A concept for assessing sustainability impacts of forestry-wood chains

Due to the emerging importance of sustainable use of natural resources, and policies requiring actions towards sustainable development, there is a demand for methodologies and tools that are able to address these new challenges. In this paper, an approach to assess sustainability impacts of alternative production chains of the forest sector is presented. The approach, which is designed for both public and private decision-makers, describes the forest sector as a set of processes by which forest resources are used to (1) produce biomass which is routed through different value-adding production chains and converted to products and (2) provide other ecosystem services. It is suggested that each production process included in a production chain will be characterised by a set of indicators covering environmental, economic and social aspects of sustainable development. The approach is demonstrated by a numerical example, in which the indicator values are determined based on the volume of wood material flowing through the processes. Sustainability impacts of policy scenarios or technological changes result from changing from one production chain to another; the impacts accumulate along the production chains. Combined cost–benefit and multi-criteria analyses are proposed to evaluate overall impacts and to compare alternative chains.     

Indicator development in sustainability impact assessment: balancing theory and practice

In this article, the development and operationalisation of forestry-wood chain indicators within the frame of sustainability impact assessment are discussed. The analytical framework follows a distinction between indicator definition and selection in a first phase, and a second operational phase of indicator application in terms of interconnecting material flows, calculation of chain performance and utilisation within evaluation components. A clear boundary drawing effort in terms of the development of indicator definitions, related subclasses, and measurement units as well as the creation of conversion factors between indicator values and individual chain stages supports this. Economic, social and environmental indicators have to respond to data collection needs on individual process levels (that correspond to sub-divisions of the forestry-wood chain). For the usage of indicators within evaluation tools, a functional hierarchy has to be provided that supports clear preference elicitation as well as information on related externalities. In total, this paper aims at demonstrating an enhanced spectrum in the use of sustainability indicators, and the challenges that arise from a developing and applying multi-functional indicators in sustainability impact assessment.     

生态系统健康:战略环境评价的生态可持续性目标

战略环境评价与生态系统健康是两种新兴的环境管理思想。本研究的目的在于通过对相关文献进行综述,探讨战略环境评价的生态可持续性目标,以及生态系统健康的内涵,并试图探寻二者之间存在的关联。研究发现,好的战略环境评价其生态可持续性原则应当具有明晰的内涵以及一般性的评价体系。根据生态系统健康的内涵,构建了生态系统健康评价框架,把它引入战略环境评价作为战略环境评价的生态可持续性目标定位,能有效引导决策者制定合理的本土化评价方案。最后,讨论了基于生态系统健康目标的战略环境评价的基本原则与程序。图2参12。     

Ecosystem health： ecological sustainability target of strategic envi—ronment assessment

Strategic environment assessment (SEA) and ecosystem health are two new ideas on environmental management.On the basis of reviewing some relevant literature, this paper made discussions on the ecological sustainability target of SEA,the content of ecosystem health as well as the interrelations between SEA and ecosystem health. For a good SEA, its ecologicalsustainability principles should be provided with distinct content and a general assessment system. A framework for ecosystem health assessment was established according to the content of ecosystem health, and combined into SEA as SEA‘s ecological sustainability target, we can effectively guide decision-makers to make suitable indigenous means and local solutions. , Thebasic principles and procedure of SEA for ecosystem health are also discussed in the paper.     

Public policies as institutions for sustainability: potentials of the concept and findings from assessing sustainability in the European forest-based sector

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the institutional dimension is of critical importance for achieving sustainable development, which is why the view that it should be considered as a fourth dimension of sustainability is acquiring increased support. It is argued that the institutional dimension represents an important challenge to the full integration of the economic, social and environmental sustainability objectives within the necessary institutional setting. But despite its importance, the latter is often neglected when it comes to scientific assessments of sustainability performance. A fact that holds particularly true for the forestry sector. The aim of the present paper is to describe and discuss how the institutional dimension of sustainability can be incorporated into a Sustainability Impact Assessment of the European Forest-Wood-Chain (FWC) by using a policy database developed within the context of EFORWOOD. The policy database, covering all policies of key relevance to FWC-sustainability, was employed for the purpose of connecting the EFORWOOD sustainability indicators to its institutional and political background. This connection provides direct and detailed insights into the governance structures prevailing in the European forest-based sector and thereby into the institutional dimension of FWC-sustainability. The results illustrate that FWC-sustainability is governed and regulated rather inconsistently by the many political institutions involved, various types of policies in force, and different modes of governance applied. The connection between the EFORWOOD sustainability indicators and a comprehensive database of sector-related policies thus presents a feasible approach for overcoming the lack of consideration given to the institutional sphere of sustainability.     

