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

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

Participatory forest management in Burkina Faso：Members’ perception of performance

This study examines variations in the performance of partic-ipatory forest management programs among four forest management groups （FMGs） in southern Burkina Faso, and assesses the factors that influence their members’ perceptions of performance through a house-hold survey of 216 members. Variations in performance scores among the FMGs were analyzed through multivariate analysis of variance while multinomial regression analysis was used to identify factors that influ-ence their perception of the performance. The results reveal significant differences in performance scores among FMGs. Members of some FMGs perceived that the participatory forest management program ena-bled them to get benefits from the sale of fuelwood while performance scores in the forest conservation and decision-making processes is gener-ally poor. The score for economic performance of FMGs in turn was related to better access to roads and markets. Group size tended to en-hance economic performance via its strong influence on annual fuelwood harvest, while the resource base appeared to be inconsequential. Mem-bers of the forest management groups perceived that large group size and group heterogeneity, particularly in terms of ethnicity, as well as knowledge and awareness of problems related to the forest environment have no influence on the performance of their respective groups. For rural communities to have a favorable disposition toward sustainable forest management, differences in member understanding of collective actions and their impact before and during the implementation of partic-ipatory forest management programs should be considered.     

Assessing rural peoples’ intention to adopt sustainable forest use and management practices in South Africa

This study examined rural peoples’ intention to adopt sustainability practices in communally managed forests in Vhembe district, South Africa, using the theory of planned behavior as a conceptual framework. A total of 155 respondents were surveyed. The data was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results showed that rural people have a strong intention to adopt sustainable forest-use and management practices. Out of the three constructs comprising the theory of planned behavior, subjective norm (SN) and attitude to behavior (AB) positively correlated with intention, with SN having the strongest influence on intention. Perceived behavioral control (PBC), which is the third construct, negatively correlated with intention. The study indicates that respondents’ subjective belief about the approval or disapproval of sustainable forest management (SFM) practices by other relevant people mainly influenced their intention to adopt or not adopt such practices. Thus, strategies and policies to enhance the sustainable management of communally owned forests in South Africa need to consider local actor contexts and sociocultural norms and values. In this regard, the engagement of influential people at the community level, and the demonstration of the short- and long-term benefits of sustainable forest use and management practices offer promising entry points.     

The effect of coverage level and premium subsidy on farmers’ participation in forest insurance: An empirical analysis of forest owners in Hunan Province of China

ABSTRACT

In forest insurance policy, coverage level and premium subsidy are two important factors that affect farmers’ decision to be insured. This paper uses data from a survey of farmers in Hunan Province of China. First, a single-bounded dichotomous-choice valuation method is used to estimate the average amount that the farmers are willing to pay (WTP) for forest insurance. The results show that farmers’ average WTP is 0.65 RMB/acre (Chinese currency is referred as RMB), which is lower than the premium level prescribed in the existing forest insurance implementation program. Second, an acreltiple-bound dichotomous-choice valuation method is used to study farmers’ WTP for acreltiple coverage levels. Results show that when coverage equals 500 RMB/acre, 1,000 RMB/acre, and 2,000 RMB/acre, the median value of the premium level of farmers’ WTP is 0.922 RMB/acre, 1.954 RMB/acre and 2.893 RMB/acre, respectively. In a situation where the current premium rates are unchanged, and the coverage level is 500 RMB/acre, 1,000 RMB/acre, or 2,000 RMB/acre, the models predict the subsidy ratio should be 53.90, 51.15 and 63.84%, respectively. Improving the coverage level of existing forest insurance policies can significantly increase farmers’ expected rate of insurance.     

Optimal harvesting time in single‐ and multiple‐purpose forest management

In single‐purpose timber producing forestry, the optimal harvesting time occurs when the net revenue on the stumpage value equals the cost of renting the land (the land‐use cost) minus the change in land value.

In multiple‐purpose forestry, the optimal time for harvesting occurs when the sum of the net revenues of the stumpage value and the amenity value is equal to the cost of renting the land minus the change in the land value. This land value is the sum of the land value for timber production and the land value for amenity services in the case of combined management of timber and amenity‐resources.     

Satellite remote-sensing technologies used in forest fire management

Satellite remote sensing has become a primary data source for fire danger rating prediction, fuel and fire mapping, fire monitoring, and fire ecology research. This paper summarizes the research achievements in these research fields, and discusses the future trend in the use of satellite remote-sensing techniques in wildfire management. Fuel-type maps from remote-sensing data can now be produced at spatial and temporal scales quite adequate for operational fire management applications. US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellites are being used for fire detection worldwide due to their high temporal resolution and ability to detect fires in remote regions. Results can be quickly presented on many Websites providing a valuable service readily available to fire agency. As cost-effective tools, satellite remote-sensing techniques play an important role in fire mapping. Improved remote-sensing techniques have the potential to date older fire scars and provide estimates of burn severity. Satellite remote sensing is well suited to assessing the extent of biomass burning, a prerequisite for estimating emissions at regional and global scaleswhich are needed for better understanding the effects of fire on climate change. The types of satellites used in fire research are also discussed in the paper. Suggestions on what remote-sensing efforts should be completed in China to modernize fire management technology in this country are given.     

