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The article discusses the 1970s folklore in the Inglewood, Washington state area on topics including trolls, peacocks and cats. An overview of the relationship between human beings and nature as expressed in Washington state folklore, including in regard to fear and anxiety towards wild animals and forests, is provided.

Forest fire characteristics and their determinants are important considerations for forest management. However, the interaction among natural and anthropogenic factors and their impacts on the occurrence and distribution of forest fires in China, a vast country with enormous variation in its environmental and social contexts, has remained a lasting challenge in science and forest management. In this study, ground-based data of forest fires at the county level in China’s forest fire hazards survey (1989–1991) were applied in studying forest fires and five relevant factors: climate, fuel, topography, human activity, and firefighting facilities at national and provincial scales. During the study period, the county-level number of forest fires in China increased with decreasing latitude, and the burnt area was larger in the subtropical region and some counties of Northeast China. Industry fires and recreation fires showed contrasting latitudinal patterns, and cultural fires dominated in North China. Lightning fires constituted less than 1% of forest fires, and dominated in only six counties. Results of a random forest model indicated that spring temperature and forest stocking level were respectively the most critical variables affecting the fire number and burnt area across China, and overall threshold values of mean spring temperature of 15 °C and forest stocking of 500 million were suggested respectively for abrupt changes in fire frequency and burnt area. Climatic conditions generally dominated the variation in human-caused fires, but lightning fires were primarily influenced by fuel load. However, the most important factors for fire features varied substantially at the provincial scale, highlighting the complexity in the roles of climate or fuel conditions and their combinations for fire risk. Our results provided a first ground-based snapshot of forest fire patterns in China at a high spatial resolution, revealed contrasting features of natural- and human-caused forest fires, and highlighted the spatial variation of fire drivers. The potential uncertainty indicated the necessity of long-term monitoring with multiple approaches for better understanding of forest fire activities and optimal practice in forest fire management in China, both at national and provincial scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The forestry sector in Chile has an important role in the domestic economy, being the second leading export sector after the mining industry. Investments in forest plantations have grown in the last 40 years thanks to implementation of the Decree Law 701. Planted forests currently account for 17.4% of the total national forest cover. The objective of the study is to analyse non-industrial forest owners' perceptions of positive and negative externalities of forest plantations in four less developed municipalities of the Maule Region. We implemented a literature review, the estimation of an Expert's Response Indicator (ERI), and the implementation of an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology for the analysis. The results indicate that non-industrial forest owners in the four municipalities perceive the importance of each externality in a different way according to their territorial specificities. However, considering the whole study area, "CO2 sequestration", "improvement of livelihood", and "more importance of small and medium forest owners" were considered the most important positive externalities, while the most relevant negative externalities were "water shortage", "power asymmetry", and "land loss". The study encourages further research with a similar detailed analysis on stakeholders' perceptions of plantation projects, both to revise investment features and inform local stakeholders on their real impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many rural communities no longer have abundant forest areas for firewood collection. Based on this scenario, we evaluated how the scarcity of forest environments influences the collection and use of this resource in rural areas. A community located in the Atlantic Forest region of northeastern Brazil, which already lacks forest areas for firewood, was selected for field research. We observed that despite this context of forest scarcity, firewood remains the main source of fuel energy in the community. In total, 27 species of wood were cited, with an emphasis on exotic species in terms of number of citations. The perceived wood quality explained the frequency of plant use, but not the number of consumers. This can be explained by the difficulty of access to some species considered of better quality, because in the studied region, the plants are usually collected in private areas. Efforts in conservation strategies are recommended to encourage an increase in the frequency of use of the available exotic species in order to safeguard the native ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Cultural indicators, although present in S-LCA subcategories, are fairly limited and are not compulsory; performing an S-LCA does not guarantee the inclusion of cultural values. This paper explores the potential to distinctly represent and include cultural aspects within Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) (alongside economic, social and environmental aspects). As such, it demonstrates LCSA’s capability to communicate results along a quadruple bottom line.Methods: A participatory LCSA case study was undertaken using a mixed methods approach. Research was carried out working in close collaboration with three key members of an indigenous community in New Zealand—the Māori tribe of Ngāti Porou. A series of semi-structured interviews with the three participants was undertaken in order to investigate alternative forestry options for Ngāti Porou land. The research involved (1) understanding the decision-making process of Ngāti Porou, (2) recognising Ngāti Porou aspirations and goals, (3) determining a range of forestry land use and product options to