaction to global changes are viewed from the system dynamics perspective, focused on two levels of dynamic systems: the policy system with sets of interactions at the national level and the management system at the local level. These interactions are considered through permanent adaptation and re-shaping of stakeholders’ networks and positions provoking further changes in the systems. Empirical evidence has been obtained from two case studies related to small-scale rural forestry in distinct contexts—France (the Territorial Forestry Charters) and Kyrgyzstan (collaborative forest management and leasing of forest plots)—and viewed through a theoretical framework of social-political systems dynamics. The changes caused by the systems’ capacity for adaptability and resilience are expressed through a double spiral of decision-making, characterising the interactions between national policies and local management practices. The analysis leads to a conclusion that changes are basically determined by the formal and informal stakeholders’ strategies developed in a specific context and their mutual adaptation aimed at system resilience.

Private Native Forestry in NSW: Environmentally Benign,Economically Important but Silviculturally Challenged?

With large areas of public native forests now converted into National Parks and unavailable for timber harvest, private native forests (PNF) in New South Wales (NSW) are becoming increasingly important in providing timber for the wood processing industry. At the same time, there is increasing interest in the role that these private forests play in providing and maintaining habitat for wildlife. Historically, timber production from these forests has been opportunistic, with little or no silviculture to maintain wood production potential. Market circumstances and policy settings have not favoured sound silvicultural practice, generating an exploitative and short-term view of the timber resource to maximise short-term returns. This has occurred at a time when these forests are an important and increasing source of log supply to industry. This paper discusses payment of biodiversity credits (incentives) to improve both environmental management and timber production outcomes, and examines the findings of some recent studies on the ‘sustainability’ of PNF. Willingness-to-pay (WTP) and willingness-to-supply studies reveal a disparity between the demand and supply prices for biodiversity and habitat ‘services’ in many cases. Recent ‘sustainability’ studies indicate forestry operations are relatively benign in their impacts on biodiversity, compared to other land uses. However, in the absence of increased financial returns from PNF and in the face of increased public demand for greater environmental outcomes, there seems little alternative to meeting the competing demands of biodiversity and timber production than to implement a system of incentive payments which reward sound private forest management for a multiplicity of objectives.

Future harvesting pressure on European forests

We provide quantitative insight in the spatial distribution of the future supply of wood as a raw material from European forests (27 countries) until 2060. This supply is tested for two scenarios: ‘projection of historical management’ and ‘new management trends’ and compared against a benchmark scenario. The new management trends scenario incorporates influences of issues as nature-oriented management, carbon credits and increased demand for bio-energy. The results of these projections provide insight in the state of the European forests and indicate that under the ‘new management trends’ supply can still increase to 729 million m³ by 2060 in Europe, whereby almost throughout Europe we allow harvest to be higher than increment for some time. Without linking countries dynamically through international trade, we identify regions where harvesting pressure is highest. Under the new management trends scenario, the harvested volume is reduced with 82 million m³/year (compared to ‘projection of historical management’) because of stricter management constraints. However, the management regimes as parameterised here allow harvesting pressure to remain highest in Central Europe and some Scandinavian countries, notably Finland and Norway.

From farm forestry to farm and forestry in south-western France as a result of changes in a ‘house-centred’ social structure

The importance of the ecological functions of farm forests in France calls for a better understanding of the social systems influencing forest management. The traditional ‘house-centred system’ involved a sharing of activities in farm forestry between fathers and their sons. Retired farmers were traditionally managers of the forests while their sons dealt with farming activities. The evolution of this relationship since World War 2 has been investigated with an ethnologic approach in two villages in south-western France where the traditional ‘house-centred system’ constrains the social rules. This system has led to a lifetime status for fathers as head of the farm and of the household. Before WW2, sons played a secondary role in relation to their fathers who took strategic decisions. After WW2, sons became more involved in the forest work and decisions which led to a more frequent use of agricultural methods in forests. This created differences of opinion between fathers and sons, with the fathers considering their sons’ management too intensive. The social consequence was that the fathers felt that their role as forest managers and as head of the farm was reduced. In future, farm forest management might become more dependent on agricultural activities, with the traditional social systems losing importance.     