Gender in European forest ownership and management: reflections on women as “New forest owners”

The group of female forest owners is growing across Europe and currently estimated to be about 30% of all private owners. This new category of forest owner merits a closer look. By introducing a gender perspective across three different research frameworks, this paper substantiates that gender matters in forest ownership, management, operations, and the understandings of these three aspects. Where gender-disaggregated data is available, and gender is assessed as an empirical variable, we find the differences in numbers between male and female forest owners in most countries. By adding the concept of gender as a relational and structuralizing category, we demonstrate that gender structures affect, for example, actual behavior of female and male forest owners and the self-evaluation of forestry competence. Further, when considering gender as a meaning category we explore how meaning produces behavior and behavior produces meanings, and how both shape institutions and natural and artificial matter. Here forestry competence is the applied example. To further increase the knowledge on new forest owners, we recommend (i) fellow researchers in the field to assume that gender matters and design their empirical studies accordingly and (ii) policy-makers to guarantee access to gender-disaggregated data in official registers and statistics.     

Understanding forest transition in the Philippines: main farm-level factors influencing smallholder’s capacity and intention to plant native timber trees

The ‘when, where and how’ of decisions by smallholder upland farmers to plant trees as part of their use of natural, human and capital resources needs to be understood if policy support is to result in actual recovery of tree cover as part of a ‘forest transition’ trajectory. In large parts of the Philippines the turning point may be close. Data on resource access and tree planting decisions were gathered from a household survey, with a total of 148 respondents in four rural communities in Leyte Province in Central Philippines. Data were analysed using logistic regression analysis. Household-level results reveal that the outcomes of the decision-making processes primarily depend on the availability of land and access to remaining forest resources rather than socio-cultural or economic factors. The total area of land and number of parcels managed by the household plus security of land tenure through ownership was found to have a statistically significant effect on farmers’ decision to plant native timber trees. Access to surrounding natural forest is negatively associated with farmer tree planting.     

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

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

Eucalyptus planting as a response to farm management problems faced by ‘on-site’ and ‘off-site’ farmers

The success of the green revolution in the fertile and agriculturally surplus plains of western U.P. in north India led to labour shortages, and increased opportunities for off-farm investments by landowners, requiring their time and energies away from farming. These changes impelled landowners to adopt strategies which saved family labour and supervision time in cultivation. Many off-site farmers, and such on-site farmers who had a high ratio of owned land to male members in the family, resorted to tree farming, mainly eucalyptus. On the other hand, farmers in eastern U.P., with small holdings, subsistence orientation and cheap labour, showed little enthusiasm for planting eucalyptus. Based on field investigation in six villages, this paper argues that woodlot planting of eucalyptus emerged as an attractive option for landowners facing management and labour problems in western U.P., as tree farming allowed saving in family labour time and permitted greater flexibility in the timing of operations. About 60% of the total trees planted were by this category of management-constrained farmers.     

Is multiple-use forest management widely implementable in the tropics?

Multiple-use forest management (MFM) for timber, non-timber forest products and environmental services is envisioned by many as a preferable alternative to timber-dominant management models. It is praised as a more equitable strategy of satisfying the demands from multiple stakeholders, an ecologically more benign harvesting approach, and a way of adding more value to forests making them more robust to conversion. MFM thus represents a common and prime management objective under the sustainable forest management (SFM) paradigm. However, its implementation has been lagging behind the expectations, particularly in the tropics. In this paper, we analyze selected MFM implementation examples to try to explain why. We scrutinize the tropical forestry debate to find that the meaning of MFM has undergone significant changes along the way, and that the topic depends heavily on the scale of inspection. Also, we examine the conditions that either favor or constrain MFM adoption. At the local scale, the factors that set the scene for multiple-use approaches to be successfully adopted are favorable governance conditions relate to land-devolution policies, effective collective institutions, and multi-agent forest-management models. MFM feasibility also depends on the stage of forest transition, i.e. in society's economic development. MFM (at the stand level) dominates in poor subsistence-oriented autarchic forest settings, it typically declines when entering capitalist stages of specialized commodity production, but may then rebound (at the landscape level) in more advanced development stages. Key factors MFM generally is up against range from intricate technical trade-offs to the economies of scale in forestry production and marketing. MFM remains a valid management alternative under specifically favorable local context conditions, especially when practiced at the landscape scale, but these conditions are less frequent than commonly assumed.     

Rural household and forest: an evaluation of household’s dependency on community forest in Nepal

The aim of this paper is to analyze the level of dependency of rural households on forests, based on the economic status of the households and the property regimes of forests. The analysis of household-level dependency suggests that large numbers of rural households are benefiting regularly from their community forests. Out of three forest property regimes examined, community forests were found to be the most prominent sources for supplying forest products to local households. Analysis of the degree of forest-products dependency and the economic status of households shows that the low economic status households rely more on the community forest than the economically better-off households. In addition, a ² analysis indicates that the economic status of households affects the degree of forest-product collection activities. The results show three types of property regime with respect to forest management in Chitwan. Each regime holds its own ownership rights, which control the harvesting of forest products and provides incentives to the local households.     

