Biological diversity indicators: A comparison of Swedish forest commons and other forest ownership categories

Abstract

Research indicates that natural resources managed in common, resembling traditional commons such as the Swedish forest commons, could be a type of regime with the potential to stimulate successfully sustainable use conditions. This is supported by findings regarding the characteristics of Swedish forest commons, their claimed concern for the environment and relatively high proportion of old forest in two out of three regions. Swedish environmental policy is directed towards environmental quality objectives and the Sustainable Forests objective states, among other things, that biological diversity must be maintained and enhanced. Swedish National Forest Inventory data for the period 2003–2006 were used to analyse differences between forest commons in northern Sweden and other ownership categories regarding the proportion of forestland with a large deciduous element, the proportion of forest older than 80 years with a large (> 25%) deciduous element, the volume of dead wood and the proportion of forest older than 140 years, parameters corresponding to the interim targets for enhanced biological diversity. The results show no consistent differences in indicator variables between the forest commons and other ownership categories, signifying that forests managed in common have been conducted in ways promoting biodiversity more effectively than in other ownership categories. Further studies of different ownership categories regarding driving forces and forest status are warranted.     

Comparison of harvesting and business activities of non-shareholders and shareholders in a forest common in Västerbotten,Sweden

Abstract

Swedish forest commons are collectively owned and managed by shareholders who always also own other forest holdings. The majority of them are non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners. The objective of this study was to assess differences, with respect to harvesting intensity and related business activities on their individually managed forest properties, between non-shareholders and shareholders in a Swedish forest common. Forest commons are intended to promote local agriculture and forestry and to serve as a model for forestry activities. On this basis, the hypotheses examined in this study were that the shareholders’ harvesting and business activities, as well as their contributions to the local economy, are greater than those of non-shareholders. An apparent difference between shareholders and non-shareholders was found, but it was unexpected since non-shareholders undertook more harvesting and business activities than shareholders, and contributed more to the local economy through taxes. Since no evidence was found for a significant difference between the two categories in their potential to undertake forestry activities, one provisional conclusion is that the outcome is partly due to differences between the institutional frameworks in which shareholders and non-shareholders operate and the impact of these frameworks on incentives to maximize forest production.     

森林认证对林业政策与管理的影响分析

森林认证作为一种市场激励手段和"软政策"工具,林业政策法规作为一种强制性的"硬政策"工具,这两方面在促进森林可持续经营和加强林业管理方面具有较强的互补性。目前,森林认证已发展成为加强林业政策管理的一种新工具,包括促进各方对林业问题和林业政策的讨论、推动国家法规政策的制定和实施、改进公有林的管理、提高森林可持续经营的意识和能力以及加强有关森林可持续经营的国际政策协商等。文章分析了森林认证与林业法规政策的关系,并对森林认证在推动包括我国在内的林业政策管理中的作用进行了探讨。     

中国基层林业工作站建设发展差异分析

我国各地基层林业工作站在设置形式、管理体制、人员学历和职称结构、人员经费来源以及硬件设施建设等方面存在着很大差异。导致差距的主要因素除了各区域森林资源多寡不均外, 还有经济社会发展因素、历史因素和政府的政策选择倾向。文中提出了对今后林业站建设的建议:一是应分区域建设; 二是要分类型建设; 三是应调整投资政策和方式, 加大对经济欠发达、森林资源少、生态脆弱且恢复建设重要性突出的区域基层林业站建设资金的投入。     

中国天然林保护工程区目前急需解决的技术问题和对策

分析了天保工程不同区域存在的基本矛盾和问题,从面临的众多问题中总结归纳出退化天然林恢复与重建、非木质林产品资源开发利用、天然林近自然采育更新和结构调整、工程区防灾减灾和森林健康状况保持、天然林资源动态时空分析与评价等5个重大而急需解决的技术问题;提出了推广应用现有技术成果、针对新问题设立课题研究和引进国际先进理论技术为工程服务的总体对策;并针对5大问题进行深入分析,提出了人工促进退化天然林恢复、森林近自然经营及健康状态监测等解决问题的关键理论和技术要点.     