Sustainability Attributes of a Small-Scale Betel Leaf Agroforestry System: A Case Study in North-eastern Hill Forests of Bangladesh

The Khasia ethnic community of Bangladesh has been a population of forest villagers in the north-eastern hill forests of Bangladesh since the early 1950s, practicing a betel leaf-based agroforestry system on land granted by the Forest Department. Taking a sample forest village of the Sylhet forest division as a case study, this article examines the sustainability attributes of betel leaf production in the agroforestry system. The presence of several positive attributes of sustainability including the composition of agroforestry, disease control, soil fertility management, profitability, socio-cultural acceptability and institutional support indicate that betel leaf production within the agroforestry system is stable under the prevailing traditional management system. Income from the sale of betel leaf is the principal livelihood means and villager’s reciprocal contributions help to conserve forest resources. However, problems with land ownership and regular agreement renewal need to be resolved for the sake of their livelihoods and forest conservation.

A Critical Comparison of Typologies of Small-Scale Forestry in Baden-Württemberg Derived Using Single and Multiple Criteria

The paper presents a typology of small-scale forest owners in Baden-Württemberg based on multiple criteria and derived using multivariate cluster analysis of long-term accountancy network data. Four distinct types of landholders are identified based on a combination of structural, financial and biophysical data. These groups fit well with the present knowledge on small-scale forest owners in Baden-Württemberg. In addition, the members of each group display clear differences in attitudes towards forestry, giving further support for the validity of the grouping. A comparison is made of this typology and typologies derived using the single criteria of forestry region, forest size class, cutting volume, proportion of coniferous trees, forest income and main source of income. This comparison demonstrates the advantages of using cluster analysis to identify types of small-scale forest owners in south-west Germany. No matter whether structural, natural or financial data are assessed, the multiple criteria typology produced by cluster analysis provides the highest percentage of statistically significant distinctions between the medians of the groups identified. A typology based on the single criterion of ‘regions’ provides the second best fit and has the advantage of being simple to develop. A more detailed comparison between these two typologies, whereby the differences between groups were analysed based on the links between individual groups in respect to individual variables, also indicated that the multiple criteria typology was superior.

Regional employment trends of wood-based industries in Germany’s forest cluster: a comparative shift-share analysis of post-reunification development

After reunification in 1990, Germany’s forest cluster developed anew and employment in the wood-based industries differentiated very quickly. With more than 900,000 employees, it is now considered one of the most important industrial sectors in the country. This paper analysed general trends in the development of employment of wood-based industries in the German forest cluster between 1999 and 2006. Shift-share analysis was considered to be the most appropriate way to determine regional differences in the subsection DD/20 ‘Manufacture of wood and wood products’ of the code “Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community, Revision 1.1” (NACE): the sawmill industry, the wood-based panel industry, the wood construction industry, the wood-based packaging industry, and the miscellaneous wood products industry. This method decomposed the change of employment into three different components that are due to that change: national trends, (industrial) sectoral trends, and regional conditions. Employment in the selected wood-based industries showed a significantly larger decrease than overall trends in both the producing industries and the whole economy of Germany: a continual loss of employees could be observed over the time period, affecting almost all of the selected wood-based industries. However, federal states in western and eastern Germany experienced divergent trends between 1999 and 2006, as different absolute and relative regional share components indicated in the shift-share analysis. This method allows of identifying regional disparities and characterising regions with positive (mainly eastern federal states) and negative (mainly western federal states) rates of employment growth. The research suggests that positive employment trends in eastern Germany’s wood-based industries can mainly be attributed to regional factors such as comparatively higher subsidies for new investments, lower labour costs, lower land values or infrastructural peculiarities.

The Upland Settlement Project of Bangladesh as a Means of Reducing Land Degradation and Improving Rural Livelihoods

Because of illegal logging, increased population pressure and intensified shifting cultivation, forest coverage of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) has decreased drastically resulting in land degradation. Many development projects have been implemented to combat forest loss and land degradation and also to improve the livelihoods of the hill people. This paper reports an empirical study of the Upland Settlement Project (USP) of Bangladesh which was undertaken to prevent land degradation and enhance the standard of living of the people. Planters were found to have given up shifting cultivation and adopted soil conserving agroforestry practices, and forest coverage has been increased in the project village. Interacting with project staff members, government officials and NGOs assisted planters in diversifying livelihood strategies thereby reducing dependency on project resources. Rich planters, utilizing their own capacity, expanded their income sources successfully. Poor planters still remain wage labourers because they do not have sufficient finance and networks to invest in productive ventures. Planters’ participation in project activities and the information flow between them and project staff were found to be minimal. Suggestions are made for the continuity of project functions, which involve greater participation of planters in rubber management functions, improved information flow, resolution of land tenure and greater equality in distribution of rubber revenue.

