Search

Increasing the proportion of broadleaved trees in stands during regeneration raises questions about how these trees will be reflected in the economics of forest owners and whether these owners can influence certain economic aspects during stand management. In this respect, the paper focuses mainly on the revenue side of forestry and, crucially, analyses the selling prices of assortments of tree species groups as offered in public tenders of state forests under the outsourcing business model. The price level of spruce is used as a benchmark for comparisons in the analyses. It is clear that the cultivation of species-diverse forests entails an increase in the representation of a higher number of tree species and, presumably, increased stand stability. However, a concomitant consequence may be an increase in costs and a reduction in returns for forest owners. Here, the revenue from timber sales can be improved by appropriate adjustment of the species composition through educational interventions. All this is in the context of the economic viability of forestry, as declared in a number of strategic and forest policy documents, which essentially depends on the timber production function of forestry and the subsequent processing of timber. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon sequestration in forests has increasingly captured the attention of scientists as a strategy for climate change mitigation and environmental sustainability. In this era of huge carbon emissions, being a low-carbon and cost-effective technology, the economic analysis of forest carbon sequestration holds higher importance for the successful implementation and intended outcomes. This study elucidates a scientometric view of the research structure and thematic evolution of economic studies on forest carbon sequestration based on 1439 articles over the time slice of 2001–2021. The bibliographic data have been retrieved from the Dimensions database, which accommodates a large coverage of research publications and also provides easy access to essential scholarly data and information. Vosviewer and Biblioshiny software tools have opted for visualisation and evaluation purposes of bibliometric data. This study employs various measures of bibliometric analysis like co-authorship, bibliographic coupling, citation and keyword analysis to find out the principal articles, authors, journals, most frequent keywords and highest publishing countries and institutions in this field, and the results show that the number of publications has escalated substantially in the last five years, the most cited article and most productive author are Popp A, 2017 (305 citations) and André P C Faaij (11 documents), respectively, Bradford's law calculates 21 core journals out of total 503 journals, among which Forest Policy and Economics is at the top, and the most productive country and institution are the USA and University of Florida, respectively. The study also investigates key publishing subject categories, and the number of publications covered under each of the Sustainable Development Goals. The overall outcome of this bibliometric study confers an in-depth understanding of the various dimensions of economic analysis on forest carbon sequestration and its development pattern in the last 21 years and also provides emerging themes for future reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest insurance exists for more than a century in lots of countries around the world. Currently, it is put forward as a recommended tool to finance resilience and adaptation towards climate change. However, little synthetic knowledge exists on forest insurance, although this seems to be a prerequisite for using insurance as an adaptation tool. This article aims at providing an overview of the current economics literature on the topic of forest insurance. More precisely, the objectives of this study are to carry out a review of the literature on this topic, to produce a bibliometric overview of knowledge on this issue, and thus to highlight scientific fronts. For that purpose, we propose a literature review. We collected 38 articles published in English between 1928 and 2021. We provide the following bibliometric information: journals, evolution over time of the publications, authors and co-citations network and analysis of the keywords. We also propose to synthesize the methods used, the various issues of interest, the risks considered and the countries where the studies were conducted. We show that an article on forest insurance has a high probability of being recent (after 2000) and of being published in the journal Forest Policy and Economics. In addition, it is highly probable that it will identify some determinants of insurance demand and that it will deal with fire risk in the U.S. or storm risk in Europe. Noting a small scientific community and a low number of publications, we identified seven fronts of science related to methods and data, new risks and uncertainties, public policies and forest insurance, and openness and the international dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) is a professional and social institution whose basic mission is to influence the scientific level of research activities and education in its field of competence, to take care of its continuous development and to effectively popularize the acquired scientific knowledge. Within the CAAS and its Department of Forestry, the Commission of Forest Economics has been operating for a long time, focusing on forest and wood economics and policy. A total of 11 research directions are defined in the forthcoming Concept of Research, Development and Innovation of the Ministry of Agriculture for the period 2023+, the professional part of which is covered and guaranteed by the CAAS. The following directions are included in forestry and wood processing: "Forestry and related industries" and the direction "Forest and agricultural economics and policy" integrated with agriculture. The paper briefly describes the scientific focus of forest and wood economics and policy in this context and especially the activities of the Commission of Forest Economics of the Department of Forestry of the CAAS. In the temporal and factual context, it mentions the published monograph "Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences and a Quarter-Century of the Commission of Forest Economics". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analysis of a numerous official documents and publications reveals a serious crisis of forest management in Russia. Forest management paradigm, defined by the Forest Code ideologues, will lead inevitably to the Russian forest fund degradation. Meanwhile, forestry is production industry in which laws of the market economy are in force. For this reason, forest management should be reconstructed in Russia. A principle of forestry revival will be impartial ecological and market economic assessment of forest resources, which would be instrumental in transition of the subsidized scheme of forest management financing to a system that would provide rational forestry and a profit. Forestry organization is the key task of forest inventory that is completed in close connection with forest economy and forest management. Specific problems of sustainable forestry organization and forest use should be solved on this basis. When State owns forests in the market economy environments, stumpage sale at prices lower than the cost for reforestation cannot be allowed. In view of this, market transition of forest use is crucial to establish payments for standing timber based on rental income. This will guarantee the financing of reforestation as well as assignments to the budget at the different levels. Chief reorganization objective of forest management in Russia is outlined as follows: ensuring economic efficiency of the forest sector; sustainable use of forest resources and reforestation; forest conservation for the next generations.

Copyright of Desenvolvimento e Meio Ambiente is the property of Universidade Federal do Parana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study explored the regional differences in the forest industry and management via a Multiple Factor Analysis approach. The dataset used comprises all Russian regions and 34 variables that comprehensively describe the situation in the sector. Based on the Multiple Factor Analysis, the variables contributing most to the spatial heterogeneity in Russian forestry were divided into industrial and forestry factors. The regions leading in the development of the timber industry are mainly located in the Northwestern and Southeastern parts of Russia. They show similarities in high logging volumes, investment attractiveness, and competitiveness in foreign markets. However, a divergence was found between the Northwestern regions and the Siberian and the Far East territories in terms of forest management factors. The Western part of Russia benefits from the density of the population and infrastructure, and proximity to the national financial centers and European markets. By comparison, Asian Russia suffers from labor shortages caused by negative demographic trends and the negative consequences of climate change, resulting in an increase in forest losses and a lack of control, finance, and transport accessibility due to the vast territory. To alleviate regional inequalities, we propose the introduction of private ownership of forests, support for investment projects, and human capital development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzed 302 top papers in the subject category of Forestry from 2010 to 2020, which include 300 highly cited papers and 3 hot papers. All papers were written in English, belonging to 1,567 authors, 694 organizations and 74 countries/territories, published in 35 journals and book series. The top five Journals were Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Forest Ecology and Management, Forests, Tree Physiology and Forest Policy and Economics. Top five countries and regions were USA, Germany, Canada, France and Peoples R China. Top five organizations were US Forest Serv, Chinese Acad Sci, INRA, Swedish Univ Agr Sci and Univ Freiburg. Among the all authors, Bauhus, Juergen from Univ Freiburg of Germany provided the highest number in 6 papers. All keywords were separated into seven clusters for different research topics. Visualizations offered exploratory information on the current state in a scientific field or discipline as well as indicated possible developments in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of California's strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, private forest landowners are now required to address carbon sequestration as a management goal when submitting timber harvest plans. Using public data on forests and forest products, we developed a calculator that tracks the carbon sequestration benefits related to live trees, wood used for bioenergy and wood going into products. The calculator is adapted for different forest types, forest management techniques and time frames. Based on current best practices used in California, we estimate that harvested and regenerated forests will provide approximately 30% more total carbon sequestration benefits than forests left to grow for an equal time. More than half of the total benefits relate to harvested wood substituting for fossil fuels and fossil fuel–intensive materials such as cement and steel. With relatively efficient management practices, harvesting a ton of wood provides more sequestration benefits than leaving that ton growing in the forest.