be reviewed within the LCSA case study, (4) selection of meaningful (to Ngāti Porou) economic, social and environmental indicators, (5) developing a bespoke cultural indicator and (6) collaboratively reviewing and discussing the results.Results and discussion: The results of the participatory LCSA represented culture in two ways. Firstly, a bespoke cultural indicator (Cultural Indicator Matrix) was created to distinctly represent culture in LCSA. The indicator subjectively measures the perceived impact that a forestry process or product has upon a range of Ngāti Porou aspirations, and the results can be viewed alongside other LCSA indicators. Secondly, the participatory research approach made the LCSA process more culturally-inclusive. Overall, the results of the culturally-inclusive LCSA gave the participants ‘validation’ and ‘direction’ and justified their desire to pursue alternative forestry options for their land.Conclusions: This first use of the Cultural Indicator Matrix was experienced by the participants as an effective mechanism for gathering community-based impressions of how forestry life cycle processes affect their cultural aspirations. They felt the participatory aspect was important, and considered that the ongoing communication between themselves and the LCSA practitioner provided them with more control, access to information and understanding of the LCSA process and led to higher acceptance of the final results. Thus, this research suggests that there is a place for culture in LCSA, and that distinctive representation of culture (separately from S-LCA) may be beneficial, particularly if the end-users have explicit cultural needs or concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sparsely settled forests (SSF) are poorly studied, coupled natural and human systems involving rural communities in forest ecosystems that are neither largely uninhabited wildland nor forests on the edges of urban areas. We developed and applied a multidisciplinary approach to define, map, and examine changes in the spatial extent and structure of both the landscapes and human populations of SSF in the United States. We estimated that the SSF in the contiguous United States, which are home to only 6–7% of the population, account for over 60% of all forested land and over 30% of all land. From 1990 to 2010 SSF declined in area by 16%, changing little overall but declining markedly in proximity to urban perimeters. A PCA ordination and cluster analysis of the human and landscape characteristics of SSF areas revealed complex and regionally variable patterns. Very broadly, SSF in the far northern and western states are less densely settled and more amenity driven, while the southeastern states north through Pennsylvania and Ohio are more densely settled and more agricultural. The socioeconomic characteristics of SSF are often quite variable at fine scales, especially in proximity to urban areas. Our improved multidisciplinary understanding of SSF raises important questions about regional differences in the dynamics, structure and future socioeconomic trajectories of these forests. To best manage these landscapes for the sake of both human and natural systems, SSF need to be considered a distinct land classification in their own right, not merely perceived as fuzzy boundaries around wild lands or urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban trees provide substantial public health and public environmental benefits. However, scholarly works suggest that urban trees may be disproportionately low in poor and minority urban communities, meaning that these communities are potentially being deprived of public environmental benefits, a form of environmental injustice. The evidence of this problem is not uniform however, and evidence of inequity varies in size and significance across studies. This variation in results suggests the need for a research synthesis and meta-analysis. We employed a systematic literature search to identify original studies which examined the relationship between urban forest cover and income (n = 61) and coded each effect size (n = 332). We used meta-analytic techniques to estimate the average (unconditional) relationship between urban forest cover and income and to estimate the impact that methodological choices, measurement, publication characteristics, and study site characteristics had on the magnitude of that relationship. We leveraged variation in study methodology to evaluate the extent to which results were sensitive to methodological choices often debated in the geographic and environmental justice literature but not yet evaluated in environmental amenities research. We found evidence of income-based inequity in urban forest cover (unconditional mean effect size = 0.098; s.e. = 0.017) that was robust across most measurement and methodological strategies in original studies and results did not differ systematically with study site characteristics. Studies that controlled for spatial autocorrelation, a violation of independent errors, found evidence of substantially less urban forest inequity; future research in this area should test and correct for spatial autocorrelation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The orang-utan Pongo spp. is protected by national and international legislation, yet populations continue to decline. Many reports implicate local people in the poaching and illegal trade in orang-utans, yet community participation has been promoted as an alternative conservation strategy. To explore how community-based orang-utan conservation could be developed, we conducted a study to understand informal institutions, particularly local people's perceptions, traditional beliefs, taboos, norms and knowledge, related to orang-utan conservation within and around the wetlands of Danau Sentarum. The majority of Dayak communities interviewed practised traditional taboos, which supported the protection of orang-utans and their habitat. Statistical analysis using generalized linear modelling indicated that more orang-utan nests were found in areas with both good habitat condition and strong informal institutions. Despite applying traditional systems that are similar to conservation, local people have negative perceptions about the term ‘conservation’. We describe the underlying causes of these negative perceptions and highlight their implications for conservation programmes and policies. We conclude that conservation of orang-utans and other species should not focus on single species but on maintaining social and natural capital, cultural diversity and ecological functions at various institutional levels and across geographical scales. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Biodiversity conservation is increasingly integrated into the environmental management practices of organizations. Nevertheless, the literature has overlooked the analysis of the general motivations for and the organizational implications underlying corporate commitment to biodiversity. In order to fulfil this gap, the objective of this article is to contribute to this under-researched issue by shedding light on the drivers for biodiversity conservation of mining and forestry companies whose operations pose high risks to biodiversity. For this purpose, a systematic analysis was carried out on more than 4650 passages on biodiversity management extracted from 430 sustainability reports using the framework of the Global Reporting Initiative. Drawing on theories of self-regulation and social exchange, the paper shows that initiatives for biodiversity management are motivated by the quest for social legitimacy and the external recognition of organizations with high environmental impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of forest resources for rural communities' livelihoods has increasingly been recognized over the last three decades. Forests provide food, generate incomes, provide supporting (nutrient cycling, pollination), and regulating (climate, diseases, water regulation and purification) services for agriculture, in addition to their aesthetic, cultural and spiritual role. However, most of the studies on forest resource use do not focus on the role of landscape organization in addressing the impact of climate variability and the risk of food insecurity. This study aims to examine the contribution of woodlands and trees towards decreasing the risk of food insecurity and the importance of landscape structure and composition in coping with food shortages. It took place in two villages in Burkina Faso, on both ends of the woodlands and tree-cover spectrum. We demonstrate that in both landscapes, ecosystem goods, such as shea nuts and fuelwood, represent a safety net for households during food shortage periods. We demonstrate that households shape their adaptive strategies differently depending on the resources available and the structure of the landscape. People living in a landscape with a savannah matrix (Sorobouly) rely on fuelwood trade to purchase cereals, while those living in a landscape with a parkland matrix (Kalembouly) rely on shea nuts. Agricultural, environmental and climate change policies that reinforce the rights of the most vulnerable to access key resources provided by these landscapes and development programs which assure their sustainable use will simultaneously enhance food security and increase their adaptive capacity in the face of climate change and variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although financial decisions are expected to be rational, there is a growing body of experimental research indicating that small psychological changes in one’s mind-set in the actual decision-making moment might affect saving ratios. In this article, another type of change in one’s mind-set, which can influence saving decisions, is explored, namely the level of construal. Construal level is a key descriptor of people’s cognitive representations of targets, and is a way of characterising the mental mind-sets people use. Building on recent advances in the link between construal levels and intertemporal choices, the present research evaluates the effect of shifts in levels of construal in the very moment of decision making on people’s propensity to save money. It is suggested that triggering a high-level construal mind-set would influence individuals’ financial decisions and result in greater willingness to save than triggering a low-level construal mind-set. This assumption is supported by the findings: across three experiments, those with an abstract mind-set showed an increased willingness to save when compared to those with a concrete mind-set. The first experiment demonstrated that people in an abstract mind-set are more willing to delay financial gratification than those in a concrete mind-set. In the second and third experiments, those with an abstract mind-set showed an increased willingness to save when compared to those with a concrete mind-set. The research provides further evidence that mental states, which can be evoked by previous, unrelated tasks, such as level of cognitive abstraction, can influence everyday financial decisions. It, thus, highlights the role of situational factors that consumers may be not aware of, which still affect their savings decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past few years, forest management unit (KPH) Bogor has experienced many problems, technical, environmental and social, affecting the company's finances. This condition requires new breakthroughs in the form of managerial options in managing the forests of KPH Bogor. At present, KPH Bogor has formulated 12 managerial options. The purpose of this study is to build a spatial model in selecting managerial options at site level The spatial models were built based on the score of each land unit which was obtained from expert judgment using an intensity scale, while weight was obtained using a pairwaise comparison, resulting in the followingequation: total score = 0.14(0.06x1 + 0.11x2+ 0.09x3 + 0.08x4 + 0.10yx5 + 0.31x6 + 0.25x7) + 0.72 (0.08y1 + 0.22y2 + 0.46y3 + 0.46y3 + 0.13y4 + 0.12y5) interval method. The results for each of the managerial options were then aggregated using GIS to create KPH Bogor's management patter. In areas where there was an overlap due to the similarity in options, a decision support system using neighboring similarity spatial analysis was used. This step allowed the spatial model to be built with many biophysical, social, and economic variables. This spacial model could map 12 types of managerial optons at site level in the production structuring in KPH Bogor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Biotropica is the property of Wiley-Blackwell 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.)