Economic and management characterization of dehesa farms: implications for their sustainability

Dehesa agroforestry systems occupy around 6 million ha in the Iberian Peninsula. Their economic and environmental sustainability depends on the maintenance of the extensive livestock farms which created this typical ecosystem. This work analyzes dehesa farms in the Extremadura region (SW Spain) using technical and economic indicators of 69 randomly selected holdings. Principal component analysis (PCA) allowed us to establish a valid model explaining 65.8% of the variance. The two principal components having most weight were Iberian pig production (explaining 20% of the variance of the model), and which ruminant species were raised on the farm (15% of the variance). A cluster analysis distinguished five types of farms: sheep farms at high and low stocking rates, beef cattle farms, wooded farms with mixed livestock, and farms with a high level of cropping activity. The most profitable farms were those with either high overall livestock density or a high level of Iberian pig production. While high stocking density has historically attracted high levels of subsidy, production of Iberian pigs was profitable because of the high value of the product. In the light of CAP reform, Iberian pig production seems the most readily sustainable type of farming for the dehesa system.

Assessing the sustainability in community based forestry: A case from Nepal

Community based forestry is seen as a promising instrument for sustainable forest management (SFM) through the purposeful involvement of local communities. Globally, forest area managed by local communities is on the rise. However, transferring management responsibilities to forest users alone cannot guarantee the sustainability of forest management. A monitoring tool, that allows the local communities to track the progress of forest management towards the goal of sustainability, is essential. A case study, including six forest user groups (FUGs), two from each three community based forestry models—community forestry (CF), buffer zone community forestry (BZCF), and collaborative forest management (CFM) representing three different physiographic regions, was conducted in Nepal. The study explores which community based forest management model (CF, BZCF or CFM) is doing well in terms of sustainable forest management. The study assesses the overall performance of the three models towards SFM using locally developed criteria (four), indicators (26) and verifiers (60). This paper attempts to quantify the sustainability of the models using sustainability index for individual criteria (SIIC), and overall sustainability index (OSI). In addition, rating to the criteria and scoring of the verifiers by the FUGs were done. Among the four criteria, the FUGs ascribed the highest weightage to institutional framework and governance criterion; followed by economic and social benefits, forest management practices, and extent of forest resources. Similarly, the SIIC was found to be the highest for the institutional framework and governance criterion. The average values of OSI for CFM, CF, and BZCF were 0.48, 0.51 and 0.60 respectively; suggesting that buffer zone community forestry is the more sustainable model among the three. The study also suggested that the SIIC and OSI help local communities to quantify the overall progress of their forestry practices towards sustainability. The indices provided a clear picture of forest management practices to indicate the direction where they are heading in terms of sustainability; and informed the users on issues to pay attention to enhance sustainability of their forests.     

Biodiversity and ecological assessments of Indian sacred groves

Sacred groves are patches of forests preserved for their spiritual and religious significance.The practice gained relevance with the spread of agriculture that caused large-scale deforestation affecting biodiversity and watersheds.Sacred groves may lose their prominence nowadays,but are still relevant in Indian rural landscapes inhabited by traditional communities.The recent rise of interest in this tradition encouraged scientific study that despite its pan-Indian distribution,focused on India’s northeast,Western Ghats and east coast either for their global/regional importance or unique ecosystems.Most studies focused on flora,mainly angiosperms,and the faunal studies concentrated on vertebrates while lower life forms were grossly neglected.Studies on ecosystem functioning are few although observations are available.Most studies attributed watershed protection values to sacred groves but hardly highlighted hydrological process or water yield in comparison with other land use types.The grove studies require diversification from a stereotyped path and must move towards creating credible scientific foundations for conservation.Documentation should continue in unexplored areas but more work is needed on basic ecological functions and ecosystem dynamics to strengthen planning for scientifically sound sacred grove management.     