Removing all large trees without planning to replace them with either planted or naturally regenerated younger trees (i.e., high-grading) is widely thought to have negative consequences on a forest's productivity and species composition, but no previous studies in California had evaluated this assumption. To make such an evaluation, I measured productivity and canopy species composition shifts following the repeated removal of large trees and compared the results with those from two other basic forest harvest methods: thinning from below and single tree selection. Timber productivity was substantially lower with large-tree removal (0.65 thousand board feet per acre per year) than with the other methods (averaging 1.33 thousand board feet per acre per year), which included the no-harvest control, where yield was zero. Large-tree removal also resulted in more species change, with white fir increasing in the canopy and ponderosa pine decreasing.

Forestry is increasingly seen as having a multiplicity of functions, some of which may lead to tensions between the preferences of different forestry stakeholders. One expression of these differing preferences is in the area of optimal rotation length. This paper models the optimal rotation lengths of different aspects of the forestry system – the forest owner, the timber processor, the carbon sequestered, and the social value. A microsimulation framework is utilised to simulate optimal rotation lengths that maximise different aspects of the forestry system including timber volume, processor value of harvested timber, forest owner incomes, carbon emissions and incomes adjusted for a carbon value. The main conclusion is that the optimal rotation lengths vary quite significantly depending upon the stakeholder. We assess the impact of a forest owner harvesting their timber at a time that was financially optimal for them. The processor would have the smallest difference in their annual equivalised net present value (AENPV) from the forest owner. The biggest difference is with the optimal rotation length for carbon, with the AENPV of sequestered carbon being about 50% higher than for the forest owner's optimal rotation length. The differential for timber lies between the processor and the carbon. As a combination of private and carbon goals, the social return also lies between the processor and carbon amounts, the differential increasing with higher carbon values, reflecting an increasing importance of carbon. Additional survey results find that the financial optimum for a forest owner at a 5% discount rate differs substantially from the actual rotation length. These differing preferences for rotation length reflect the need for a systems-based approach to forestry policy, considering the needs of the system's various stakeholders. • The optimal rotation lengths of different aspects of the forest innovation system are modelled. • The forest owner, timber processor, carbon sequestered, and social value are considered. • Optimal rotation lengths vary quite significantly depending upon the stakeholder. • Optimal rotation length for carbon 50% higher than for the forest owner's optimal rotation length. • Differing rotation length preferences reflect need for systems-based approach to forest policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the regional differences in the forest industry and management via a Multiple Factor Analysis approach. The dataset used comprises all Russian regions and 34 variables that comprehensively describe the situation in the sector. Based on the Multiple Factor Analysis, the variables contributing most to the spatial heterogeneity in Russian forestry were divided into industrial and forestry factors. The regions leading in the development of the timber industry are mainly located in the Northwestern and Southeastern parts of Russia. They show similarities in high logging volumes, investment attractiveness, and competitiveness in foreign markets. However, a divergence was found between the Northwestern regions and the Siberian and the Far East territories in terms of forest management factors. The Western part of Russia benefits from the density of the population and infrastructure, and proximity to the national financial centers and European markets. By comparison, Asian Russia suffers from labor shortages caused by negative demographic trends and the negative consequences of climate change, resulting in an increase in forest losses and a lack of control, finance, and transport accessibility due to the vast territory. To alleviate regional inequalities, we propose the introduction of private ownership of forests, support for investment projects, and human capital development.