森林认证能否与一国林业可持续管理政策协同发展？

森林认证对一国林业政策的影响因不同经济体而异。文中首先从理论方面归纳出森林认证作为市场机制和林业政策作为政策机制相互矛盾但又相互联系、相互作用的特点。其次,结合实践,通过对比和评述不同类型经济体代表国家的森林认证及其对本国林业政策的影响发现:在发达经济体国家,森林认证与林业政策往往相互促进、协同发展;在发展中经济体国家,两者存在重叠,导致低效;在转型经济体国家,两者存在对抗。再次,考察并总结了影响森林认证和林业政策关系的主要因素,认为二者的关系与一国经济、社会发展形态以及对森林认证的认知程度和公民的参与程度有关。最后,提出建议并指明未来研究方向。     

Moroccan Forestry Policies and Local Forestry Management in the High Atlas: A Cross Analysis of Forestry Administration and Local Institutions

This paper examines how local forestry management has evolved in the Aït Bougmez Valley (Central High Atlas, Morocco) in the last three decades and how this evolution has affected forest ecosystem conditions. It focuses on the impact of the forestry administration on ‘traditional forestry management’ since its introduction in 1985, and of recent innovation in forestry policy. The relatively new Strategic Environmental Management Analysis (SEMA) framework is applied, rather than a more ‘classical’ new institutional framework. This approach allows for a more comprehensive understanding of both strategic interactions between various actors and ecological consequences of these interactions. An interesting empirical findings is that instead of a quite simple opposition between the forestry administration and local populations, negotiation opportunities exist that are taken by the actors. This leads to specific actor configurations and sometimes unexpected environmental outcomes, even if from a global point of view, forest stands have been seriously depleted over the last 40 years mainly due to exploitation by local population and the absence of economic alternative to forest exploitation. On the other hand, the implementation of a new policy tool in such a context has to be understood as an opportunity for new actors to take part in forest management rules definition.     

森林认证对森林可持续经营的影响及其在中国的实践

开展森林认证是促进我国森林管理与国际接轨并实现森林可持续经营的有效途径。文中概述了森林认证的发展概况以及森林认证对森林可持续经营的影响,并以我国吉林省经过认证的森林经营企业为例,通过对森林认证前后的对比,以及与未经过认证的国有林业局对比,分析森林认证对经济、社会和环境等方面的具体影响。结果表明,森林认证的开展在经济上可行,使社会受益,对环境友好,能够促进森林可持续经营。文中还对我国开展森林认证工作提出了具体措施建议。     

河南省重点地区天然林保护工程建设与对策

在分析建设河南省重点地区天然林保护工程的必要性的基础上,依据该区的自然状况及林业建设发展方向,将河南省重点地区天然林保护工程建设划分为生态保护区和商品林经营区两大区,分别简述了各区建设的基本构想,并提出了天然林保护工程建设应采取的对策。     

Monitoring Sustainable Forest Management in the Pacific Rim Region

Summary

The Pacific Rim is rich in forest resources. It contains the world's largest contiguous forest areas, high levels of biodiversity, millions of forest-dependent people, and the world's leading wood-product exporting and importing nations. However, because of a range of issues, the Pacific Rim region is also experiencing high rates of deforestation and forest degradation. An important step in addressing these issues and moving toward sustainable forest management is improved monitoring and information reporting at the local, national, and international levels. A number of criteria and indicators initiatives have been developed throughout the countries of the Pacific Rim. These have ranged from international processes to local initiatives such as forest certification. Although there is considerable variability in the issues facing forest policy makers in the countries of the Pacific Rim, it is often expected that criteria and indicators will reflect a level of comparability. This paper presents the results of a comparative analysis designed to identify similarities and differences in sustainable forest management criteria and indicators initiatives in the Pacific Rim region. When considered in the context of globalization, the research findings support international efforts to encourage comparability in sustainable forest management-related monitoring and information reporting.     

