Property rights and multipurpose mountain forest management

Mountain forest management is, and has always been, multipurpose-oriented. It should provide for private goods, such as timber, as well as public goods, such as protection against natural forces. This paper investigates private, state and common property regimes in terms of theoretical managerial performance, since empirical studies are scarcely available. Private property rights are sufficient for the production of private goods, whereas public goods have to be safeguarded by state intervention. The performance of state property regimes depends on objectives set by society and their implementation by public officials. Whereas state intervention in private and public property regimes in mountain forests is a necessary condition for multipurpose forest management, common property regimes would be less dependent on it. Usually, the rights holders of common property regimes use mountain forests for the production of both private and public goods. One can conclude that common property regimes are promising for the multipurpose management of mountain forests. In practice, however, common forest property regimes in Switzerland and Austria have become very dependent on public support. Research is recommended in order to investigate into the underlying reasons.     

Property rights distribution and entrepreneurial rent-seeking in Romanian forestry: a perspective of private forest owners

In the framework of a broader political economics approach, this paper intends to enhance the understanding of the role of rent-seeking practices in the delineation of clear property rights in forestry. The research background is provided by the institutional changes occurring in the Romanian forestry sector as a consequence of the transition period and the accession to the European Union. The entrepreneurial approach to rent-seeking requires clarifications of the perspective under which private forest owners are analysed in order to position this study within ongoing discussions regarding the role of rent-seeking and its social impact. The conceptual framework employed distinguishes between rents resulting from entrepreneurship in conventional production functions and rents resulting from institutional entrepreneurship. A typology of entrepreneurial rent-seeking is developed for further understanding of the effects resulting from changes in the institutional setting of property rights. Using a qualitative approach, in the form of a case study, the research reveals perspectives of Romanian forest owners regarding barriers to production inherent in the current distribution of rights. Despite the extent of perceived profit-seeking barriers, owners’ entrepreneurial rent-seeking actions intended to change property rights in their favour appear limited and constrained. Hence, identified hypotheses regarding the institutional context dependency of entrepreneurial rent-seeking provide the basis for the future empirical identification of the role of institutional entrepreneurship within the forest production system.     

辽阳县林权纠纷的成因及对策分析

文章简要介绍了辽阳县集体林权改革的基本情况,分析了辽阳县在集体林权改革中出现林权纠纷的原因并提出解决对策,以期为解决林改后出现的林权纠纷问题提供借鉴。     

集体林区林地使用权物权化研究

对林地使用权实施物权保护是民法保护体系的重要内容。在讨论了集体林区林地使用权物权化的理论及政策依据的基础上,论证了林地使用权物权化的必要性,提出林地使用权物权的具体内容。     

Industrial forest plantations in Uganda: Local adjacent community perspectives

Industrial forest plantations are both hailed and vilified for their socio-economic effects on local communities. As such, we posed the following questions: (1) what opportunities do industrial forest plantations bring to local communities? and (2) what benefits are lost with the establishment of industrial forest plantations?

Households neighboring industrial forest plantations in five villages of mid-western Uganda were surveyed. A large majority of the respondents (92.6%) stated that they had benefited from forest plantations, while a minority (7.4%) stated they did not. Fuelwood and employment were the most mentioned benefits. Approximately 47.9% of respondents stated that they had lost certain benefits due to the establishment of industrial forest plantations, while 52.1% stated they lost no benefits. Occupation, the number of people in a household and the length of residence in the area influenced responses on whether participants had lost certain benefits.

Access to land was the most mentioned (82.2%) benefit lost due to industrial forest plantations. The study supports the notion that industrial forest plantations can provide certain benefits in the initial years of establishment but may also deny local communities historically established customary access and user land rights. Local livelihoods should be integrated into forest plantations management plans.     