As part of California's strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, private forest landowners are now required to address carbon sequestration as a management goal when submitting timber harvest plans. Using public data on forests and forest products, we developed a calculator that tracks the carbon sequestration benefits related to live trees, wood used for bioenergy and wood going into products. The calculator is adapted for different forest types, forest management techniques and time frames. Based on current best practices used in California, we estimate that harvested and regenerated forests will provide approximately 30% more total carbon sequestration benefits than forests left to grow for an equal time. More than half of the total benefits relate to harvested wood substituting for fossil fuels and fossil fuel–intensive materials such as cement and steel. With relatively efficient management practices, harvesting a ton of wood provides more sequestration benefits than leaving that ton growing in the forest.

Removing all large trees without planning to replace them with either planted or naturally regenerated younger trees (i.e., high-grading) is widely thought to have negative consequences on a forest's productivity and species composition, but no previous studies in California had evaluated this assumption. To make such an evaluation, I measured productivity and canopy species composition shifts following the repeated removal of large trees and compared the results with those from two other basic forest harvest methods: thinning from below and single tree selection. Timber productivity was substantially lower with large-tree removal (0.65 thousand board feet per acre per year) than with the other methods (averaging 1.33 thousand board feet per acre per year), which included the no-harvest control, where yield was zero. Large-tree removal also resulted in more species change, with white fir increasing in the canopy and ponderosa pine decreasing.

Forest-related legal questions appear often interwoven with complicated networks of numerous other themes at several geographical levels. This paper introduces a new analytic tool based on 3-D Sustainability to restructure complex question bundles from policy practice to ease and support practical legal solution prioritization. This approach is applied to the enviro-socio-economic context of forests and their multifunctional use in Japan. First it is shown how the initial problem formulations from practice listed in a table are addressed by the different categories of 3-D Sustainability. Then it is presented how the order of the initial problem formulation was in the table reshaped based on this approach and also which problems were combined for a common search of solutions. In conclusion, the new analytic tool proofed to be applicable also in practice and provided already appropriate support to gain first ideas of solutions including legal ones and their preliminary prioritization, although the work is further in progress. The tool represents a rather simple but effective methodological option to structure complex question bundles and prioritizing solutions also for further legal measures, not only limited to issues of forests or geographically restricted to Japan, and appears to be widely applicable and definitely replicable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the performance of forest devolution, the major reform in forestry in developing countries over the last two decades. Although this change in forest governance has been studied by many scholars, the impacts of forest devolution and the various ways to measure them are still under discussion. This paper contributes to this discussion by evaluating the performance of a specific forest devolution policy, namely, forest land allocation (FLA) in Vietnam. The study is based on the policy arrangement approach to operationalize the concept of ‘governance performance,’ and particularly focuses on the local people’s involvement in the policy. Overall, our findings from three regions of Vietnam reveal a medium governance performance for FLA. The main explanation for this performance is the tradeoffs between the two key policy goals: forest rehabilitation and to increase local income. These tradeoffs are shaped by various factors, namely, the strategic use of forest rights by target groups, social learning by state and nonstate actors, and unanticipated effects on the ground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chilgoza pine ( Pinus gerardiana ) is an important source of income in forested eastern Afghanistan through the harvest of edible seeds. Since the late 1970s, the resource has been largely inaccessible to researchers and government personnel from outside the region, except for the years 2002–2015, roughly coinciding with Operation Enduring Freedom. We assessed physical and social attributes of chilgoza pine forests and the management capacity of indigenous communities. We employed interviews/questionnaires and field measurements performed by Afghan forest scientists from Kabul, trained local residents, and U.S. forest scientists associated with military operations to examine stakeholder perceptions of chilgoza pine forest resilience, assess forest health, stand structure and natural regeneration status. Intensive cone collection, tree damage caused by cone harvesting, grazing, fuelwood collection, and other biotic/abiotic factors (insects, diseases, and drought) were associated with chilgoza forest degradation. Most interviewees observed natural regeneration in the understory layer of chilgoza forest stands, but perceived the overall rate of natural regeneration to be insufficient. Respondents from villages prohibiting grazing and fuelwood collection reported the greatest regeneration while the converse was associated with the lowest levels of regeneration. Field measurements confirmed the scarcity of natural regeneration of chilgoza pine, portending the further decline of this species in Afghanistan. Field surveys indicated diverse stand conditions, age class structures and land use practices employed by local stakeholders, suggesting the need for situation-specific forest management recommendations. We discuss the opportunities and limitations for forest resources data collection in highly insecure environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how European Union forest protection policies can inadvertently shift harvesting pressures to tropical countries, leading to biodiversity and carbon losses, and emphasizes the need for integrated strategies to avoid negative global impacts.