Summary This paper problematizes the use of the “landscape” concept as the perspective in forest governance and REDD+ discourse, especially as it affects ownership claims and management of forest space. This study advocates the contrasting concept of “territory” as essential to spatial justice in community-held forest lands and for effectivity in REDD+ projects. Whereas landscape in REDD+ discourse is a basic unit of resolution for biophysical, especially conservationist, analysis; territory refers to spatial units embedded in tenurial entitlements, and thus in governance and the execution of management. The study critically considers case studies and conceptual approaches in REDD+ and Climate Smart Landscapes projects and their commitment to landscape, or territory, as the spatial governance unit. The review highlights some promising partial steps toward “territorialization” as a good practice, but finds that most do not follow up the implications for governance. The paper asserts that “landscape” as an analytical understanding of forest peoples’ space contains serious defects—it does not set up the essential architecture and mechanisms for social owning and holistic management of designated (forest) space as territory, it does not address the contestations around “whose territory?”, and a “landscape” discourse can obfuscate the actual practice of REDD+ programs. “Territorialization” would involve situating legitimate land users’ rights at the core of REDD+ spatial planning and implementation. “Forest landscapes as territories” would legitimize the entitlements of forest peoples to govern their own lands, with the responsibilities and rewards of their experience of effective management. The community and its social territorial space would become the definitive spatial unit for operationalizing REDD+, rather than the ecological unit or watershed, by prioritizing upwardly institutionalized territory over bio-physical spatializations of landscape. A territorial perspective should shift some power away from global and national policy-setters to local actors (not only registered landowners), as central in REDD+ governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term, social licence to operate, has been used in the forestry sector since the mid to late 1990s to refer to the broad approval or acceptance that communities, the wider public and other stakeholders afford to industry's management of forest resources. In this context, the social licence has also been described as a form of social contract, which often implies a negotiation that involves government actors. Increasingly, members of society are taking an active interest in how forest resources are used and developed, and seeking to participate in decision-making that has traditionally been the exclusive domain of industry and government. In this paper, we examine this parallel between social licence and social contract with a particular focus on the role of procedural fairness for public and other stakeholders in forest agreement-making, and the role of the state in brokering those agreements. In making this assessment, we provide a critical review of historical documentation relating to the development of Regional Forest Agreements (RFA) in Australia. These agreements were designed to assist multiple layers of government work collaboratively with industry, public and other stakeholders to provide security around forest resources to industry and conservationists, mediate tension in Australian forest management, and preserve the environmental, heritage and social values of the nation's forests. In our review of the documentation relating to the RFA process, we summarise recent research on the processes and failures of social agreement-making that highlight how and why procedural fairness is a critical factor for achieving broad and localised societal acceptance of forest management regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, most studies of the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris) are of biological research, techniques, conservation, population modeling, or tiger– human conflicts. Few studies have attempted to understand the rural population that share a region with the tigers, and some of the villages are even displaced in the name of conservation. Hence, we undertook a survey of 10 villages that are located in the buffer zone of the Bor Tiger Reserve (BTR). Most of the villagers interviewed had encountered tigers, most considered them a boon and beneficial to their livelihood, and almost all displayed environmental awareness and stressed the necessity to conserve tigers in order to ensure their own continued survival. Some stressed the religious connotation and significance because the tiger is the animal of transport of the Goddess Durga. A minority expressed a negative attitude that resulted not from damages incurred by the tigers, but from discontent following inept handling of property losses by the authorities, who did not provide compensation in time, or paid only a small part of the original value of the loss. We conclude that in order to ensure the continued goodwill of the local stakeholders, it is important that the state and national governments react in a timely manner and ensure that the farmer is compensated in full. Support of the villagers who cohabit with tigers will ensure the continued survival of the two entities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Works of the Faculty of Forestry University of Sarajevo is the property of Faculty of Forestry University of Sarajevo 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.)

The article offers information related to the products and services of the Canadian Institute of Forestry (CIF) from fiscal year 2014-2015. Topics include trends in major expenses, debt/profit trend of the journal "The Forestry Chronicle," and the Prince of Wales Forest Leadership Award. Also discussed are the Envirothon high school environmental education competition, National Forest Week, and student services.

