Combining the socio-economic-cultural implications of community owned agroforestry: The Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska

Agroforestry systems usually are examined for their biological components and somewhat for economic feasibility but rarely for their sociocultural merits. A relatively young agroforestry system was examined in view of sociocultural, biological, and economic factors through the use of decision matrices. Decision criteria were used to evaluate an agroforestry system against two alternative landuse options, a corn-soybean rotation and renting the land to an agricultural producer. Economic, sociocultural, environmental, and risk criteria were considered simultaneously with a scaled Z-statistic and then compared by using four weighting schemes. When all criteria were weighted equally, the agroforestry system had the greatest Z-score (3.4), indicating the better alternative. Placing weights on economic criteria resulted with renting the land being the best alternative (Z-score 6.6). When sociocultural factors were weighted alone, or when greater weights were placed on sociocultural factors along with moderate weights on economic and risk factors, or when community weighted objectives were used, the introduced agroforestry system had the greatest Z-scores (11.5, 6.3, and 1.1, respectively). Use of weighted decision criteria allowed for sensitivity analysis between alternatives to be explored. This is especially important when using techniques that have a greater emphasis on economic parameters that are not equally important or appropriate cross-culturally. Use of decision matrices provides a more comprehensive method for comparing the multiple, interactive, and long-term benefits of the agroforestry system and competing land uses. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Visions and realities for a Wik Forestry Industry on Cape York Peninsula,Australia

The large and unutilised native forest timber resource on traditional Wik land on Cape York Peninsula, Australia, could be managed for timber production to contribute to Wik socio-economic objectives. Wik elders have a set of forestry objectives and envisage that these will be best achieved by a timber industry selling unprocessed logs and woodchips. On the other hand, Balkanu Cape York Development Corporation, a government-funded indigenous community development organisation, anticipate that an industry utilising high-technology equipment and producing dried and dressed finished products including strip-flooring will best satisfy Wik forestry objectives. The Wilderness Society envisages small-scale ‘community development’ activities such as protable sawmilling and niche market furniture manufacture as being appropriate types of forestry activities on Wik land. Goal programming analysis of forest use opportunities indicates that Wik forestry objectives are unlikely to be best satisfied by adopting the timber utilisation options espoused by any one of the stakeholder groups.     

Overview of restoration and management practices in the degraded landscapes of the Sahelian and dryland forests and woodlands of East and southern Africa§

The highest deforestation and forest degradation rates in Africa occur in the dry forests and woodlands where pressure for land is increasing, poverty is rampant, livelihood options are few and climate change effects are severe. This paper examines factors that cause land and forest degradation in the Sahel and dry forests and woodlands of eastern and southern Africa and highlights some successful restoration practices, technologies and approaches. In the Sahel, enclosures are used to protect young growing trees while in East Africa enclosures are implemented on degraded land as a mechanism for environmental rehabilitation with a clear biophysical impact. The choice of techniques for rehabilitating specific degraded areas depends first on the priorities and management objectives of stakeholders followed by the costs and benefits associated with available rehabilitation techniques and the economic, social, and environmental values of the land resources in their current and desired future states. In the Sahel, sustainable land management is considered to be an imperative for their sustainable development and the practices include soil and water conservation activities and structures. In all regions, natural forest rehabilitation has used both natural and assisted regeneration to promote the growth of especially indigenous species through coppice regrowth and root suckers rather than seeds. Assisted regeneration was especially prevalent in the Sahel where indigenous tree species have been identified to dominate the degraded sites during early stages of secondary forest succession. The success of any rehabilitation activities depends on community-based natural resources management. In addition, the forest policies and their related policies need to be enabling in order to address issues of concern, including (1) the full participation of communities, (2) clear land and tree tenure and (3) equitable benefit sharing.     

