Smallholder oil palm farmers have been pivotal in Indonesia's Crude Palm Oil (CPO) production for decades. However, their plantations lag behind private and government estates in terms of productivity. Moreover, these farmers often resort to unsustainable practices. Replanting presents a viable solution to enhance sustainability by bolstering yields and mitigating harmful practices. The Indonesian government, through the Palm Oil Fund Management Agency (BPDPKS), offers subsidies for replanting to incentivize farmers to implement replanting. However, replanting program uptake remains low. This study aims to investigate factors underlying the smallholders' propensity to engage in replanting by examining (1) their intention (stated preference) to replant their oil palm plantation with the financing scheme from BPDPKS, and (2) their actual replanting implementation (revealed preference). Combining survey data with in-depth interviews, the research identifies three key factors influencing their decision: a lack of funds and financing access, difficulties in obtaining land ownership certificate and business registration certificates, and challenges to meet the sustainable palm oil certification. Encouraging smallholders to participate in the replanting program is crucial for curbing further land expansion, as this expansion poses a significant threat of encroachment upon forests and protected areas. Findings from the analysis of both intention and actual implementation provide valuable insights into smallholders' perspectives on replanting, underlining the need for comprehensive policy development and implementation. This will secure full engagement with smallholder farmers in replanting program, which offers a critical path to prevent further loss of nature, particularly forested area, due to land expansion for oil palm plantations.

The U.S.-Canada softwood lumber dispute stands as the most protracted trade conflict between the two countries, with its history dating back to the early 1980s. U.S. lumber producers claim that Canadian lumber imports are unfairly subsidized, thereby, harming the domestic lumber industry. The U.S. has imposed countervailing and antidumping duties on Canadian softwood lumber imports to protect the domestic market. An important aspect of this trade dispute is the substitutability of lumber products between the two countries. Canadian lumber imports are detrimental to the U.S. industry only when the products are substitutes. In such a scenario, the imposition of trade restrictions would have a significant influence on the domestic market. Motivated by this consideration, we investigate dynamic relationships between prices for Spruce-Pine-Fir, a softwood species primarily imported from Canada, and Southern Yellow Pine, one of the most popular softwood species domestically produced in the U.S. We apply threshold models in an evaluation of the degree of substitutability. Our empirical findings indicate that within the +/−3.4 % price differential band, the two lumber products demonstrate a higher degree of substitutability.

The emergence of green consumerism has contributed to the rise of farms which hold out as tree planters for absorbing CO2. A preliminary survey of the literature on tree farms and town planning practice of Western Australia found that there is scepticism regarding the credibility of these tree farms and an absence of an information flow system that rewards the credible private tree farmers. From a Coasian neoinstitutional economic (NIE) perspective, there is therefore the potential for devising rules that can enlarge an existing market or industry. This short commentary maps the current information flow system in the tree planting industry and proposes an improved system based on voluntary disclosure of tree planting data by tree farms in the planning permission system.

As the overall demand for wood-based products continues to grow, questions arise on how local wood resources and industry characteristics can effectively meet this growing demand. In the European Union (EU) 550 million m3 of wood is harvested annually, and is to a large extent processed by the wood industry. Little is known about the interplay between industrial capacity and the regional availability of timber resources. We compared the capacities from the European Forest Industry Facilities Database (EUFID) with the estimated wood supply from the procurement areas around processing industries, calculated using a spatially explicit resource model (EFISCEN-Space). We found that the estimated total capacity for the available European countries is 427 M m3 roundwood equivalent (rw. Eq.) for pulp and paper (including both virgin and recycled fibres), 102 M m3 for bioenergy (only bioenergy plants), and 153 M m3 for sawmills. We then conducted an in-depth analysis of three case studies: Norway, the Czech Republic, and Germany. Given the current probability of trees being harvested (excluding disturbances) and the hypothetical optimal grading of the logs, the volume for each assortment type is closely aligned with the current capacity of each industry branch, indicating no overcapacity. We found undersupply of softwood of 3.4 M m3 for the Czech Republic, 1.5 M m3 for Norway, and 3.8 M m3 for Germany. At the same time, in Germany, we found an oversupply of hardwood of 3.0 M m3. Additionally, a substantial amount of biomass graded as bioenergy was found for Germany and the Czech Republic, potentially serving as fuelwood in households. Concerning wood procurement areas, we concluded that a fixed radius of 100 km from the facility limited the availability of raw material procurement, particularly for bioenergy and pulp and paper mills, suggesting that these two product chains use a broader procurement basin than sawlogs. This study provides a high-resolution, spatially explicit modelling methodology for assessing the interaction between potential wood harvest and industrial processing capacity, which can support projections of sustainable development of the forest industry.

Private forests play an important role in biodiversity conservation. Countries utilize various mechanisms for integrating private forests into biodiversity conservation strategies. While voluntary private forest conservation of biodiversity dominates in Nordic Europe countries, in Latvia the involuntary approach remains the main biodiversity conservation path. We aimed to explore the attitude of Latvian forest owners towards existing forest biodiversity conservation mechanisms, and preferences regarding potential motivating mechanisms. Our survey (analysis of 599 responses) was targeted on forest owners who had experienced biodiversity conservation related restrictions under involuntary conservation and who owned forest properties with significant biodiversity values. Our results suggested that owners of small forest properties under 5 ha, who are less financially dependent on forestry income and lack forestry education, as well as female forest owners, are more positive towards biodiversity conservation measures. Our results showed that most forest owners were not ready to accept substantial forestry restrictions. However, they would be ready to accept minor forestry restrictions such as no felling during bird breeding season and obligation of retention of a greater number of ecologically important trees and deadwood. Most forest owners considered the existing compensation system (annual payments) to be unfair. However, our results did not reveal larger acceptance for a voluntary conservation approach, as opposed to the existing system. Provision of information regarding biodiversity conservation in forest management remains a crucial task, however it primarily should be addressed through the forestry education system and forestry institution information channels.

