Role of homestead forests in household economy and factors affecting forest production: a case study in southwest Bangladesh

Empirical information regarding the role of homestead forests in household economy is essential in understanding the importance of these resources. Identification of the factors that affect homestead forest production and understanding forest owners' attitudes toward key forest management issues have great significance in making appropriate policy responses to manage these resources on a sustainable basis. In Bangladesh, homestead forests are claimed to play an important economic role in rural livelihoods, but no reliable quantitative information exists. This study was undertaken to investigate the role of homestead forests in the household economy, examine if forest production and income vary across landholding size classes, to explore the relationships of homestead forest production with species richness, education level, and household size, and to assess the attitude of homestead forest owners toward key forest management issues. Results show that homestead forests contribute 15.9% of the household income and generate 51.4 man-days of employment per household per year. Production of homestead forests significantly varies across landholding size classes. It was observed that forest production depends significantly on species richness of homestead forests and the education level of forest owners. However, no such relationship was found between forest production and household size. The study revealed that farming families depend more on forest income than nonfarming families. Attitudes of forest owners toward key forest management issues differ significantly across landholding size classes. For example, although the majority of the forest owners prefer fruit species to timber species, the percentage of respondents decreased as the landholding size class increased, while the opposite trend was observed for timber species. The findings of this study suggest that diversification of forests and extension of education amongst forest owners would improve forest production. Furthermore, forest policy should address the concerns of the forest owners in different landholding classes and focus on their specific requirements to enhance sustainable forest management.     

Homestead forest resources and their role in household economy: A case study in the villages of Gazipur Sadar Upazila of central Bangladesh

This study examines the species composition, diversity and economic importance of homestead forests in the household economy of central Bangladesh. The study documents 57 homestead forest species and their main usage in 90 households across three villages of Gazipur Sadar Upazila. Homestead forests in Bangladesh comprise a mixture of fruit, timber and bamboo species. While superficially homestead forestry appears unimportant in rural livelihoods, in reality the contribution is huge, both as a source of food security and for other necessary household materials. A clear understanding of the physical characteristics and economic role of homestead forests in rural livelihoods is vital for ensuring sustainable resource management. Income and production of homestead forestry on a per hectare basis are found to vary widely between landholding size classes. Significant relationships are identified between forest performance (production and income) and species richness and education level. Homestead forestry appears to be a potential subsistence income generating land-use practice in the study area. The economic scope of homestead forestry can be further enhanced provided the appropriate species composition of the forest is achieved and the education of forest owners is ensured through targeted management and policy interventions.     

The formation of small-scale forestry in countries with economies in transition: Observations from Lithuania

Lithuania has been undergoing a transition from one political culture (based on a centrally planned economy and a one-party system) to a radically different political culture (market economy and a democratic political system). After the declaration of independence in Lithuania, some new phenomena emerged in forestry: the privatisation of forest industry, the formation of a free timber market; increasing timber export levels; and new modes of ownership (private forests) and enterprise (private business logging companies). Private forest owners control approximately 680,000 ha of forest, 33% of the total forest area, projected to increase to 40–45% in the future. Small-scale private forestry is developing in Lithuania but there is a lack of information about the objectives and problems of private forest owners. This paper presents the main results of a survey carried out in 2004 by the Lithuanian Forest Research Institute. The most important forest ownership objectives are firewood production for home consumption, income generation from wood and non-wood product sales, and protection of nature and biodiversity. The main problems for private forest owners are that the forest properties are too small to achieve efficiency, owners lack money for silviculture activities and there is a heavy bureaucratic system for forest-related activity documentation. A cluster analysis of respondents’ ratings of importance for various forest management objectives reveals four groups of private forest owners. These groups are named according to their dominant management objective, as multi-objective owners, businessmen, consumers and ecologists.     

Can community forestry contribute to household income and sustainable forestry practices in rural area? A case study from Tshapey and Zariphensum in Bhutan

Community forestry is an emerging success model of state–community partnership for forest management and poverty reduction. Bhutan's initial experience of forest management by user group is promising, but merits further study on how community forests have experienced with harvesting and income generation consistent with national forest policy. This study quantifies whether community forestry contribute to household income with equitable products and income distribution and gender inclusive participation; and community forests are managed applying the principles of sustainable harvest without compromising regeneration and productivity. We applied a combination of social and ecological methods using household interview and forest sampling plots. Our findings revealed that community forestry contributes to household income through harvesting and marketing of large trees, and non-wood forest products where markets are accessible. Household income, however, vary widely between rich and poor households with former capitalizing on commercial and latter on subsistence products. Timber harvesting is consistent with the principles of sustainable harvest without altering species composition, regeneration and productivity. To narrow income inequality, pro-poor approach to community forestry needs to target poor households with income diversification activities and market accessibility. The promising results are context-driven and warrant consolidation from other community forests experiencing harvest in Bhutan.     