Sustainable Tourism

Abstract

New markets for ecosystem services have emerged in response to the failure of traditional biodiversity conservation mechanisms to effectively protect and conserve the processes that support ecosystem function and process (Landell-Mills and Porras, 2002; Pagiola et al., 2002). Sustainable tourism-one market tool that potentially supports biodiversity servicesaims to balance the environmental, economic, and socio-cultural features of tourism development by maintaining environmental resources, the socio-cultural livelihoods of host communities, and providing stakeholder benefits (WTO, 2004). Proponents claim that sustainable tourism contributes toward maintaining biodiversity, while critics fear that marketing various components of biodiversity as distinct services (e.g., only protecting unique places for sustainable tourism, and only protecting extremely biodiverse places for bioprospecting), fails to protect the integrity of the functioning, and dynamic ecosystem (Landell-Mills and Porras, 2002). This chapter serves as one section of a four-part analysis of existing and emerging markets for biodiversity services using Panama as a case study. Based on projections of future sustainable tourism markets, this analysis presents policy options that could positively augment future sustainable tourism ventures.     

The use of compensatory and non-compensatory multi-criteria analysis for small-scale forestry

Small-scale farm forestry has the potential to offer many benefits both to landholders and the wider community. As with all changes in land-use practices, there are associated benefits and costs and these are not uniformly distributed. They have varying impacts on the different values, aspirations, goals and objectives that exist within the community. Furthermore, the community does not consider these values, aspirations, goals and objectives of equal importance. The degree of concern can vary from minor to high and overriding all other considerations. When evaluating farm forestry options it is necessary to address all of these concerns. This paper examines the combined use compensatory and non-compensatory multi-criteria analyses to evaluate forestry options, in a case study for the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia. These aggregation techniques are found to be highly complementary and together provide a comprehensive analysis. The compensatory technique provides a sound measure of overall performance of a forestry system, whereas the non-compensatory technique alerts decision-makers to presence of particularly poor performance with respect to individual criteria. The compensatory technique used is simple and understandable even for those with non-mathematical backgrounds. This analysis can identify and aid communication of the relative benefits and costs, and trade-offs, between economic, environmental and social considerations.     

Bird species diversity in riparian buffers,row crop fields,and grazed pastures within agriculturally dominated watersheds

In response to concern about the loss of ecosystem services once provided by natural riparian systems, state and federal agencies have established incentive programs for landowners to convert sensitive lands from agricultural to conservation uses. Enhancement of wildlife habitat, while identified as a function of such systems, has often been of secondary importance to soil conservation and water quality objectives. Though greatly important, little consideration has been given to how specific species will respond to the design and management of riparian buffers or other conservation lands. This study compared avian communities within a chronosequence of riparian buffers established on previously cropped or pastured land with those of the nearby matrix land cover types (row crop fields and an intensively grazed pasture). The riparian buffers consisted of native grasses, forbs, and woody vegetation established at three different times (2, 9, and 14+ years prior to survey). At each site, 10 min point counts for breeding birds were conducted using 50 m fixed radius plots, which were visited eight times between May 15 and July 10, 2008. A total of 54 bird species were observed over all of the study sites. The re-established riparian buffers in this study had higher bird abundance, richness, and diversity than the crop and pasture sites. These results suggest that re-establishing native riparian vegetation in areas of intensive agriculture will provide habitat for a broad suite of bird species, but that specific species will reflect successional stage, horizontal and vertical vegetative structure, and compositional diversity of the buffer vegetation. These results emphasize the importance of matching buffer design and management to species requirements if the objectives are to attract specific target species or species groups.     

Sustainable Forest Management in Tropical Rain Forests

Abstract

In planning of sustainable forest management, economic, environmental and social demands often conflict. Forest management in Southeast Asian tropical dipterocarp forests has been particularly biased towards maximizing immediate economic return from extensive logging. Overexploitation and other forms of uncontrolled land use within these forests have led to the situation where the remaining natural forests, most of them in Indonesia, will be liquidated within the next 10-15 years at the current rate of deforestation. In this paper we present an approach for sustainable forest management planning in which economic, environmental and social sustainability are considered simultaneously in order to define an optimal management strategy from a set of available alternatives.

We carried out a case study within a rain forest logging concession in Indonesian Borneo by using a participatory planning approach involving interviews of the local people, environmental assessment and economic analyses. We used the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method for resource allocation and priority setting in order to identify an optimal strategy which yields a sustained economic output from timber production, while at the same time being environmentally and socioculturally sustainable. Despite their relatively high costs, strategies involving selective harvesting combined to complete restoration of original dipterocarp stock in logged-over areas were superior in terms of economic, environmental and social sustainability. Priorities set by local communities for the strategies to meet their socioeconomic and cultural needs coincide well with those ensuring the restoration and biodiversity.     