In this study, eight airborne laser scanning (ALS)-based single tree detection methods are benchmarked and investigated. The methods were applied to a unique dataset originating from different regions of the Alpine Space covering different study areas, forest types, and structures. This is the first benchmark ever performed for different forests within the Alps. The evaluation of the detection results was carried out in a reproducible way by automatically matching them to precise in situ forest inventory data using a restricted nearest neighbor detection approach. Quantitative statistical parameters such as percentages of correctly matched trees and omission and commission errors are presented. The proposed automated matching procedure presented herein shows an overall accuracy of 97%. Method based analysis, investigations per forest type, and an overall benchmark performance are presented. The best matching rate was obtained for single-layered coniferous forests. Dominated trees were challenging for all methods. The overall performance shows a matching rate of 47%, which is comparable to results of other benchmarks performed in the past. The study provides new insight regarding the potential and limits of tree detection with ALS and underlines some key aspects regarding the choice of method when performing single tree detection for the various forest types encountered in alpine regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While sustainable forestry in Europe is characterized by the provision of a multitude of forest ecosystem services, there exists no comprehensive study that scrutinizes their sensitivity to forest management on a pan-European scale, so far. We compile scenario runs from regionally tailored forest growth models and Decision Support Systems (DSS) from 20 case studies throughout Europe and analyze whether the ecosystem service provision depends on management intensity and other co-variables, comprising regional affiliation, social environment, and tree species composition. The simulation runs provide information about the case-specifically most important ecosystem services in terms of appropriate indicators. We found a strong positive correlation between management intensity and wood production, but only weak correlation with protective and socioeconomic forest functions. Interestingly, depending on the forest region, we found that biodiversity can react in both ways, positively and negatively, to increased management intensity. Thus, it may be in tradeoff or in synergy with wood production and forest resource maintenance. The covariables species composition and social environment are of punctual interest only, while the affiliation to a certain region often makes an important difference in terms of an ecosystem service's treatment sensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing conservation policy is a challenging process, often impeded by a lack of clear objectives and a limited understanding of the pathways to achieve them. Here, the utility of target-based ‘backcasting’ is demonstrated for developing effective conservation policies. Backcasting encodes social values by requiring a desired future state be selected as a target; it then involves searching for multiple pathways to reach this state from the present. This approach is demonstrated with a case study examining policy options for mitigating impacts from the growth of Sydney on a critically endangered woodland community. A model was developed to predict changes in woodland area over time in response to a range of processes: declines in habitat condition; legal and illegal clearing for development; and the implementation of biodiversity offsets to compensate for clearing. Using a target of retaining 60% of the current woodland distribution in 50 years time, the backcasting analysis involved searching for all combinations of processes that would achieve this target. Results demonstrate how backcasting provides a structured way to explore the trade-offs and robustness of combinations of policy interventions leading to a desirable future. For this case study, the most viable way of achieving the target may be to ensure the offset policy is adequate and enforced. If this was not feasible, the analysis shows that reducing the rate at which habitat is declining in condition would be most important in opening up other policy options. This study provides the first quantitative demonstration of backcasting in a conservation context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing the effect of land use change on ecosystem service value (ESV) can provide reference for sustainable land use and ecological environment protection. The land use information was extracted and analyzed based on Landsat TM images in Shuangliu County, Sichuan Province from 1992 to 2008, following remote sensing (RS) and GIS. The ESV of the land use change in study area was evaluated by adopting the service value method within Chinese terrestrial ecosystem. The results showed that: (1) the area of paddy field and forest land reduced in the 16 years, total area of construction land expanded fast on the basis of occupying paddy field and forest land. (2) The regional ESV increased by 4,508.859×104 RMB, but there is different change trend at different times, such as the ESV fell by 10.59% in 1992–2000, increased by 16.024% in 2000–2008. (3) The conversion from forest land and cultivated land to construction land caused a decline and negative flow in ESV, the total value was 2,197.233×104 RMB and 5,317.460×104 RMB. (4) All land use types showed that change of the ESV coefficient was less elastic, the relative sensitivity: forest land > cultivated land > water area. In terms of variability of ESV, water area change had greater influence on the change of fiSFin the study area, and cultivated land and forest land had relatively smaller impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of how the social licence to operate (SLO) of the Swedish forest industry has been developed over time. For many decades, the SLO has been implicitly operating, shaped by dominant discourses of the day. We can see these SLOs through the agrarian, industrial and post-industrial era. During this era, a focus on bioenergy has seen whole stump removal become a more mainstream practice. This practice gained increasingly widespread acceptance when framed as a necessary response to climate change. However, research has identified problems associated with whole stump removal, including decreased biodiversity, nutrient removal, soil acidification and mechanical soil preparation threatening soil carbon stores. In light of these recent developments, this paper examines the role of knowledge production and accepted discourses in the creation and maintenance of an industry’s SLO. By providing an overview of key legislative changes in the history of forest management alongside data from surveys and interviews with key industry stakeholders, we explore the changing nature of the industry’s SLO and the potential conflict that arises when new scientific knowledge and discourses emerge, challenging accepted standards of behaviour and require us to re-examine and renegotiate