The forestry industry, with its high resource dependence, long production cycles, and extensive development modes, lags behind other industries in terms of innovation. This study examines the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on product innovation in China's forest products industry. We use data from 146,526 forest products enterprises spanning the years 1998 to 2013, merged with patent application records from the China National Patent Database, and employ a two-way fixed effects model. Our estimates show that a 10 % increase in FDI is associated with a 0.86 % increase in patent applications, a smaller effect than in other industries. In particular, we examine how this positive effect of FDI on innovation is affected by the specific production and layout features of the forest products industry. We find that this effect is greater in regions rich in forest resources and non-coastal areas. Additionally, enterprises in this industry often focus on strategic innovations, such as product design, rather than substantial technological change, with innovation priorities differing across sub-sectors. Mechanism analyses reveal that FDI promotes innovation in forest products enterprises by increasing R&D investments, optimizing the marketing environment, and alleviating financial constraints. Extended analyses indicate significant spillover effects of FDI-driven innovation across the industry, especially between the upstream and downstream segments of the supply chain. We advise the global forest products industry to consider these unique production and layout features in their development strategies, and suggest a reorientation of government innovation policies toward long-term goals.

Planting trees with additional non-timber products (NTFPs) (such as fruits) in agricultural lands is emerging as an important strategy in Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) to enhance the provision of ecosystem services and improve habitat quality. In many cases, the planting of NTFP trees follows a transition from collecting NTFPs in natural forests to integrating the respective trees into agricultural farms with ecological and socio-economic implications. Therefore, understanding the current practice and challenges of current NTFP collection and willingness for cultivation is crucial to effectively use such land-use trajectories for FLR. In this study, we investigate the case of Caesalpinia spinosa (tara), whose fruits provide an emerging NTFP in southern Ecuador. Using household data from 125 households currently collecting tara fruits, we first describe the relatively young production system and then use a Heckman two-step econometric model to identify the factors influencing the expressed willingness to cultivate tara trees on farms and the area to be cultivated. The econometric model results show that the characteristics of tara collection and trade (gender of collectors, distance to the collection site, and management practices) are important determinants of tara cultivation. However, it's the household labor availability and farm characteristics that play a significant role in impacting the willingness to cultivate. The area to be cultivated was mainly influenced by household labor and economic characteristics, and tara collection and trade (management practices) characteristics. Our findings help to understand NTFP-related land-use transitions, thus supporting the design of appropriate and specific policy interventions for the sustainable development of NTFPs.

There is a growing call for comparative analyses of forest governance to facilitate knowledge exchange for the sustainable management of Nordic forest systems, addressing the needs of societal stakeholders in enhancing both the quality and quantity of forest resources. This study traces the development of nation-wide policy instruments implemented in four Nordic countries; Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark between 1970 and 2023, based on interviews among forest policy scholars and other research experts. Using an analytical framework that highlights the relations between policy intervention, change, impact, and learning, we compare central government practices and private actor initiatives in the Nordic countries that address the ecological, social, and economic values of forests. We find a common trend towards multifunctionality and soft governance as well as differences in the use of economic instruments and certification standardization. This study also considers insights into developments in Nordic forest governance, the enabling and impeding factors for past trends and outcomes and discusses the learning of this change towards equity in the multifunctional use of forests.

The issues of unbalanced and inadequate energy development in rural China remain prominent, particularly in areas rich in natural resources, such as nature reserves, where households still tend to rely on traditional energy utilization modes. On one hand, the traditional use of firewood for energy results in low energy efficiency and indoor air pollution; On the other hand, it exacerbates problems such as habitat degradation for wildlife and environmental collapse. Although previous studies have explored rural energy source utilization from varies of aspects, there are still limitations in examining the impact of ecological cognition on household behaviors from a spatial correlation perspective. This study conducts a field survey of rural households in the giant panda nature reserves in Sichuan and Shaanxi Provinces to explore the impact of ecological cognition on rural households' firewood collection behaviors. By incorporating a spatial weight matrix, the study further analyzes the spatial spillover effects and the spatial heterogeneity of ecological cognition on rural households' firewood collection. The results show that: (1) ecological cognition significantly reduces firewood collection behaviors; (2) household income also decreases the consumption of firewood energy; (3) ecological cognition exhibits spatial spillover effects on rural households' firewood collection, indicating that household ecological cognition can impact surrounding households' ecological cognition and indirectly affect their firewood collection behaviors; and (4) significant spatial heterogeneity exists inside and outside the protected area. Ecological cognition significantly influences the firewood utilization of rural households within protected areas through spatial spillover effects, whereas its impact outside the protected areas is minimal. Strengthening forest ecological education to further raise ecological awareness, focusing on low-income households to provide energy subsidies, and utilizing the spatial spillover effects to enhance information dissemination channels are recommended for policy implications.