Towards assessing the sustainability of European logging operations

The forest-based sector has been at the forefront in operationally implementing the sustainability concept, its associated principles and indicators for sustainable forest management. Several methods have been developed to study environmental impacts of forestry activities, but none of the existing tools address all the dimensions of sustainability along the whole forest wood chain (FWC) in a balanced way. Consequently, the decision was made to develop a tool for sustainability impact assessment (ToSIA), the modelling framework for sustainability impact assessment of FWCs. The objective of the EU Project Eforwood was to develop ToSIA, a decision support tool. Within ToSIA, a FWC is modelled as a number of interconnected processes. For each process, a range of economic, environmental and social indicators and their respective values are calculated, thus representing the three pillars of sustainability. By this method, the multifunctionality of forests can be assessed and supply chains can be compared with respect to sustainability. Sensitivity analysis and scenario techniques can be applied to learn about the effect of expected changes to the structure of the chain, the material flows and the indicator values. In order to provide the tool with information about forest and logging operations, data were collected at two fundamental levels: (1) a regional level with case studies in Scandinavia, Iberia and Baden-Württemberg and (2) a European level with a case study that reflects conditions in the 27 countries of the European Union. This paper describes and details the harvesting and logging processes for the European countries. The results are displayed for each of the three regional case studies as well as aggregated to five principal areas in Europe: Eastern, Northern, Western, Central and Southwest Europe.     

Cleavage in the understanding of sustainability: Sustainable pulp industry versus sustained local livelihood

Abstract

“Sustainability” is used as a catchword, with different meanings depending on the actor. This paper examines how the term “sustainability” is used by the Brazilian pulp maker Veracel Cellulose, and other major cellulose pulp producers in South America, and the cleavage between the companies and the local communities in their understanding of the term sustainability. The analysis was based on annual or sustainability reports from companies in Brazil (Aracruz, Fibria, Suzano and Veracel) and Chile (Arauco and CPMC), and Nordic Stora Enso and UPM. The main emphasis is on Veracel for 2008 and 2009, which is contrasted with a letter to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) from the local Bahian NGO, CEPEDES. Although the companies use “sustainability” as a catchword, in the actual reporting the wording “environmental and social responsibility” is preferred. A new reporting standard, GRI, encourages a narrower focus on selected business-related indicators, rather than a broader view in accordance with the Brundtland and Rio definitions. The cleavage between business- and a livelihood-oriented understanding of “sustainability” reflects a difference in understanding of the underlying concept of “development”. To ensure long-term sustainability of company operations, sustainable business development of the pulp and paper industry should include local livelihood perspectives to a greater extent than at present.     

The four-line model of the Triangular Running Skyline system: Theory and numerical examples

The generalized static solution of the Triangular Running Skyline (TRS) system has been derived. A pair of tail spars with a haulback line enables the carriage of the TRS system to move around over the triangular area formed by connecting the bases of the three spars with each other,i.e., the two tail spars and one head spar. From the head spar, the main and slack-pulling lines stretch toward the carriage to move up and down the load. The theory derived in this paper separately evaluates the line lengths and line tensions of the main and slack-pulling lines (the four-line model), while the previous theory treats these two lines as a single equivalent line (the three-line model). Four numerical examples provided in this paper ascertained the accuracy of the two procedures of the four-line model. A part of this paper was orally presented at the Second Annual Meeting of the Japanese Forest Engineering Association, November 18, 1995, Tokyo. This English title is a tentative translation form the original Japanese by the authors of this paper.     

Ecological and economical sustainability assessment of community forest management in Nepal: A reality check

This study analyzes the sustainability of community forest management, representing four forest types of two physiographic region Hills and Terai of Nepal. We assess the sustainability based on species composition, stand density, growing stock volume, and growth-to-removal ratio using inventory data of 109 permanent forest plots from four consecutive intervals of three to five years. In addition, forest users, forest committee members, and forest officials were consulted. We observed increment on the representation of economically valuable tree species in all forest types of both regions. The pole-size tree dominates in all forest types with declining number of trees and regeneration. In case of Hills forests, they were over-harvested until 2013 but were under-harvested in the recent period. In contrary, forests were under-harvested in the Terai. We found that ecological objectives of sustainable management are fully achieved while economic benefits remained unharnessed where harvesting is far below the growth. We conclude that maintaining a large number of trees may contribute to ecological but not on economical sustainability. We argue to rationalize annual harvest in all categories of the forest to enhance resource conditions together with regular benefits to the local communities.     