气候变化对森林生态系统的影响及应对气候变化的森林可持续发展

森林生态系统是人类社会赖以生存的重要生态系统类型。然而,人类活动所引起的温室效应及其造成的全球气候变化对森林生态系统的负面影响正越来越引起全世界的关注。文中系统地阐述了全球气候变化事件对森林生态系统的植被分布、迁移趋势、适应能力、火灾状况、虫害爆发、木材产量和生物多样性等诸方面所产生的重要影响。另外,森林生态系统在减缓全球气候变化的过程中发挥着极为重要的作用。文中从森林可持续发展的角度系统地分析了应对气候变化应采取的森林可持续发展的相关策略与措施,并建议通过实时监控、及时防治、科学指导、全球合作等手段进一步增强森林生态系统的适应性和减缓全球气候变化的能力。     

黑龙江森工林区森林可持续发展问题

本提出了黑龙江森工国有林区森林可持续发展问题。就森林可持续发展与森林可持续发展经营的关系，森林可持续发展的基本原则、政策保证、外部条件、基本途径和技术措施等问题进行了讨论。     

东北、内蒙古重点国有林区管理体制改革探求

东北、内蒙古国有林区是国务院确定的国家所有的最大的重点林区。长期以来,政企不分、政资不分、企资不分已成为制约林区加快发展的主要障碍。研究森工林区管理体制问题对于重点国有林区定位和发展具有重要的意义。本文通过林区管理体制的现状与问题分析,指出现行管理体制的弊端主要表现为森森资源管理、企业经营管理、社会行政事务管理“三种职能”履行不到位。通过改革环境分析,提出了林区管理体制改革的设想。认为改革的方向是在重点国有林区建立“三权分治”和“专业化经营”的管理体制,打破林区目前森林资源管理、企业经营、社会行政事务“三权合一”的管理体制,构建森林资源、企业经营、社会行政事务管理“三个主体”,强化森林资源、企业经营、社会行政事务管理“三种职能”,促进林区生态经济社会全面、协调、可持续发展。     

湖南省林地变更利用与经济发展脱钩分析

分析了林地变更利用与经济发展的关系,为促进湖南省经济发展及土地集约高效利用提供更多的理论参考。研究基于Tapio脱钩模型,采用GIS空间分析法,对湖南省2014~2018年的林地变更利用与经济增长的脱钩关系进行了时空差异分析。结果表明:①2014~2018年湖南省及各市州的林地变更利用与经济发展的脱钩状态总体上呈弱脱钩型,各市州之间的林地变更利用与经济发展的脱钩状态存在明显差异;②湖南省及各市州的林地变更利用及经济发展脱钩系数总体上呈现先下降后上升的变化趋势;③在空间分布上,弱脱钩显著的区域总体上呈现分散态势,脱钩程度较低的主要集中分布在湘西地区,而从高度弱脱钩地区层面上,实现高度弱脱钩的区域数量有所增加,并且呈现出地区脱钩程度差距逐渐缩小的趋势。因此,提出了需要因地制宜地采取针对性的措施来提高林地变更利用效率,以便为湖南省经济发展提供长足动力。     

Framing environmental policy by the local press: Case study from the Dadia Forest Reserve,Greece

This paper critically examines the way environmental policy is framed by the press. Focusing on the Dadia Forest Reserve (Greece), we investigated the article content of a local newspaper across three subsequent periods of ecotourism development and three item topics, namely ‘ecotourism’, ‘forest management’ and ‘environmental awareness’. Content analysis of newspaper articles was based on a pre-defined coding scheme. Overall, time trends as reflected in the local press implied a change in environmental policy stirring from an expert-led towards a more participatory approach. Gradually, balanced schemes dominated environmental policy, where both environmental and economic considerations were taken into account under a diverse spatiotemporal range. Social consensus seems to have been established during the second period of ecotourism development. Ecotourism as an item topic was less connected to environmentalist motives compared to economic ones; the opposite was revealed for the forest management topic. However, our reconstruction of environmental policy in the local press, showed that environmental and economic motives did hardly intercross. Additionally, the ability of the local press to produce and limit meaning was manifested by the sealing of any production process including the one that apparently produces the ecotourism product. Implications for environmental policy and forest management are discussed.     