Underutilized agroforestry food products in Amazonas (Venezuela): a market chain analysis

The worlds’ current food production system is focused on a limited number of crops. However, international food demand is increasingly looking for more diversified supplies. In the Venezuelan State Amazonas, the Piaroa indigenous people collect and cultivate several indigenous species with local, regional, national and even international potential. A participatory approach was used to select, in cooperation with these Piaroa people, a list of products for in-depth economic analysis and for introduction in agroforestry trials in a later phase. Seven agroforestry food products of this list were identified as underutilized. Primary data collected through consumer and trader surveys on the local markets and participatory exercises in selected Piaroa communities revealed that the main causes of underutilization are the general lack of transport, processing and market infrastructure in Amazonas; the lack of demand, due to a lack of product information; the lack of market information and cooperation between the different market chain actors; and the low productivity of the traditional slash and burn plots. Solutions to overcome the infrastructural constraints are sought by looking at the example set by a local NGO.

Urban Consumers’ Attitudes Towards Non-wood Forest Products and Services in Switzerland and an Assessment of Their Market Potential

To obtain empirical data on future market potential, a consumer survey about supply, demand and consumption of non-wood forest products and services (NWFP&S) was conducted in six cities in different cantons of Switzerland. A total of 897 persons–about 150 per city–were interviewed through arbitrary selection in which women and youths were overrepresented in comparision to the Swiss population. A high consumer acceptance of forest products and particularly forest services among the Swiss urban population was observed. Preferences in purchasing honey, berries, mushrooms and roots among other NWFP were reported. The quality of the products and their environmental friendliness ranked highest in the attitudes of potential consumers who prefer to buy NWFP at market stands, in retail traders’ shops and in drugstores. The most popular forest activities among the respondents are recreation and various kinds of sports activities followed by the gathering of NWFP. As far as the consumers’ wishes and aspirations are concerned, sports, camping and adventure rank high apart from the desire to acquire environmental knowledge about the forest flora and fauna. NWFP&S are highly estimated in Switzerland and have a considerable market potential and, if well marketed, could add substantially to the income of forest enterprises.

Forest Allocation Policy and Level of Forest Dependency of Economic Household Groups: A Case Study in Northern Central Vietnam

A new forest policy of allocating forestland to individual households for management and development, has been applied in Vietnam since the early 1990s. This study was designed to examine how local forest-related people have used forestland and forest resources under the new policy, and to determine their level of dependency on forests. An upland forest-related community in northern central Vietnam, where the policy was introduced in 2002, was chosen as a case study. It was found that local residents in the community have not complied with the forest allocation policy well, in that they violated the policy to freely lend forestland to and borrow from villagers for cropping purposes, regardless of whether they were rich or poor, had enough land or not, or were legally forest recipients. Regarding forest dependency, all households studied lived on forest resources (forestland and forest products). More than 65% of the total annual income of poorer households was derived from the forest, compared to less than 40% for the richer households. Forest-derived income accounted for more than 75% in their total income in some of the poorest households.

Barriers and Opportunities for the Development of Small-scale Forest Enterprises in Europe

The article introduces the background and summarises main research findings of the research articles in this special issue. The focus is on the key issues relevant for forest-based entrepreneurship development in small-scale forestry in relation to both wood and non-wood forest products and services (NWFP&S). The article draws special attention to changing forest ownership, changing owners’ motives and values, and the evolving role of forest owners’ associations in Europe. The paper draws attention to the finding that many small-scale forest owners do not treat their forest as an income-generating asset. The ownership of the forests may be more important as symbolic capital than as a source of income. This is quite opposite to the traditional wood production model that for instance most of the Forest Owners Association’s still follow. In relation to NWFP&S, the taxonomy and indicators for NWFP&S are discussed and some conclusions from studies on forest recreation innovation and NWFP&S marketing are presented. The NWFP&S sector is traditionally product-oriented, which is strategically peculiar because the long distances from rural production areas to the customers would suggest highest orientation on marketing. Also surprising is the low level of segmentation in the sector.

Factors affecting farm operators’ interest in incorporating riparian buffers and forest farming practices in northeast and southeast Missouri

Interest in the incorporation of riparian buffers and forest farming were modeled following agricultural conservation and agroforestry adoption studies. Attitudes, individual characteristics, economic diversity of landowners’ household portfolio, and physical and ecological conditions were explanatory variables in Logit regression models of interest. Habitus and field, the values and institutions of farm operators, were included in the framework. Knowledge of the practice, perceived problems with the environment and attitude/habitus variables had a positive effect on the probability of being interested in riparian buffers. Knowledge of the practice was the most important factor in explaining interest in the case of forest farming, followed by attitudes about trees and concern for future generations, both habitus variables. Field variables like CRP payments representing familiarity with government programs that support conservation, had no significant effect on interest in riparian buffers. Older farmers were less interested in both practices, consistent with other findings. Existing economic diversification of the household portfolio had no effect on the probability of being interested in either practice.

