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In light of the large volumes of pine killed in the interior forests of British Columbia (BC) by the mountain pine beetle, many forest sector participants are keen to employ forest biomass as an energy source. To assess the feasibility of a wood biomass-fired power plant in the BC interior, it is necessary to know both how much physical biomass might be available over the life of a plant and its location as transportation cost is likely to be a major operating cost for any facility. To address these issues, we construct a mathematical programming model of fiber flows in the Quesnel Timber Supply Area of BC over a 25-year time horizon. The focus of the model is on minimizing the cost of supplying feedstock through space and time. Results indicate that over the life of the project, feedstock costs will more than double, increasing from $54.60/bone-dry tonnes (BDt) ($0.039/kWh) to $116.14/BDt ($0.083/kWh). En raison de l'important volume de pins dévastés par le dendroctone du pin ponderosa dans les forêts de l'intérieur de la Colombie-Britannique (BC), de nombreux participants du secteur forestier sont désireux d'utiliser la biomasse forestière comme source d'énergie. Pour évaluer la faisabilité d'une centrale alimentée à la biomasse ligneuse à l'intérieur de la Colombie-Britannique, il faut connaître la quantité de biomasse disponible pendant la durée de vie de la centrale ainsi que l'emplacement de cette biomasse étant donné que les coûts de transport risquent de représenter des coûts d'exploitation importants pour n'importe quelle installation. Afin d'examiner ces aspects, nous avons élaboré un modèle de programmation mathématique de l'approvisionnement en matière ligneuse dans la zone d'approvisionnement forestier de Quesnel en Colombie-Britannique, sur un horizon de 25 ans. Le modèle visait principalement à réduire le coût liéà l'approvisionnement en matière première à travers l'espace et le temps. D'après nos résultats, les coûts de la matière première feront plus que doubler au cours de la durée du projet, passant de 54,60 $/tonne anhydre (t.a.) (0,039 $/kWh) à 116,14 $/t.a. (0,083 $/kWh). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discusses various articles within the issue on topics including interaction between the forest and agricultural systems, linkages between income and deforestation, and the demand for global wood energy.

A number of near-term timber supply shocks are projected to impact global forest product markets, particularly mountain pine beetle induced timber reductions, a Russian log export tax, and timber supply increases from plantation forests in the Southern Hemisphere and Sweden. We examined their effect on a number of global jurisdictions using a dynamic global forest products trade model that separates British Columbia (BC) into coastal and interior forest sectors. The results suggest that global increases in plantation timber would have negligible effects on BC log and lumber markets, that the Russian tax would have minor effects on this market, and that the beetle-induced timber supply drop would moderately increase BC prices (primarily log prices). In the United States South, lumber and log prices could rise as a result of the mountain pine beetle, while other shocks will have a negligible impact on prices. Yet, lumber production will fall because log prices will increase substantially more than lumber prices. Japan could be impacted much more than other regions by the Russian tax on log exports. In the absence of export taxes, a beetle-induced timber shortage would cause lumber production in Japan to rise (as Japan can access nearby Russian logs), while the export tax would reduce lumber production because log prices rise disproportionately more than in other regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has three main objectives: (i) to investigate whether the four-quadrant approach introduced by J.S. Maini reveals a useful typology for grouping countries by gross domestic product (GDP) and forest cover per capita, (ii) to determine if the framework can enhance our understanding of the relationship between forest cover and GDP per capita, and (iii) to investigate why countries in the four-quadrant world occupy different quadrants and to determine the principal factors affecting country movement across and within the individual quadrants. The examination reveals that countries can be classified into four broad categories and that GDP and forest cover per capita have a low but consistent level of negative association. After regressing economic, institutional, social capital, and other variables on a country’s occupancy and movement in the four-quadrant world, the results suggest that countries in each quadrant share different characteristics and that factors underlying country movement vary according to the quadrant being observed. Overall, countries with less corruption and higher education are likely to experience increases in both forest cover and GDP per capita, while countries exporting a significant proportion of forest products have a reduced probability of increasing both variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]