Forest policy analysis praxis: Modelling the problem of forest loss in Cameroon

This study employs survey and ground truthing methodologies for determining individuals' concerns for forest loss and its environmental impacts in Cameroon. The aim of this practical modelling exercise is to acquire information from people experiencing actual conditions of forest loss on the ground. The information acquired through the modelling exercise is used to conceptualise people's concerns about the problem of forest loss in Cameroon. These concerns are aggregated into groups and qualitative public policy analysis methods (Benefit/Cost Analysis, Cost Effectiveness Analysis, and Multi-Goal Analysis) are used to facilitate the identification of goals, constraints and objectives. Based on identified goals, constrains and objectives, seven policy options are proposed to mitigate the problem of forest loss in Cameroon. The analysis in this study show that market failure, policy failure, institutional weakness, debt crises, and population growth are issues that intricately work together to produce the negative outcome that is being witnessed in the forest sector of Cameroon.     

An Assessment of Forest Policy Changes in Western Washington

Abstract

Changing forest policies in both riparian and upland areas to help protect threatened and endangered species have contributed to the reduction of timber harvests in western Washington. The economic, biodiversity, and environmental impacts of these policy actions have been substantial. Policy simulations across 9.4 million acres of timber-land show that relative to proactive management strategies, current habitat conservation and environmental programs (largely based on a reservation strategy) result in net present value reductions to forestland owners of $9.9 billion. Accompanying these asset value reductions are employment losses (sustained) of 30% and tax receipt losses of 26%. The policy simulations further demonstrate that proactive management will not decrease the long-term percentage of the upland landscape occupied by functionally old forests relative to the reservation strategy. In the riparian area, adoption of a reservation strategy actually decreases (by 29%) the percent of the landscape occupied by functionally old forests relative to a proactive management approach. These results illustrate the importance of proactively managing western Washington forests to provide maximum functionally old forest habitat for endangered upland animals (such as the northern spotted owl and the marbled murrelet) as well as riparian species.     

Policy analysis of a government-sanctioned management plan for a community-owned forest in Romania

Forest management in Romania is based on sustained yield. However, the current sustained-yield policy may be outdated and may not be the best way of achieving Romania's intended objectives of biological sustainability and community stability. The existing policy also does not incorporate objectives consistent with Romania's new economic and social systems. We examine the potential economic net benefits from timber harvests that could result from changes to the existing sustained-yield policy by comparing the state-approved management plan of a community forest with three alternative forest management plans. We find that the three alternatives appreciably increase the potential economic net benefits. Certain aspects of these alternative plans deviate from Romania's current sustained-yield criteria; however, the costs associated with changes to the current regime could be balanced by the economic net benefits of implementing an alternative management plan. To employ the same static forest management policy throughout time without adapting to a dynamic socio-economic environment will likely lead to inefficient, ineffective, and unproductive utilization of Romania's forest resources.     

Land suitability evaluation for multiple crop agroforestry planning using GIS and multi-criteria decision analysis: A case study in Fiji

We present novel methods that use geographic information systems (GIS) and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) to evaluate land suitability for a set of seven agroforestry crops, with the aim to differentiate relative land suitability and its potential to achieve different benefit goals for the Sigatoka Valley, Fiji. Our first model (Land Suitability) identifies optimal areas for each crop based on readily available edaphic and environmental cultivation criteria and common GIS datasets. The second model (Weighted Maximum) uses objective approaches for weighting the relative importance of target crops to derive a multi-crop suitability map. We use the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) technique (a form of MCDA) to identify the relative importance of five benefit types (i.e. agroforestry initiative goals/AHP Objectives). AHP criterion weights were used to map the most important crops for different agroforestry goals. Our methods are unique among GIS-MCDA applications of land suitability analysis in that our aim was to investigate and spatially evaluate land use suitability for multiple crops on a per-crop basis, whereas the aim of most GIS-MCDA land suitability analyses is to evaluate relative suitability (e.g. low, medium, high), evaluate potential for different land uses (e.g. production, intensive, or multifunctional) or land suitability for a single crop. We conclude that the methods described can be adapted to agroforestry initiatives and other similar land use suitability applications in the Pacific region and other geographical settings.