the terms of an existing SLO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obudu Plateau is the most important single site in Nigeria for some globally threatened bird species like the White-throated Mountain Babbler Kupeornis gilberti, Bannerman's Weaver Ploceus bannermani and Green-breasted Bush-shrike Malaconotus gladiator. It is part of the Cameroon Mountain Endemic Bird Area which has continued to be degraded causing declines in the populations of the threatened bird species but no detailed work has been done to show how forest land use types and fragmentation affect the bird species. This study examined how land use types and fragmentation through changes in patch size and increasing distances between forest patches affect the threatened bird on the Obudu Plateau. Point transect method was used for the bird survey. There was a significant difference in the densities of White-throated Mountain Babblers in the different forest patch categories. As patch size increased, the mean density of White-throated Mountain Babblers also increased but as isolation distance increased, the mean density decreased. Fragmentation negatively affected the threatened bird species. The forest patches with partial protection should be fully protected and there should be some sort of environmental education on the need to protect the forest patches. Suitable trees should be planted in the gaps between the forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire-prone landscapes are not well studied as coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) and present many challenges for understanding and promoting adaptive behaviors and institutions. Here, we explore how heterogeneity, feedbacks, and external drivers in this type of natural hazard system can lead to complexity and can limit the development of more adaptive approaches to policy and management. Institutions and social networks can counter these limitations and promote adaptation. We also develop a conceptual model that includes a robust characterization of social subsystems for a fire-prone landscape in Oregon and describe how we are building an agent-based model to promote understanding of this social-ecological system. Our agent-based model, which incorporates existing ecological models of vegetation and fire and is based on empirical studies of landowner decision-making, will be used to explore alternative management and fire scenarios with land managers and various public entities. We expect that the development of CHANS frameworks and the application of a simulation model in a collaborative setting will facilitate the development of more effective policies and practices for fire-prone landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many human-modified tropical landscapes, biodiversity conservation and the provision of ecosystem services require large-scale restoration initiatives. Such initiatives must be able to augment the amount and the quality of remaining natural habitats. There is thus a growing need for long-term, multi-stakeholder and multi-purpose initiatives that result in multiple ecological and socioeconomic benefits at the biome scale. The Atlantic Forest Restoration Pact (AFRP) is a coalition of 260+ stakeholders, including governmental agencies, private sector, NGOs and research institutions, aimed at restoring 15 million ha of degraded and deforested lands by 2050. By articulating, and then integrating common interests, this initiative has allowed different sectors of society to implement an ambitious vision and create a forum for public and private concerns regarding forest restoration. The AFRP adopts a set of governance tools so multiple actors can implement key processes to achieve long-term and visionary restoration goals. Having overcome some initial challenges, AFRP now has to incorporate underrepresented stakeholders and enhance its efforts to make forest restoration more economically viable, including cases where restoration could be less expensive and profitable. The AFRP experience has resulted in many lessons learned, which can be shared to foster similar initiatives across tropical regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to increase the contribution of the forestry sector to economic and social development, it is necessary to support the establishment and development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) whose business is based on wood and non-wood forest products (NWFPs). To properly plan the development of the private forestry sector, it is also necessary to establish the basic structure and forms of SMEs for procurement, processing and sale of NWFPs (NWFP-SMEs) as well as their business. In this context, the aim of the research was to determine the characteristics and types of NWFP-SMEs. The study included 91 representatives of NWFP-SMEs in Central Serbia. The analysis of the results showed that, based on the characteristics and activities they perform, there are three types of NWFP-SMEs. Based on the characteristics and attitudes towards additional training, four types of NWFP-SMEs representatives can be distinguished. The results can serve as a basis for further study on types of SMEs and improving the entrepreneurship in NWFP sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reconstructions of dry western US forests in the late 19th century in Arizona, Colorado and Oregon based on General Land Office records were used by Williams & Baker (2012; Global Ecology and Biogeography, 21, 1042-1052; hereafter W& B) to infer past fire regimes with substantial moderate and high-severity burning. The authors concluded that present-day large, high-severity fires are not distinguishable from historical patterns. We present evidence of important errors in their study. First, the use of tree size distributions to reconstruct past fire severity and extent is not supported by empirical age-size relationships nor by studies that directly quantified disturbance history in these forests. Second, the fire severity classification of W& B is qualitatively different from most modern classification schemes, and is based on different types of data, leading to an inappropriate comparison. Third, we note that while W& B asserted 'surprising' heterogeneity in their reconstructions of stand density and species composition, their data are not substantially different from many previous studies which reached very different conclusions about subsequent forest and fire behaviour changes. Contrary to the conclusions of W& B, the preponderance of scientific evidence indicates that conservation of dry forest ecosystems in the western United States and their ecological, social and economic value is not consistent with a present-day disturbance regime of large, high-severity fires, especially under changing climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ecosystem resilience plays a key role in maintaining a steady flow of ecosystem services and enables quick and flexible responses to climate changes, and maintaining or restoring the ecosystem resilience of forests is a necessary societal adaptation to climate change; however, there is a great lack of spatially explicit ecosystem resilience