Practical Application of Multivariant Analysis Techniques to the Forest Management of Active Farmers in the Northwest of Spain

As managers almost exclusive in many worldwide forestry regions, non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners come to play a key role in balanced integrating the variety of forest uses and functions in policies for promoting and revitalising rural areas. In Galicia, a region in the Spanish Northwest, over 67.5% of forestland and 80% of woodland is managed by NIPF owners. Almost 40% of the Galician NIPF owners are agricultural or livestock farmers who manage a total of 169,755 agrarian holdings with woodlands. Although the number of agricultural holdings has dropped significantly over the last 60?years, farmers still constitute a representative section of the NIPF owner population in Galicia. Starting from an initial population of 31,285 active full-time professional farmers in the region, and based on data collected by a personal questionnaire from a sample comprising 4,383 of these professional farmers for the period 1993?C2003, Discriminant Analysis (DA) was used to identify which socioeconomic, territorial and public-political factors were useful in distinguishing, and to what extent, that a certain population of Galician active farmers should opt to own and manage forestland areas within their agrarian holdings. The results suggested that the forestry production capacity for the area in which the agricultural holding is located, the size and the number of plots in the land base, the number of years the farmer has been the owner and the economic yield from the holding over the total family income were key factors in distinguishing between farmers with forestry activity (forestland owners) and farmers with no forestry activity (farmland owners). These findings could be used as a guide for designing, planning, and implementing research and policy measures that could allow NIPF landowners with farming and livestock activity to develop sustainable forestry, as key agents in promoting rural development.     

我国重点国有林区改革对职工家庭间收入不平等的影响

利用我国3个重点国有林区24个林业局1 454户职工家庭微观调查数据,通过极大似然估计法和最小二乘法估计国有林区各项改革对职工家庭间收入不平等的影响。研究发现,国有林区职工家庭间不平等程度不断加剧,而在国有林区推行的各项改革对不平等的加剧有显著影响。其中,市场化手段组织林业生产这项改革实施时间每增加1年,林业局职工家庭间收入差距就增加8元;参与森林资源承包管护改革户数的比例每增加1个百分点,林业局职工家庭间收入差距增加13元;加工企业转制比例每增加1个百分点,林业局职工家庭间收入差距增加2元;一次性安置富余职工也显著提高了林业局职工家庭间收入差距,但养老负担显著降低了职工家庭间收入差距。因此,在推行以改进效率为目标取向的市场化改革过程中,政府需要出台相应的配套政策,尤其是要扶持和帮助林区贫困弱势群体,以避免不平等程度加剧。     

Attitudes of small-scale forest owners to their properties in an ageing society: Findings of survey in Yamaguchi prefecture, Japan

Populations of most developed countries have been ageing, and the populations of Japanese mountain villages are estimated to have reached into a super-ageing society. In particular, because forestry is unprofitable and due to the economic recession in Japan, many small-scale forest owners face the problems of ageing. For policy-makers, it is important to assess the socioeconomic impacts of forest owners’ ageing in order to ensure the sustainable management of forests. A survey was conducted of forest owners in Yamaguchi Prefecture, which is famous for overall depopulation and ageing of the rural population. It was found that 83% of 687 plantation forest owners who responded in the survey were 60 years or older and 76% did not have forestry income over the past three years, but 81% had kept up ownership of their forest as the traditional family property. In terms of forest management intentions, the respondents were found to consist of four types, namely ‘family management’, ‘commissioned management’, ‘de-accession’ and ‘possession without proper management’. Differences in evaluations of hypothetical policies were found among the four types.     

Motives and Incentives for Joining Forest Owner Associations in Estonia

The development of private ownership is an important outcome of structural changes for the whole economy as well as for the forestry sector in Estonia. Cooperation between forest owners has been seen as one possibility for increasing the provision of various forest-related benefits and goods. Yet the extent of cooperation between forest owners is still not at a sufficient level, but the reasons have not been extensively studied. The authors’ aim was to find out the key determinants for forest owners to join a forest owner association and to explore how cooperation between owners could be increased. Survey data were used to divide the respondents into two groups according to whether they were members of forest owners associations or not. It was found that one key aspect is the size of the forest property—association members usually manage larger forest areas than non-members. In addition, the members tend to be more active and consistent in forest management activities than non-members. Also there is potential towards cooperation within non-members as their plans for the future are much more targeted. Although there are limits to voluntary cooperation, a huge potential for Estonian private forest owners could be realised by diversifying forest owner association activities and services to meet the different expectations of forest owners.     