     

The role of community policies in defensible space compliance

Recently enacted federal and state policies provide incentives, including financial assistance, for local jurisdictions to manage risks associated with wildland fire. This has led to an array of local-level policies designed to encourage homeowners to create fire-safe landscapes. This qualitative study collected data from focus group interviews with homeowners in three diverse communities and used the theory of reasoned action to interpret dimensions of local-level wildland fire policies that are associated with homeowner acceptance of or compliance with defensible space guidelines or regulations. Common factors emerged in two policy evaluation categories: acceptance and compliance. WUI homeowners are more accepting of policies that are seen as fair and part of a more comprehensive risk reduction strategy. Topics that shaped acceptance of voluntary versus mandatory approaches included perceived risk severity, views about the proper roles of government, and beliefs about alternatives to regulatory approaches (e.g. private insurance, education, ignition source reduction). Program characteristics that were found to be related to beliefs about defensible space and acceptance included provision of one-on-one expert consultation, direct mail communication modes, needs-based financial assistance, and enhanced yard waste disposal options. Homeowner compliance is related to the feasibility in terms of household costs and yard waste disposal options, neighborhood norms, competing land use objectives, insurance considerations, and whether or not the policy is mandatory. These findings led to a proposed conceptual model of vegetation management policy acceptance and compliance that local governments can use to develop or amend defensible space vegetation management policies to increase policy acceptance and compliance.     

Evaluation of potential gross income from non-timber products in a model riparian forest for the Chesapeake Bay watershed

The creation of riparian forest buffer zones for water quality management in agricultural landscapes takes land out of production, incurring an economic loss for the landowner. However, planting and harvesting techniques, such as those employed in indigenous systems of tropical agroforestry, can enhance riparian forest buffer strips with economically viable species. This kind of riparian forest buffer can be harvested and generate income from otherwise unproductive tracts of land. This practice would make the implementation of riparian forest buffers more acceptable to farmers, by generating income while helping to improve water quality. The present project provides an economic model for the harvest of non-timber products (fruits, nuts and ornamentals) from riparian forest buffer zones in the Chesapeake Bay region. Potential gross income from harvest is calculated to demonstrate the feasibility of this strategy. Given certain assumptions, the gross income can amount to $60,934.30/ha/year. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The use of Analytic Hierarchy Process to incorporate stakeholder preferences into regional forest planning

Forest management decisions are often characterised by complexity, irreversibility and uncertainty. Much of the complexity arises from the multiple-use nature of forest goods and services, difficulty in monetary valuation of ecological services and the involvement of numerous stakeholders. Under these circumstances, conventional methods such as cost-benefit analysis are ill-suited to evaluate forest decisions. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), can be useful in regional forest planing as it can accommodate conflictual, multidimensional, incommensurable and incomparable set of objectives. The objective of this paper is to examine the scope and feasibility of the AHP in incorporating stakeholder preferences into regional forest planning. The Australian Regional Forest Agreement Programme is taken as an illustrative case for the analysis. The results show that the AHP can formalise public participation in decision making and increase the transparency and the credibility of the process.     

How to move companies to source responsibly? German implementation of the European Timber Regulation between persuasion and coercion

Mitigating international trade in illegally harvested wood (products) is an international priority. To support this priority, the European Timber Regulation prohibits placing illegally harvested or traded timber on the EU market, requiring companies to undertake due diligence in sourcing wood (products). To take effect, this regulation needs to be implemented in all European member states.Although Germany is one of the first member states to transpose and enact the regulation's provisions, its implementation has recently been portrayed as “weak” and ineffective. This article aims to answer why this perception emerged. It scrutinizes implementation performance of the EUTR in Germany.Based on rich empirical data from stakeholder interviews, documents, and participant observation, this study argues that EUTR performance in Germany is not generally perceived as ineffective. Instead, stakeholder perceptions vary. As stakeholders face major uncertainties connected to market structure and company behaviour, they tend to base their assumptions about the implementation process on two major heuristics. Both focus on the question how to change company behaviour. One stresses the need to pursuade companies to comply, the other stresses the need to coerce them. These heuristics are based on the two larger objectives pursued by different stakeholder groups during policy making of the EUTR: (1) global sustainable forest management and (2) image improvement of the EU wood importing industry.Based on these different policy objectives, the EUTR does not provide clear guidance on which policy instruments should be given priority. As a consequence, national implementation is turned into a policy-making process. The outcome of this struggle will likely affect the future trajectory of EUTR implementation in other EU member states and in countries exporting wood into the EU.     