assessments. Drawing on principles of the ecosystem resilience highlighted in the literature, we built on the theory of dissipative structures to develop a conceptual model of the ecosystem resilience of forests. A hierarchical indicator system was designed with the influencing factors of the forest ecosystem resilience, including the stand conditions and the ecological memory, which were further disaggregated into specific indicators. Furthermore, indicator weights were determined with the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the coefficient of variation method. Based on the remote sensing data and forest inventory data and so forth, the resilience index of forests was calculated. The result suggests that there is significant spatial heterogeneity of the ecosystem resilience of forests, indicating it is feasible to generate large-scale ecosystem resilience maps with this assessment model, and the results can provide a scientific basis for the conservation of forests, which is of great significance to the climate change mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The forest is an extremely important entity in the medieval Southern Italy, conditioning significantly the economic structures and the imagery. The forest seems characterized of ambiguous meanings, where the usual rigid dividing line between the living world and the otherworld becomes suddenly passable, where are materialized ancestral anguishes and supernatural forces. This magmatic space, apparently crystallized in the image of an immutable medieval forest, is subject to an evolution in material reality and perception that unfolds over the Middle Ages and reaches, dramatically, nowadays. This essay attempted to trace, through a survey in the vast collection of the southern italian sources, a general profile -certainly not exhaustive- of the conceptual idea of forest the evolution in the Southern Italy, trying to identify the transformations of representation that the contemporaries have done, from the Early Middle Ages to the thirteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Norms of justice are often invoked to justify the globalisation of forest policies but are rarely critically analysed. This paper reviews elements of justice in the values, knowledge, access and property rights relating to forests, especially in developing countries. Rather than defining justice in general terms of distribution of benefits and recognition of stakeholders, we argue that these processes are mutually defining, and can foreclose what is distributed, and to whom. Much recent forest policy, for example, emphasises forest carbon stocks and the benefits to indigenous peoples; but these terms de-emphasise livelihood outcomes for forests, and non-indigenous smallholders. Accordingly, we argue that current operationalisations of justice in forest policy based on John Rawls' principles of fair allocation to known actors need to be replaced by Amartya Sen's more deliberative and inclusive vision of justice that focuses instead on how different users experience different benefits, and seek to achieve multiple objectives together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Natural forests offer numerous benefits to indigenous communities and society at large. Incomes from forest sources play an important role in rural households. In addition to this, environmental sources in the forests contribute significantly to rural households' livelihoods and economic well-being. This paper examines the contributions of forests to the livelihoods of the Chakma tribe in Bangladesh. Using the data from 60 randomly sampled households from three villages, it measured forest-resource use with a monetary yardstick. As revealed through analyses, natural forest-sourced income occupies the second-largest share in total average household income next to shifting cultivation income in the study area. Forest products represent an important component in the local livelihoods, with a direct forest income of 11,256 tk year household (tk = taka, the national currency of Bangladesh; US$1 = tk70), or 11% of the total income, in addition to the households receiving monetary benefits of 18,951 tk year household, or 21% of the total income, through the consumption of forest products. The remaining income came from shifting cultivation practice. It was also observed that larger families with more people gathering forest products realized more forest income. This study will be relevant to forest and environmental policy-makers as well as indigenous community development practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Forest community-based social movements are today assuming increasingly important roles in environmental governance in the world’s forests. As these “forest community stewards” promote local resource access and management, their organizations often take on greater internal complexity. This paper draws on the experience of the Association of Forest Communities of Petén (ACOFOP), Guatemala and the community-based concessions it serves to examine interactions among multiple forest activities, participants, interests and objectives in increasingly complex community-based organizations. Interntal interactions and tensions among multiple activities inevitably arise as these organizations seek to maintain their responsiveness and legitimacy amid rapidly changing social, political and environmental contexts. This paper suggests that rather than seek to eliminate tensions emerging from increased internal diversity and complexity, grassroots forest organizations should confront and manage these tensions to ensure continued viability while responding appropriately to moments of “structural choice”. Seeing these community-based forest organizations as social movement processes managed over time by their participants rather than as sets of static principles best designed a priori allows more accurate analysis of the complex factors that shape success or failure, and of how appropriate external support may be provided. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in Africa and has faced significant deforestation over the years. This paper seeks to examine the nature of the relationship between poverty and forests in Malawi. We try to answer three sets of questions: a) what is the extent of biomass available for meeting the energy needs of the poor in Malawi and how is this distributed? b) To what extent does fuelwood scarcity affect the welfare of the poor? And c) do households spend more time in fuelwood collection in response to scarcity? We answer these questions by matching household surveys with remote-sensing data. Our analyses suggest that biomass scarcity is associated with small but significantly lower household welfare, particularly for the rural poor. At current high levels of scarcity, 80% of rural poor households are likely to benefit from an increase in biomass in the community. Rural women spend more time on fuelwood collection where biomass is scarce. The small decrease in welfare associated with biomass scarcity suggests that households cope with scarcity in a variety of ways. Any effort to reduce degradation and deforestation