The Values and Objectives of Private Forest Owners and Their Influence on Forestry Behaviour: The Implications for Entrepreneurship

There are many factors that determine what forestry activities forest owners carry out in their forest properties and that influence whether forest owners engage in entrepreneurial activity. This paper explores whether the values and objectives of forest owners influence their forestry behaviour and their engagement in entrepreneurial activity. This is done through a review of the literature on private forest owners’ typologies based on owners’ objectives. The review reveals that typologies typically divide forest owners into two main groups. The primary objective of the first group of owners is production (of wood and non-wood goods and services) usually, although not exclusively, so as to generate economic activity. The primary objective of the second group is consumption (of wood and non-wood goods and services). There is a tacit assumption in the studies reviewed that goals and objectives do influence forestry behaviour but few studies have actually assessed whether this is the case. The general finding is that forest owners whose objectives are timber production and who are business-oriented are more likely to manage and harvest their stands. No research focusing on the link between owners’ objective and wider entrepreneurial activity in forests was found.     

Explaining gender differences in private forest risk management

In many countries, lower levels of forest management activities have been observed among female forest owners compared to male owners. The present study examined potential explanations for gender differences in private forest risk management among forest owners in Sweden (n?=?1482) using a questionnaire. Results from this study confirmed a slightly lower level of forest risk management among female owners in proactively combating damage caused by climate change and animal browsing when compared to their male counterparts. Further gender differences were revealed on a structural level. For example, female owners displayed higher levels of education and were more often non-resident owners and urban owners, as compared to their male counterparts. In addition, female and male owners differed regarding social-psychological variables (e.g. forest values and threat and coping appraisals). However the greatest gender difference was found in involvement in forest planning and forestry work. Even though gender differences were evident on multiple levels, involvement in forest issues and forest planning were found to be most important for explaining gender differences in forest risk management. By disentangling predictors of gender differences in private forest risk management, this study may contribute to a more strategic gender approach to forest risk governance.     

Property Rights Effects on Farmers’ Management Investment in Forestry Projects: The Case of Camellia in Jiangxi,China

China’s central government has carried out a series of collectivization and de-collectivization attempts of forest tenure over time, which have led to multiple forest tenure arrangements within provinces. This paper investigates the motivation of farmers to maintain forestry under various forest tenure regimes. First, the paper provides a qualitative analysis of the different forest tenure regimes using the New Property Rights Theory. Second, an econometric analysis based on data from camellia projects in Jiangxi province is carried out. Camellia projects are long-term projects for the production of non-timber forest products which are important for rural income generation. Qualitative results of the research show that a multitude of different tenure regimes exist across forestry projects. Community-based or collective forest management regimes are the most important tenure regimes in forest management in Jiangxi province. Village communities and farmers are the main actors in forest resource management and investment in camellia projects in Jiangxi province. The results of the econometric analysis show that higher degrees of tenure security and residual claimancy for farm households lead to a higher use of household labor and capital within camellia forestry projects. Uncertainty about the future forestland distribution is an obstacle for household investments in forestry.     

Climate risks and forest practices: forest owners' acceptance of advice concerning climate change

Based on qualitative interviews with Swedish forest owners this study focuses on climate change, risk management and forest governance from the perspective of the forest owners. The Swedish forest governance system has undergone extensive deregulation, with the result that social norms and knowledge dissemination are seen by the state as important means of influencing forest owners' understandings and practices. Drawing on Foucault's concept of governmentality this study contributes knowledge on how forest owners understand and manage climate-related risk and their acceptance of advice. From the interview study, three main conclusions can be drawn: (1) forest owners' considerations largely concern ordinary forestry activities; (2) knowledge about forest management and climate adaptation combines experiences and ideas from various sources; and (3) risk awareness and knowledge of “best practices” are not enough to ensure change in forestry practices. The results of this study show that the forest owners have to be selective and negotiate about what knowledge to consider relevant and meaningful for their own forest practice. Accordingly, local forest management can be understood as situated in a web of multifarious interests, claims, concerns and knowledges, where climate change adaptation is but one of several aspects that forest owners have to consider.     