How much management is enough? Stakeholder views on forest management in fire-prone areas in central Portugal

With the increasing pressure to improve the contribution of forests to help dealing with global changes, it is critical to understand the different perceptions of those involved in the forest. How do forest owners, managers and members of local communities who often depend on the forest, value it and what are the problems affecting the forests in terms of being able to meet these new challenges?In Portugal, this task has taken on an even greater priority as more than 90% of the forest is private and forest management relies on the individual decisions of thousands of forest owners. To understand stakeholder views on forest and forest management, a transversal social perception survey was implemented in the form of a case study of central Portugal which included decision-makers, local technicians, forest owners and the general public.The results show that there is a consensus on the main issues affecting forests and forest management. A shift from classic forest owners to the emergence of indifferent forest owners was observed, although this shift has not been recognized by the forest owners in the survey, who maintain the individual management of their properties.     

Development of component geographic information systems applying in forest resources management

The history, current situation, and development trend of GIS (Geographic Information System) applied in the forest resources management were discussed in this paper. On the basis of geographic spatial characteristics of forest resources data, a component geographic information system (ComGIS) was developed for forest resources management. The system embeds a GIS ActiveX control MapObjects (Inc. ESRI) on Visual C platform. System design, data organization and achieving way were studied and expatiated by taking Xigangzi Forestry Centre as study object. The system has many useful functions,, such as adding and display of various map layers, zoom of map by wheeling mouse, attribute and spatial data querying, map auto roaming, features rendering based on the spatial trait of data, label controlling through attribute data band with vector graph, as well as output of ‘Column chart‘ for showing the result of statistics. At the same time, parts of source codes are attached.     

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

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

Comparing management schemes for forest certification and timber-legality verification: Complementary or competitive in indonesia?

Indonesian small-scale forest holders are facing a dilemma due to the implementation of a mandatory national timber-legality verification scheme and an internationally popular forest certification scheme. The problems arise from limited financial, technical, and administrative information concerning the most preferred scheme and the “imperfection of such a scheme” for long-term business needs. Using the Forest Certification Assessment Guide (FCAG) this paper identifies the characteristics of four third-party forest certification schemes currently working in Indonesia, namely FSC, PEFC, LEI, and SVLK. An online questionnaire was used to survey a wide range of respondents about the future development of contested schemes and those preferred by small-scale forest holders. Our findings show that although FSC scheme obtained the highest score and is considered the best scheme according to the FCAG, small-scale forest holders prefer SVLK scheme, which had the lowest FCAG score because of its mandatory nature and available subsidies. Statements by the four schemes’ proponents, which delegitimize other schemes, reveal they are in competition especially in winning market acceptance and local adaptability. Finally, we suggest proponents enhance aspects where their schemes are lacking and contrive a comparable certification scheme in order to induce willingness to be certified.     

Do forest policy actors learn through forward-thinking? Conflict and cooperation relating to the past,present and futures of sustainable forest management in Germany

Collaborative participatory policy approaches based on foresight methodology have recently been proposed as promising governance tools to achieve sustainability in general, and address and manage challenges of integrating competing demands on forest land use (e.g., timber production, nature protection, recreation) in particular. Their main argument is that participatory processes will bring policy actors together. Based on long- and short-term future-oriented thinking and actions, they will overcome their previous value-laden and interest-based conflicts through informed communication, deliberation, policy learning and mutual cooperation. But do policy actors learn when they are thinking, debating and shaping the ‘forest futures’ they want to achieve or avoid? To what extent are current beliefs, values, worldviews, and conflict structures projected onto the future? What are their impacts on policy learning today?This paper addresses these research questions from a knowledge-based perspective of relevant policy learning theories. We trace changes and stability in beliefs, values (perception) and behavior (cooperation/conflict) among the involved policy actors. We assess to what extent future-oriented thinking and discussions contribute to, or inhibit, policy learning today.Empirically, the paper is informed by three case studies of regional ‘forest futures’ processes in Germany. They include forest landscapes in Upper Palatinate and South of Munich in Bavaria, and the Black Forest National Park in Baden-Württemberg. They represent different cases in terms of levels of stakeholder conflicts, integrative/segregative forest land use approaches, and the rural/urban divide. The paper is based on a qualitative analysis of interviews and documents about past and future forest land use, and observation of participatory scenario-building and back-casting workshops during 2011–2014.In our analysis, we found that forest policy actors adhered to their pre-existing beliefs and remained divided in terms of present and future aspects of sustainable forest management. That is, we observed no substantial or only strategic policy learning among the involved policy actors. We explain these findings in terms of competing actors' belief systems and worldviews that lead to competing understandings and expectations of ‘forest futures’. We discuss our research against the theoretical propositions and in view of the state-of-the art. We draw conclusions relevant for scholars and policymakers interested in collaborative policy learning processes, and suggest possible topics for further research.