in Malawi has to build on a clear understanding of household adaptation to fuelwood scarcity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A US Forest Service anthropologist seconded to USAID decided to try using Appreciative Inquiry in Liberia, where she was tasked with the design of the future USAID program investment in Liberia's forests. By convening a strengthfocused consultative process the message changes dramatically to one that builds on successes, honors local wisdom and opens doors to sustainable, lasting, positive change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wild animals have been a source of food and income through subsistence hunting by forest-dwelling people in Neotropical countries in spite of the fact that hunting appears to be unsustainable as it leads to the depletion of wild fauna. Laws in Brazil and other Latin American countries forbid hunting but allow the commercial use of captive-bred animals. Notwithstanding the fact that this is a controversial topic among conservationists, in this paper we propose that wildlife farming in the Neotropics can be an alternative to the over-hunting and deforestation that are carried out for the production of traditional food and pastures for livestock. This review sets out this proposal, and discusses the implications for tropical forest integrity and rural population dependency on forest resources. We discuss the ecological and economical advantages of wildlife farming and its constraints as a conservation tool, using collared peccary ( Pecari tajacu) farming in the Amazon region as a model. Productivity levels may reach 19,000 times higher than those obtained from the management of peccaries from forests in the Amazon region. This can be achieved with an easily obtainable diet composed of forest fruits and locally available agricultural by-products. Therefore, establishing captive management programs for peccaries is an effective way of avoiding wild stock depletion, deforestation, and guaranteeing the livelihood of forest dwellers in the Neotropics. However, it is essential that governmental and/or non-governmental agencies be involved in providing subsides to establish peccary farms, provide technical assistance, and introducing peccary captive breeding centers to supply founder stock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social forestry, involving local people in a benefit-sharing mechanism, has been introduced to Bangladesh as a remedy to stop rampant deforestation. To date, few studies designed to evaluate the performance of the social forestry program in Bangladesh have been conducted. The purpose of this study was to measure and compare the profitability of strip plantations from the viewpoint of both government and participants. Prior to social forestry, there were no government forests in the study areas located in the Bogra and Jessore Forest Divisions in Bangladesh. Since program implementation, strip plantations totaling 5,848.3 km2 have been grown in these areas. Although, in principle, these social forestry plantations are meant to be harvested after 10 years; after associated legal and administrative dilemmas, they have come to be harvested on a regular basis since 2000. Strip plantations in the study sites were profitable to participants, generating an increase in annual income. Taking net present value (NPV) and benefit cost ratio (BCR) into account, investment in this type of plantation is more profitable in Jessore than in Bogra. The NPV km-1 of the strip plantation was US$2,883 and US$1,331 in Jessore and Bogra, respectively, while the corresponding BCR values were 1.89 and 1.31. The Bogra respondents earned a greater financial return from the strip plantations than did those of Jessore, receiving on average, US$711 compared to US$439 in Jessore. The average return year-1 participant-1 from the strip plantation was US$44.5 (Bogra) and US$55 (Jessore), but 13 years were required for the total return to be realized. This added income is a significant contribution to local monetary resources and improves the socioeconomic conditions of the poor. The application of social forestry practices to strip plantations in Bangladesh could be a key factor in significantly reducing poverty and could also stem the rising tide of forest resource losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses both the social and environmental history of the frontier area south of the Bío Bío river in Chile, focusing especially on the 1934 Ránquil rebellion of rural mestizo and indigenous Mapuche laborers incited by Communist party Federación Obrera de Chile. It considers Chile's post-colonial government policy regarding the administration of frontier areas, its land settlement and land use policies, its forest policy, and the tradition of common land and land access in the southern frontier region.

The article focuses on the history of research on forest functions. Information on the most influential conceptualizations on forest functions including forestry science, political science and economics is also presented. It reports on the names used in 19th century to describe relationship between forestry and society, including forest uses, forest tasks and forest effects.

Forest species have great economic and social importance, offering various products as wood and non-timber fundamental to society. In this context, the search for new technologies that promote increase in productivity of commercial forests has received special attention and biotechnology has contributed substantially to this. This branch of science can promote direct modification of the genome of a target organism, through the analysis and manipulation of DNA genome or by insertion of fragments of the same with known function and thus to achieve desired characteristics, such as resistance to diseases and pests, lignin reduction in wood and generation of plants tolerant to different kinds of stresses. This review aims at reporting techniques for the generation of genetically modified trees, applications of genetic transformation in forest species, risks of using this technology and its potential environmental impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Afforestation has many benefits at the local regional and global scale. The local social impacts of planting new forests, however, depend on a variety of contextual factors and other details including who is doing the planting, which species are being planted, the location of the planting and, perhaps most importantly, existing land uses and their linkage to social and economic circumstances. This article presents case study research into these issues in two places in County Kerry Ireland. Utilising the concept of the differentiated landscape, we examine the somewhat varying social responses to afforestation in the two study sites in light of the different environmental and social and economic circumstances in the two adjacent areas. We conclude that a more locally nuanced approach to forest planting than has been common in the past could well create greater social acceptance of future afforestation and benefits accruing from it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]