Forestland tenure and financial incentives are the most important policy issue to sustainable forest resource management. The new wave of reform of collective forestland tenure (NRCFT) has been launched since 2003 and the governmental matching reform measures (MRMs) for the NRCFT have been introduced since 2009. The objective of these reforms is to enhance sustainable forest resource management in Chinese collective regions by encouraging rural households’ productive forest inputs. We use a unique dataset of 1778 sample households in 18 counties of nine provinces with six years and employ a fixed effects model with clustered standard errors. Our empirical results indicate that: 1) the NRCFT has increased households’ forestland area of different tenure types, and the effects of the MRMs on rural households’ labor input and production expenditures for forestry purposes are generally positive, especially household used forestland as collateral for a loan and afforestation or reafforestation subsidy and reform of Annual Allowance Cut (AAC) have significantly contributed to increase in the use of productive forest inputs; 2) the NRCFT and the MRMs have different impacts on the use of productive forest inputs for different tenure forests, and these reforms have caused the most significant changes in rural households’ production decision changes for household responsibility forestland; 3) both the NRCFT and the MRMs have significant effects on rural households’ rent-in and rent-out forestland; and 4) forestland fragmentations have caused additional labor and investment inputs for rural households’ forest resource management and protection. And finally, market drivers and household and village characteristics factors also affect households’ decisions for productive inputs for their managing forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial forestry in Canada commonly occurs on the traditional territory of Aboriginal people, and forestry companies often take actions to gain acceptance and approval of communities. Over the last two decades, the concept of 'social licence to operate' (SLO) has been increasingly used as a way of framing these actions in relation to regulatory licences and approval processes. Although Aboriginal views of forestry have been extensively researched, few attempts have been made to link this research to the developing concept of SLO. This article seeks to address this gap, using existing models to identify five groups of path elements that contribute to obtaining and maintaining SLO: socio-economic infrastructure, biophysical infrastructure, engagement processes, relationship building and recognition of rights. Previous research on five common forms of collaborative arrangement - impact benefit agreements, co-management, consultation processes, tenures and economic partnerships - is then reviewed to consider how these contribute to obtaining and maintain SLO. Canadian experiences demonstrate the potential benefits of direct negotiations and the advantages of combining arrangements, but also highlight the difficulty of addressing Aboriginal rights within an SLO framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the global forest sector endures rapid crises and more gradually evolving social, political, and environmental influences, little attention has been paid to how forest administrators view changing sectoral conditions and response measures. We analyze policy frames mobilized by 27 senior actors within major private and state-owned companies, and government agencies in northern forest regions of Canada, Sweden, and Finland. Results show that four intervening theme areas are engaged by forest administrators to frame sectoral changes and responses, namely, the role of international markets; timber pricing and supply; the role of the state; and environmental policies. However, perceived regional differences in the level of impact of the international market changes, public versus private wood supply dependence, and satisfaction with forestry institutions lead actors to frame problems and solutions differently. While forest policy discourse is relatively consistent across these regions, responses are specified to regional contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper uses a policy integration (PI) approach to analyse forest sector reforms in tropical countries, using the case of reforms that affected the northern Bolivia forest economy. The paper provides a brief overview of PI and then analyses the various reforms that all contributed to reshaping Bolivia's forest sector. The major related reforms are not only forestland tenure reforms, a new forestry law, but also important public administrative and democratic reforms. The case of democratic reforms linked with land and forestry reforms in northern Bolivia makes it possible to discuss environmental PI in a tropical context, and thus to review some of the key postulates that have been formulated on the topic, but which are to date largely based on empirical experiences from the northern hemisphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although efforts in improving forest rights across developing countries are growing, de jure property rights and physical ownership of forests do not automatically enable farmers to obtain benefits from forests. Their access to forest benefits is limited by a