Local level criteria and indicator frameworks: A tool used to assess aboriginal forest ecosystem values

Although the importance of aboriginal knowledge, values and perspectives in sustainable development has been recognised for many decades, worldwide examples exist showing that aboriginal involvement is less then effective. How and where to include aboriginal needs and goals has however been problematic. Ultimately, aboriginal forest values need to be considered with scientific strategies and their role and compatibility with forest conditions needs to be explored. Criteria and indicator (C&I) frameworks can be used as a platform to include community needs and goals in management decisions. This review compares aboriginal forest ecological perspectives defined by Canadian local level C&I frameworks with non-aboriginal local level C&I frameworks to identify their differences at the indicator level. Three major themes mark the differences between aboriginal and non-aboriginal indicators: (1) aboriginal frameworks introduce ecological indicators of cultural importance; (2) there is an aesthetic concern for forest operations especially if they affect cultural owners; and (3) indicators regarding the access to resources are more complex and include the sustainability of the productivity, proximity, integrity and quality of resources used in traditional activities. Results show that First Nation forest sustainability issues are in effect a combination of forest conditions and values. Inclusion of forest values in C&I frameworks is necessary because: (1) aboriginal communities do not dissociate culture from the environment and thus forest values from forest condition, (2) they have an impact on resulting forest management strategies and decisions, and (3) they offer a holistic approach to sustainability issues and a better picture of local environmental contexts.     

Use of forest resources,traditional forest-related knowledge and livelihood of forest dependent communities: Cases in South Korea

The patterns of forest resource use in South Korea have been overviewed along with the forest resource availability to the forest users and in relation to the socio-economic conditions of local people. In South Korea, forest income arises more from non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and forest ecosystems services than from timber. The relationship between availability of forest resources and income of residents in mountainous villages was addressed with statistical analysis of results of household surveys conducted in Gangwon-do Province. The result indicates that the mere existence of forest resources and related cultural heritages is not enough for local communities to obtain income from forest land. Proper arrangements for local communities in accessing the forest resources and knowledge of making use of the resources is required to make the relationship constructive for people's livelihood. Joint management agreement between forest communities and the forest owner serves both parties for sustainable forest management in Korea as seen in the case of maple sap collection within Seoul National University Forests. The traditional knowledge held by local residents is of value for income generation for forest dependent communities and is considered as an integral part of sustainable forest management as seen in the case of native honey bee keeping near protected forest areas managed by the national forest authority. However, traditional cultural values may be positive or negative for ecologically sound forest management as seen in the pest management policy of the Korean government formulated based on cultural value rather than considerations of ecosystem health.     

我国国有林区产业转型困境解析与路径选择

基于历史因素与现实发展需求,我国国有林区产业转型势在必行。文中构建了一个针对"困境形成"的制度—政府—企业—职工分析框架。其中,制度障碍是形成转型困境的根本原因,而地方政府、森工企业、林区职工3大行为主体则面临各自的重重转型困境。为破解困境,需要中央与地方政府共同承担成本,输血与造血缺一不可。在未来国有林区产业转型过程中,替代产业的选择应依据各地区资源禀赋与环境因素,因地制宜,立足长远,并尊重市场调节的地位。     

森林可持续经营标准和森林认证标准的比较分析*

在介绍森林可持续经营标准和森林认证标准的概念和产生背景的基础上 ,从目的、内容、性质、倡导机构、尺度等方面对两者进行了比较分析 ,认为两者的目的都是为了实现森林可持续经营 ,但在内容、性质和倡导机构方面互为补充。许多国家已经制定了这两类标准并正在积极试验中 ,中国的这两类标准也已被报送到有关部门审批。随着全球经济一体化进程的加快 ,森林认证正在从欧美经济发达地区向亚非地区扩展。不同森林认证体系标准之间的互认是当前的热点 ,而增加森林经营单位水平可持续经营标准的可操作性非常关键。     

Spatial mapping of the social value of forest services: A case study of northern Jordan

ABSTRACT

Despite the growing body of research on ecosystem services and their valuation, Jordan still faces many challenges with integration of ecosystem service concepts into forest sustainability policy and management planning. One major challenge is the incorporation of local communities into policy design, planning, and implementation. This article aims to provide information about the social value of forests’ provisioning and cultural services in a spatial context using Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The study utilizes a new approach to mapping value in rural areas by projecting local forest value from interview data. A value index is created based on indicated importance of services as well as proximity to households, permitting interpolation of value in forested areas between survey points. The resulting maps illustrate ecosystem service “hotspot” areas of significance to planning and management. This mapping technique can be applied in other locations where homes are situated near and within the ecosystems being assessed. The resulting maps serve to inform forest management policy and planning by better integrating communities’ preferences into development and conservation efforts, ensuring more efficient utilization of ecosystem services.