Productivity and energy balance of forest plantation harvesting in Uganda

The study evaluated the productivity and energy balance of the harvesting and the extraction of wood in plantation of exotic tree species, i.e., Pinus patula (Schiede ex Schlectendahl et Chamisso) and Cupressus lusitanica (Mill.). The harvesting and extraction operations concerned clear-cut felling on two different types of terrain (gentle and steep terrain) and two levels of pruning. The results show that cutting is not affected by the terrain gradient whereas the pruning condition shows a significant effect on the delimbing operation. The productivity of cutting is evaluated at 28.1 m3·d-1 for unpruned trees and at 30.2 m3·d-1 for pruned trees. For the extraction phase, rolling was significantly affected by terrain conditions. On steep terrain, the gross productivity can be evaluated at 22.5 m3·d-1 for an extraction distance of 40 m, while for the same distance on gentle terrain the productivity decreases to 14.1 m3·d-1 . As a result, the steep terrain condition showed higher energy efficiency, suggesting that it is the more efficient system of extraction. The productivity model and the energy balance resulting from the study provide a better understanding of the variables affecting motor-manual cutting and rolling extraction in exotic plantations in Uganda.     

Optimal upgrading of forest road networks: Scenario analysis vs. stochastic modelling

A two-stage stochastic model with binary choice in the first stage has been developed to optimise the upgrading of a real-world forest road network, geographically located in the middle of Sweden. We have compared the model with solutions to the same problem from deterministic scenario analysis. Upgrade policies can be achieved swiftly using both approaches, since the road network is of moderate size. However, a deterministic approach is considerably faster when larger problems are involved. The study here, furthermore, indicates that deterministic scenario analysis provides us with quick, near-optimal solutions to the stochastic model, which are of reasonable good quality. We conclude that the model used here is rather insensitive to uncertainty in critical period length, such as the length of spring thaw, at least when applied to the medium-sized problem presented here. Nevertheless, we strongly recommend the use of the stochastic model whenever possible, since the stochastic and deterministic solutions differ, due to the hedging effect in the stochastic solution.     

四川省集体林权流转现状及对策

对四川省集体林权流转的发展过程及形式进行了简介,分析了林权流转产生的效应和存在的问题,并提出相关对策建议。     

Property rights,land conflicts and deforestation in the Eastern Amazon

In the Brazilian Amazon, insecure property rights are among the main causes of land conflicts and deforestation. Through an in-depth empirical case study in Maranhao in the Eastern Amazon, this research analyzes how distorted agrarian, forest and environmental policies, laws and regulations originated insecure property rights not only over land, but also over timber, which allied to social and political factors, such as uneven distribution of land and strong organization of landless peasants, led to land conflicts and deforestation. This paper also shows that the causes of and the several actors involved in the deforestation of the Amazon were not independent, rather they were related and interact to each other. Compatibility between environmental goals and agrarian policies, regulations and laws are necessary to provide secure and clear property rights to allow a better enforcement of environmental regulations and to give actors incentives to avoid deforestation.     

Application of traditional knowledge in forest management: Ethnobotanical indicators of sustainable forest use

Forest management has been usefully defined in terms of production, utilization and distribution of products, and the institutional or organizational arrangements by which they are carried out. Both technical and social aspects of forest management are treated as parts of a single system. Traditional knowledge of the use and management of forests still has a vital role to play in forest management today. This is because traditional practices are believed to be often favourable towards conservation and sustainable use. It is therefore valuable to establish a framework to evaluate the contribution of traditional knowledge to forest management today. Accordingly, a framework, based on ethnobotanical information, is proposed in this paper, with quantitative and qualitative indicators suggested for different variables relating to traditional knowledge. The discussion is based on ethnobotanical case studies from Yunnan and other provinces of China in which we have been working.     

我国集体林权制度改革研究进展及前瞻

在广泛参考国内外有关林权制度研究的基础上,对我国集体林权制度改革研究的主要成果及研究进展分6个方面进行了概括、评论。针对当前集体林权制度改革研究中存在的主要问题,提出了未来集体林权制度改革研究应加强多学科联合研究、深入产权改革模式选择、林权改革绩效评价研究、林权改革不同区域层次上的实证研究等建议。     

以经济学视角看集体林产权制度改革

全国范围内铺开了集体林产权制度改革,明确了林木产权,调动了林农育林护林积极性。通过集体林产权改革,从法律上明确了各经济主体的权属关系。文章运用微观经济学相关理论分析了中国集体林权制度存在的“搭便车”、委托——代理和交易费用极高等经济缺陷,试图将林业外部性内在化、降低交易费用等途径来完善集体林产权的经济功能。     