range of legal and extralegal mechanisms. This case study describes a notable pattern of timber-harvest governance in China, in which centralized quota setting and allocation allow rent-seeking behavior on the part of powerful local elites who control timber harvest and trade by handing out logging permits, and who also reap the greatest proportion of benefits. It is argued that excluding farmers from harvesting and trade discourages them from investing in forest conservation over the long term. This calls for a policy to gradually remove the quota system so that farmers can obtain forest benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: China’s forest bioenergy policies are evolving against the backdrop of pressing national energy challenges similar to those faced by OECD countries, and chronic rural energy challenges more characteristic of developing countries. Modern forest bioenergy could contribute to solutions to both of these challenges. However, because of limitations in current technologies and institutions, significant policy and resource commitments would be required to make breakthroughs in either commercializing forest bioenergy or modernizing rural energy systems in China. Given the potential attention, funding, and resource trade-offs between these two goals, we provide an argument for why the focus of China’s forest bioenergy policy should initially be on addressing rural energy challenges. The paper concludes with a discussion on strategies for laying the groundwork for a modern, biomass-based energy infrastructure in rural China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper analyses a set of generic options for national REDD+ governance structures – i.e., (a) a market/project based architecture; (b) a system with national REDD+ funds outside existing national administrations; (c) a national REDD+ fund organized under the present administration; and (d) conditional budget support. The analysis is based on experiences from different, but similar governance structures – e.g., the Clean Development Mechanism, payments for ecosystem services, environmental trust funds and various forms of budget support. While a solution with a market/project based structure has been favored by many, we conclude that this is the most problematic alternative. Concerning the other three, the national/local conditions will be of importance for their functioning. If REDD+ policies involve a large part of a county''s forested area, establishing a good link to the general forest and other sector policies will be necessary. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article discusses the article "Economics of Forestry in an Evolving Society," by Paul A. Samuelson in 1976. It says that debates among forest economists and foresters have emerged concerning the best time forest owners can harvest a stand of trees at the time the article has been written. It adds that the discussion and derivations of Samuelson have been accepted in the modern days in forest economics and effectively framed how the economists view questions and solutions in forest policy.

Bid skewing is a potential issue when timber is sold at scale-bid auctions and the seller's timber-cruise estimate is used for bid evaluation. I illustrate the problem and its potential effect on seller stumpage revenue, and then quantify the impact of species-specific reserve prices as well as species-specific bid caps using data gathered from 41 Wisconsin State forestry auctions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The forest sector is perceived as being traditionally conservative and reluctant to adopt changes, even when these can be beneficial. This is a natural consequence of an industry that tends to operate over relatively long time periods. However, to compete successfully in a rapidly globalizing world, the forest sector will need to be much more innovative than it has been to date. Government policies could play an important role in encouraging innovation in the forest sector yet, despite many initiatives, they have had variable success in doing so. It is likely that transformative innovations will occur that involve different actors to those dominating the sector today, and there is already evidence of such innovations taking place. Transformative innovation may not, however, be in the short-term interest of governments that have used the forest sector to encourage rural development. Other innovations may be stimulated as the crises facing the forest sectors in individual countries deepen. However, it is uncertain whether these will ensure that forests fulfil their potential in enabling the development of a global bioeconomy. To do so, effective partnerships between all the interested parties are needed: government, industry, academia, and non-governmental organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the influence of forest engineer Octavio Elorrieta y Artaza on forest policy in Spain in the early 20th century. His career in the Spanish forest Administration is discussed, especially his proposals regarding forest resource utilization as a potential solution to agrarian social problems in southern Spain in the 1930s. The continuing relevance of his ideas about increasing forest resource productivity while conserving forestland is discussed, as are the shortcomings of his purely economic view of forestry.