Valuing the benefits to the local community of supplying recreational facilities in community owned forests: an application of the contingent behaviour method

This research utilises a contingent behaviour valuation technique to value a number of improvements to recreational facilities in small-scale forests in Ireland. Willingness-to-pay estimates have previously been made for Coillte (Ireland’s state-owned forestry company) trails and forests. The total non-market value of Irish forests has also been examined. This paper adds to the literature by being the first to estimate the consumer surplus associated with recreational enhancements to Irish small-scale forest resources. The results presented indicate that community owned small-scale forestry can contribute enormously to the wellbeing of nearby urban residents, through the provision of outdoor recreational services.

Forest cover and pattern changes in the Carpathians over the last decades

This study aims at developing a satellite-based methodology for the implementation of two Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe indicators for the European Alpine Bio-geographic region, and their changes over time: (1) area of forest cover and (2) forest spatial pattern. The northern Carpathians were selected as a study area due to the documented recent increase of forest cover. Changes of forest cover were quantified using Landsat images for the years 1987 and 2000. Single-date forest–non-forest maps were derived by image segmentation and supervised classification, including the use of ancillary data (CORINE Land Cover and a digital elevation model). These maps were an input for the post-classification change detection. The forest spatial pattern maps with four classes (core, patch, edge and perforated forest) were derived with morphological image processing. A simple method to mask uncertainty areas on forest maps and related products was also developed. The accuracy of the resulting forest–non-forest map was assessed with orthophotos and amounts to 93.9%. Uncertainty areas, for which change assessment was judged more difficult and less reliable, were not considered for assessing forest cover change. The annual forest cover change rate of 0.38% was found over the 1987–2000 period. For the 13-year time period, we found a decrease of core forest and an increase of patch and perforated forest. We conclude that the proposed methodology allows to quantify changes of forest cover and forest spatial pattern at ∼1 ha minimum mapping unit.

Transmission of price changes in sawnwood and sawlog markets of the new and old EU member countries

In the European sawnwood markets, competition is tight between producer countries, with the new EU countries gradually gaining larger market shares. This paper focuses on the pass-through of sawnwood prices to supplier countries’ national roundwood prices. Price-change effects on market shares are known to be large, but not so much is known about the timing and duration of price transmission between competitor countries. Our empirical analysis concerns the exports of four large sawnwood supplier countries in Europe (Finland, Austria, Estonia and the Czech Republic) to German markets, using quarterly panel data for 1995–2003. The transmission process was found to differ between countries, and the relationship was most clearly detectable between Finnish sawlog and sawnwood prices. Results based on seemingly unrelated regression analysis indicated that price transmission exhibits similarities between old (i.e. Austria, Finland) and new EU member countries (Estonia, Czech Republic). Overall developments in both sawnwood and sawlog prices displayed convergence in the study period, which indicates that deepening integration in European markets is also detectable in the forest sector.

The Embeddedness of Collective Action in Nepalese Community Forestry

Collective action by local communities has been recognised as crucial for effective management of natural resources, particularly the management of forests in rural settings in developing countries. However, the processes and outcomes of collective action in forest management are often analysed through a narrow rational choice model, ignoring the impacts of wider social, political and economic processes in conditioning peoples’ decisions to act (or not to act) collectively. Optimistic assumptions are made for collective action being instrumental to enhance both social and ecological outcomes, but there is a paucity of empirical evidence on how and why the condition of forests has improved (or deteriorated) under collective action, and what impacts the change in forest condition has on various groups within local communities. This study critically examines the emergence, evolution and outcomes of collective action in a case of community forestry in Nepal. A mix of qualitative and quantitative methods has been used to collect primary data from the forest, households, key informants and focus groups. The emergence and outcomes of collective action is found to be embedded in social, economic and political relationships, where powerful actors control the use of forests in order to ensure conservation, thereby resulting in the underutilisation of forest products. Poor users, who depend heavily on forests, are found to be worse off economically under community forestry, but still engage in collective action for a variety of socio-political reasons. This contradicts the conventional wisdom which assumes that people only cooperate when they benefit from cooperation. It is concluded that a deeper understanding of the embeddedness of community forestry is needed in order to achieve the potential of collective action.