河北省集体林权流转现状、问题及对策

在对河北省集体林权流转发展情况进行调查研究的基础上,阐述了承包制、拍卖制、股份合作制、租赁制等流转的主要形式和特点,分析了当前流转存在的主要问题。提出应建立健全集体林权流转制度,加强森林资源资产评估管理,强化流转监管机制,完善服务保障体系的对策措施。     

德阳市集体林权制度改革的思考

集体林权制度改革是农村改革的继续、深化和完善,涉及集体林所有权、使用权、收益权和处置权的落实,与从事林业生产的村民利益息息相关,是当前林业产权制度改革的重要课题。本文通过对德阳市集体林权制度存在的问题进行调查分析,提出集体林权改革的对策建议,以期对德阳市开展集体林权制度改革提供参考。     

对四川省集体林权改革试点的调查与思考——四川省沐川县集体林权改革的实证分析

本文在对乐山市沐川县调查的基础上形成,指出了试点县现存的问题,并据此提出对策建议.     

对四川省集体林权制度改革的调查与思考

为全面贯彻落实中央关于建设社会主义新农村的重大战略决策和全国林业厅局长会议精神,着手开展全省集体林权制度改革,以进一步解放林业生产力,调动广大林农耕山育林的积极性,推进社会主义新农村建设,笔者随四川省林业厅工作组分赴乐山、宜宾、泸州、广元市所辖的沐川、珙县、古蔺、市中区开展了集体林权制度改革有关情况的调研。现结合调研情况,谈一谈自己对全省集体林权制度改革的初步调查与思考。     

福建省集体林权制度改革的学习与思考

本文简要介绍了福建省集体林权制度改革和集体林经营管理的经验和一些做法,讨论分析了福建省集体林权制度改革成功的因素和条件,试图为对集体林权制度改革感兴趣的读者提供一个参考和借鉴。     

Intensive tree planting facilitates tropical forest biodiversity and biomass accumulation in Kibale National Park, Uganda

The extensive area of degraded tropical land and the calls to conserve forest biodiversity and sequester carbon to offset climate change demonstrate the need to restore forest in the tropics. Deforested land is sometimes replanted with fast-growing trees; however, the consequences of intensive replanting on biomass accumulation or plant and animal diversity are poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to determine how intensive replanting affected tropical forest regeneration and biomass accumulation over ten years. We studied reforested sites in Kibale National Park, Uganda, that were degraded in the 1970s and replanted with five native tree species in 1995. We identified and measured the size of planted versus naturally regenerating trees, and felled and weighed matched trees outside the park to calculate region-specific allometric equations for above-ground tree biomass. The role of shrubs and grasses in facilitating or hindering the establishment of trees was evaluated by correlating observed estimates of percent cover to tree biomass. We found 39 tree species naturally regenerating in the restored area in addition to the five originally planted species. Biomass was much higher for planted (15,675 kg/ha) than naturally regenerated trees (4560 kg/ha), but naturally regenerating tree regrowth was an important element of the landscape. The establishment of tree seedlings initially appeared to be facilitated by shrubs, primarily Acanthus pubescens and the invasive Lantana camara; however, both are expected to hinder tree recruitment in the long-term. Large and small-seeded tree species were found in the replanted area, indicating that bird and mammal dispersers contributed to natural forest restoration. These results demonstrate that intensive replanting can accelerate the natural accumulation of biomass and biodiversity and facilitate the restoration of tropical forest communities. However, the long-term financial costs and ecological benefits of planting and maintaining reforested areas need to be weighed against other potential restoration strategies.     

Local vs official criteria and indicators for evaluating community forest management

Processes to develop criteria and indicators (C and I) for sustainableforest management are often expert driven. Although the long-termobjective of the Nepalese forest policy is sustainable forestmanagement, no national level C and I specifically for thishave been developed. However, the Ministry of Forests and SoilConservation awards an annual prize to successful communityforest user groups (CFUGs) based on evaluation according to10 criteria. This study explored local C and I for successfulforest management in Nepal through six meetings with CFUG members.A total of 14 local criteria and 52 indicators for awardinga prize to successful CFUGs were identified, and comparisonwith official C and I was undertaken. Most conspicuously, localC and I focus more on environmental and governance-related aspectsthan the official list, and the official list leaves much tothe discretion of the evaluator. The study concludes that developmentof a national level C and I for sustainable forest managementcould benefit from involvement of local forest users.