Since the 1960s, the government of Uruguay has been encouraging forestry as an alternative use for marginal agricultural lands in an effort to promote economic development, diversification, and environmental services. The Forestry Law of 1987 (Parliament of Uruguay 1988) introduced subsidies and tax exonerations for the development of forest plantations and wood manufacturing industries. Consequently, the new forest sector has been growing rapidly, attracting foreign investment. This study evaluates the impact of Uruguay forest sector development policy on the country's economy by conducting a cost-benefit analysis. The results indicate a positive net impact when compared with livestock production. The NPV associated with the forest sector development was US$615.4 million, and the internal rate of return was 32.4%. The successful implementation of the forest policy has allocated land to more productive uses while attracting foreign investment, generating income and employment, and providing environmental benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the trend toward greater integration of production and conservation in forestry, traditional economic approaches to assessing forest value have come to be regarded as inadequate in the determination of forest policy and the setting of forest management objectives. In the last few decades, other types of economic as well non-economic (e.g., “nature quality”) methods to assess forest value have gained foothold. To arrive at a sound account of forest value, we need to clarify how value is understood from an economic and ecological perspective. Two things are at stake. One is the attempt to capture values beyond the more well-defined utility values. The second is the effort to try to make these values measurable. Such clarification, and the critical discussion it requires, will help to provide a better foundation for policy and concrete management decisions and make the underlying basis of prioritization more transparent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Static and dynamic models of the derived demand for forest product imports were estimated for each of 10 major forest products covering industrial roundwood, wood-based panels, pulp, and paper and paperboard. The models were estimated with panel data from 64 countries for 1970-1987, by pooled ordinary least squares, first differencing, fixed effects, random effects and the Arellano-Bond approach. The predictive accuracy of the demand equations was tested with postsample data from 1988-1997. Based on multiple criteria, the best results were obtained with the dynamic model estimated by the Arellano-Bond method. For most products the demand for imports was found to be inelastic with respect to price. For all products the demand for imports was elastic with respect to income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest economists have had a checkered history in showing their relevance to foresters in Canada. At the same time, foresters have sometimes seemed to ignore social considerations, identified by economists, in practices and policies. Although communication seems to be improving, there are still a number of divisive issues and associated viewpoints that inhibit the use of economics in forestry. In this paper, I investigate four hypotheses that could explain why forest economists and foresters in Canada have had such a hard time communicating. Hypothesis #1 is that economic concepts are irrelevant to forestry. Hypothesis #2 is that foresters are actually brilliant, but "dark side," economists that have structured systems to protect forests from economic forces. Hypothesis #3 is that foresters are "enlightened" economists that are catering to real social preferences that most economists do not understand. Hypothesis #4 is that forest economics may be relevant but is difficult within the contexts that it is practised. Analysis shows that while all hypotheses have elements of truth, the higher numbered hypotheses tend to be more supportable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies the Indonesian and Philippine forest sectors to challenge the assumption that natural-resource abundance contributes to the economic growth of underdeveloped country. Development paradox; Domestic political economy of natural-resource exploitation; Relationship between natural resources and public policy; Forest policy in both countries.

Discusses the lack of clearly defined objectives on the forest policies in the United States. Conflict between economic development goals and environmental goals on the economic utilization of forests; Commitment of Gifford Pinchot, former Forest Service head, to use national forests for commercial purposes; Examination of the objectives of the Forest Service; Influence of pressure groups on the prioritization of forestry objectives.