Typology of non-industrial private forest owners in Tasmania

The heterogeneous nature of non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners and the challenge this heterogeneity presents for effective policy and program design and delivery is widely recognised. Understanding the socio-economic and motivational differences between various types of landowners will better equip policymakers and forest extension professionals to design policies and programs that efficiently promote private sector timber production and forest conservation outcomes. The purpose of this study was to develop a survey-based empirical typology of Tasmanian NIPF owners based on their stated objectives of forest ownership and to relate owner type to a range of observable property and owner characteristics as well as to timber harvesting and forest management behaviour. Using principal component analysis (PCA) followed by means cluster analysis, four distinct groups are identified: income and investment owners, non-timber output owners, agriculturalists, and multi-objective owners. Members of these groups are found to differ significantly in terms of their personal and property characteristics, as well as their timber harvesting and management behaviour. For example, members of the non-timber output owners, who are motivated solely by objectives related to the production and protection of the non-timber outputs of forests, have similar proportions of timber on their property, but are less likely to have harvested timber from their property, than all other groups.     

中国北方集体林权制度改革路径与林农生产决策

通过对辽宁省11县329户林农684块林地的调研, 从经营主体、林种、林地获取途径等方面对新一轮集体林权制度改革路径进行总结与归纳。以家庭经营与联户经营的改革路径为例, 建立Heckman二阶段决策模型, 实证分析林权制度改革路径对林农生产投资决策的影响。结果表明, 家庭经营对林农生产投资决策有显著的正向影响, 即家庭经营比联户经营更能提高林农林业生产投资的积极性, 并激励林农扩大林业投资规模。但是, 家庭经营也有受到资金、林地规模、生产技术的局限, 政府应进行林区金融产品创新, 鼓励林地流转, 引导林农参加林业合作经济组织。     

芬兰林业管理对我国集体林区森林资源管理的启示

通过对芬兰林业政府管理机构、民间管理机构和林业管理理念的分析,总结了芬兰林业管理在满足林主需求、建立林主组织和科研服务生产方面的经验做法,提出了我国在集体林区加强森林资源管理的3点建议:1)强化森林管理和科技服务部门之间的密切合作;2)鼓励民间建立林农合作组织;3)加强林业实用性技术研究和成果推广。     

关于农户承包林地禀赋差异问题调研报告

集体林权制度改革是继农村＂大包干＂之后,农村生产关系的又一次大调整,农村社会生产力的又一次大解放。随着全国集体林权制度改革的不断深入,一些深层次政策性问题也随之显现。自林业＂三定＂以来,由于多种主客观原因,导致很多地方出现家庭承包林地禀赋差异性较大现象,造成农户之间占有林地资源不均衡的矛盾。如何解决,现行集体林权制度改革政策找不到依据。笔者在调研分析的基础上总结出农户承包林地禀赋差异性的五大特点,差异性的主要表现形式以及形成差异的主要原因,并结合调查资料,对农户承包林地禀赋与家庭收入水平相关性进行深入分析,提出7项解决矛盾和问题的建议措施,这将为科学化解农户承包林地禀赋差异性矛盾提供参考和借鉴。     

Forestry indemnity: a regional case study

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

Non-industrial private forest owners’ attitudes towards the operational environment of forestry — a multinominal logit model analysis

The aim of the present study was to relate the attitudes, characteristics and forest management decisions of private forest owners to concepts of strategic management, and by this means, to achieve support for the use of common strategic management approaches in forestry. Non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners’ forestry business units (BUs) were grouped into four strategic groups (Stars, Cash cows, Wildcats and Dogs), according to the McKinsey's matrix. This grouping was based on the forest owners’ attitudes towards the internal and external operational environments of forestry. Then, the groups were identified by means of a multinominal logit modeling approach that used forest-owner and forest-holding characteristics as explanatory variables. The differences in forestry behavior between the strategic groups were analyzed. The modeling results showed that forest-owner and forest-holding characteristics were in a logical relationship to the basic definitions of the used strategic groups. The behavior of the strategic groups was in accordance with strategies suggested in the tenets of strategic management. The results of this study are supportive of more extensive utilization of common strategic management approaches in forestry. However, the characteristics that make the forest different from other factors of production may require some modifications to be made to these approaches.     

美国家庭森林发展和保护经验与启示

在我国集体林权制度改革之后,集体林地实行均山到户政策,由林农单独管理,难以实现统一的可持续经营,由此造成森林质量较低、森林生态服务能力减弱等问题,为此借鉴他国经验具有重要意义。文中从3个方面整理总结美国家庭森林发展与保护方面的经验,首先梳理其由政府主导构建的家庭林业政策扶持体系,其次对非政府环保组织培育的新型林业经营主体——“森林银行”进行分析,最后介绍美国利用市场激励机制通过林业碳汇项目引导家庭林主加强林地管护的做法;据此提出促进我国集体林发展的建议:完善林地产权制度,保障林农合法权益;构筑全方位的政策扶持体系;发展环保非政府组织,培育新型林业经营主体;积极发展林业碳汇项目。