Tree gardening and taungya on Java: examples of agroforestry techniques in the humid tropics

Agroforestry is a general concept for a land management system combining trees and agricultural crops. For application, various specific techniques can be chosen. Each of these techniques is adjusted to a specific set of environmental as well as socio-economic factors. Agroforestry cultivators or managers belonging to varying social strata and institutional groupings may practice different forms of agroforestry, even within the same general region. This is demonstrated on the basis of two contrasting types of agroforestry which are found on the Indonesian island of Java. Tree gardening or the cultivation of a wide variety of crops in a multiple-storeyed agroforestry system is an indegenous practice on private lands, while taungya or the intercropping of young tree plantations with staple crops is practiced on state forest lands. Both systems are described as to their management characteristics, past development as well as possibilities and constraints for further development. These two practices are then compared as to various attributes, like producer group, production purpose, area of cultivation, land ownership situation, structural organization of crop combinations, possibilities for improved cultivation techniques, and suitability for application in rural development for specific target groups.This paper is a slightly revised version of a contribution to a lecture series on agro-forestry organized by the Departments of Forestry, Wageningen University.     

实施天保工程 促进生态良性循环

鹤岗市林业局红旗林场建于1956年，位于小兴安岭的边陲，施业面积18952hm^2，由于近几年来可采资源减小，经济发展缓慢，企业职工收入低，生活困难，森林资源过度消耗，企业出现经济危机状态，当务之急，我们按照黑龙江省林业厅统一部署，在2001年实施了“天保工程”，森林覆盖率由原来的78．0％增加到现在的81．4％，蓄积量由原来的62万m^3增加到现在的74万m^3，特别是近3a对天然林全面实行封采，取得了显著效果。     

Assessing sustainability for global forests: a proposed pathway to fill critical data gaps

The UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other regional and national policy commitments have motivated an upsurge of interest in concepts and practical methods for monitoring forest conditions and trends at very wide geographic scales. Two approaches to sustainability assessment at a global level are reviewed here. One consists of monitoring change in forest conditions over time—the so-called Criteria and Indicators (C&I) approach. Another approach compares nations at a given point in time. An example is the Yale Environmental Performance Index (EPI). Both approaches yield insights. It is widely recognized, though, that severe data weaknesses afflict forest information over much of the world. These weaknesses include weak or absent information on wood consumption in many regions, poor area estimates, and weak or absent information on key ecological conditions in forests. The purpose of this essay is to introduce these efforts at global assessment, and to argue that an entirely new discipline is needed to supply the information needed. The focus of this new discipline would be to design an ecologically based set of definitions for forest and related ecosystems, and then to build and implement the optimum combination of satellite measurements, air photo interpretation, and field plot measurements needed to measure world forest resource conditions and trends. Examples of this new approach are already appearing. This argument is addressed to members of the global forest policy community concerned with assessment, and to scientists, technologists, and managers in the many technical fields already engaged on one or another aspect of measuring and monitoring forest conditions at a national and regional scale.     

Public/private partnerships in agroforestry: the example of working together to improve cocoa sustainability

Agroforestry Systems - As information on the economic, environmental and social benefits of cocoa has grown, so has the understanding that only a coordinated effort by all stakeholders can ensure...     

Multispecies cropping systems in India: Predictions of their productivity, stability, resilience and ecological sustainability

Several traditional Indian cropping systems are used as examples of agriculture imitating the multispecies character of natural ecosystems. Modelling of their productivity and dynamics suggests they have potential advantages in production, stability of output, resilience to perturbation, and ecological sustainability, although they are harder to manage. Extra diversity in a cropping system can increase the production of a subsistence diet through either biochemical or ecological complementation. Stability of a cropping system may be improved through the incorporation of more crop species. Within a mixed crop, compensatory growth by the stronger component will tend to increase stability of final total yield. Where a two component intercrop has a regular production advantage, the land area required to produce a person s subsistence with a certain low level of risk of failure may be much less than if the crops are grown separately. Where a crop mixture contains contrasting components, the production penalty due to a disaster may be helpfully spread over time so that resilience of the system is increased. The compensatory growth of less-damaged components makes mixtures more resilient. Multi-species systems under intensification stress may be much less resilient than unstressed ones. Unless they are well managed, they can collapse. Where high output is desired, sustainability can only be attained through an understanding of the underlying processes. Intensification can lead to increased production up to a certain level, but such an increase is usually at the expense of subsequent production. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.