Wood transportation machine replacement using goal programming

ABSTRACT

Farm tractor?+?trailers play a key role in wood transportation after forests are logged. Despite of the fact that a forwarder is a forestry vehicle that carries felled logs for shorter distances off the ground, tractors are still used in some forest areas of the world, such as the Hyrcanian forest in northern Iran. This study was conducted to investigate the possibility of using both the light forwarder and forestry trailer instead of a farm tractor?+?trailer in wood transportation. The optimal machine option for wood transportation is determined using goal programming model in the study area. In this paper, multi-objective goals (such as economic, operational, environmental and ergonomic) were considered. The results showed that considering only the economic goal, the contractor could save up to 44% in costs by purchasing and replacing a forestry trailer with a 2-wheel trailer attached to the farm tractor. In addition, considering various goals, a light forwarder could be selected as the optimal machine. Currently, the most important objectives of all forest contractors are to establish economic goals and reduce wood transportation costs. Since other goals, such as environmental and ergonomic, are also important; it is suggested that multi-objective approaches should use for planning.     

Responding to the Kyoto Protocol through forestry: A comparison of opportunities for several countries in Europe

Climate change has become an important environmental policy issue. Numerous carbon sequestration policy initiatives, potential benefits of which in environmental, economic and social terms could be substantial, are directed toward both woodland expansion and using of wood as a substitute for fossil fuels. There is a great deal of uncertainty, however, on how to define sustainability of such policies in a broadly acceptable and efficient way; how to translate sustainability requirements into policy guidelines; how to overcome market limitations and where to place biomass production in the general context of land use where contemporary agricultural change will likely be influential. On the basis of several countries from Europe (the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Slovakia, and Ukraine) this paper highlights social and economic problems of moderating carbon emissions through afforestation. It provides an indication of whether forestry can offer a socially acceptable and a low-cost opportunity for carbon uptake. The conclusion is that along with carbon sequestration potential, the level of land use integration and the stage of institutional development play important roles for effective implementation of climate policies. The necessity is then to link these policies with regional developments, and to back them up with adequate economic incentives, appropriate institutions and with public engagement in environmental decision-making.     

Payments for forest-based environmental services: A close look

In this paper, I look at Payments for Environmental Services (PES) under property protection rules and in consideration of the marketability of these services. I then investigate the joint production process of timber and environmental services and identify a critical choice facing the buyers of forest environmental services—either incurring transaction costs by studying the opportunity costs of landowners and the environmental benefits their lands could provide, or losing efficiencies by paying some landowners free money and by not being able to induce socially desirable land use changes. Finally, I compare PES with other policy and market mechanisms that encourage the provisions of environmental services.     

Cultural entrenchment: Explaining gaps between ecosystem-based management policy and practice in the forests of Newfoundland

Forests in North America have been managed, or unmanaged, under a number of different policy regimes, most recently ecosystem-based management (EBM), which has emerged in response to perceived widespread ecological degradation. But as policy regimes shift, links between stated objectives and the tools or mechanisms to achieve those objectives need to be forged. This case study of forestry on the island of Newfoundland provides an illustration of the gaps between EBM policy and practice, and insights into why EBM can be difficult to implement. Though the case of Newfoundland is unusual because of its isolation, narrow set of economic options, and weak ENGO sector, its adherence to a traditional timber regime offers lessons for the ways that policies move from agenda setting to implementation. In this case, the role of cultural entrenchment—a commitment to timber-based management and to a provincial model of economic support for large-scale industry—created a negative feedback loop that undermined new policy objectives. But a window of opportunity has emerged as a result of pulp and paper industry decline, and so overcoming cultural entrenchment and building a new forest management regime centered on EBM is possible through clearly articulated policy mechanisms and the integration of new forms of expertise.