Forest Estate Research Articles

A decade and half of Ghana’s trade in African Mahogany: A Review

This paper sought to review Ghana’s performance with regard to trade in African mahogany from 2001 to 2015. The studyassessed the volume, types of product exported, extent of product innovation and export destinations of the species and woodproducts in general. From the results, the highest export volume was recorded in 2007 (32,149m3) and the least of 14,082m3in 2001. The timber industry was mainly involved in secondary processing of mahogany as veneer, block board, air and kilndried lumber and plywood. Tertiary processing was comparatively low and products like floorings and furniture parts were rarelyexported. The major markets were in Europe, Africa, America, Asia and the Middle East. Considering the depletion of thisimportant timber species in the national forest estate and its attendant loss of revenue, Ghana should vigorously restock degradedareas and incentivize mills engaged in tertiary processing of timber species.

Failing to conserve Leadbeater's Possum and its Mountain Ash forest habitat

ABSTRACT The conservation of the Critically Endangered Leadbeater's Possum Gymnobelideus leadbeateri in Victoria's Mountain Ash Eucalyptus regnans forests is one of the most controversial native mammal conservation issues in Australia. Much of the controversy results from long-running conflicts between the demands of the native forest logging industry and associated impacts on Leadbeater's Possum and its Mountain Ash forest habitat. Here we argue that despite a legislative obligation to protect Leadbeater's Possum and some limited recent improvements in management, conservation efforts for the species have gone backwards over the past decade. The key problems we identify include that the Victorian Government has: (1) maintained levels of wood production that are too high given the amount of the forest estate that was burned in 2009, (2) failed to substitute clearfell logging practices with more ecologically-sensitive Variable Retention Harvesting Systems, (3) ignored the science (including by its own rese...

Divergent assemblage patterns and driving forces for bacterial and fungal communities along a glacier forefield chronosequence

Despite the ubiquitous distributions and critical ecological functions of microorganisms in pedogenesis and ecosystem development in recently deglaciated areas, there are contrasting successional trajectories among bacteria and fungi, but the driving forces of community assembly still remain poorly resolved. In this study, we analyzed both bacterial and fungal lineages associated with seven different stages in the Hailuogou Glacier Chronosequence, to quantify their taxonomic composition and successional dynamics, and to decipher the relative contribution from the bottom-up control of soil nutrients and altered vegetation as well as top-down pressures from nematode grazers. Co-occurrence networks showed that the community complexity for both bacteria and fungi typically peaked at the middle chronosequence stages. The overlapping nodes mainly belonged to Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria in bacteria, and Ascomycota and Basidiomycota in fungi, which was further supported by the indicator species analysis. Variation in partitioning and structural equation modeling suggested that edaphic properties were the primary agents shaping microbial community structures, especially at the early stages. The importance of biotic factors, including plant richness and nematode feeding, increased during the last two stages along with the establishment of a coniferous forest, eventually governing the turnover of fungal communities. Moreover, bacterial communities exhibited a more compact network topology during assembly, thus supporting determinism, whereas the looser clustering of fungal communities illustrated that they were determined more by stochastic processes. These pieces of evidence collectively reveal divergent successional trajectories and driving forces for soil bacterial and fungal communities along a glacier forefield chronosequence.

Benchmarking forest health surveillance and biosecurity activities for managing Australia’s exotic forest pest and pathogen risks

ABSTRACTA review of current forest health surveillance and biosecurity surveillance activities and programs in Australia was conducted, including a grower survey, followed by benchmarking against the New Zealand system. We define forest health surveillance (e.g. in plantations) as activities dealing with endemic or established non-indigenous pests, and biosecurity surveillance (e.g. at high risk sites at ports) as dealing with exotic pests not established in Australia. Australia has a robust biosecurity system, which includes a range of pre-border, at-border and post-border activities that aim to reduce the risk of pests and diseases arriving, entering and establishing in Australia. Although forestry has been well served pre-border and at the border, there are gaps in post-border forest biosecurity activities, largely due to the agri-centric nature of state biosecurity agencies, but also due to a reluctance by the forest industry to engage in biosecurity. New Zealand has a world-leading forest biosecurity surveillance system, largely funded by industry which is engaged directly in forest biosecurity. In contrast, while Australia has a comprehensive forest health surveillance program (funded by industry), there is minimal direct funding of forest biosecurity surveillance by industry and negligible direct engagement by industry in biosecurity. There are opportunities for industry members to be more involved in biosecurity, directly through day-to-day operations they already undertake (i.e. within their plantations), but also at a national level. Coordination of current forest health surveillance activities, including appointing a national coordinator, was identified by industry as a high priority, as was the standardisation of forest health surveillance data collection, development of a coordinated national forest biosecurity surveillance program and training of industry staff. Finally, we identified a need for involvement from other forest stakeholders in biosecurity, especially environmental agencies that manage the majority of the native forest estate. The National Forest Biosecurity Surveillance Strategy addresses these opportunities for improving forest biosecurity.

Strukturna pestrost gozdnih sestojev na Pahernikovi gozdni posesti

On Pahernik's forest estate it is possible to monitor the effects and success of at least half a century of forest management with uneven-aged forests. Based on the data from the control sampling method and the laser scanning of Slovenia, we assessed the structural diversity of forest stands with indicators and indices of stand densities, species and structural diversity of the DBH classes, the stand height classes and their heights. We compared land use in cadastral municipalities where Pahernik property is located (Vuhred, Planina, Orlica and Hudi Kot) in 1825, with land use from 2017. In all of the analyzed cadastral municipalities, the forest area share in land cover grew in the period from the 19th to 21st century. Forest cover increased by 21 % between 1825 and 2014 on Pahernik property as a whole. Differences in stand densities and in stand diversity indices between the stands where forest was not present in the 19th century and the stands on persistently forested lands were not statistically significant. In the prevalent forest site type montane and altimontane Fagus sylvatica forests on silicate bedrock we estimated that growing stock was by 20 % higher than in comparable forests of this site type elsewhere in Slovenia. At higher growing stocks and high values of indices of DBH variability in forests at Pahernik's forest estate, the estimated stand densities SDI were not higher than in forests of comparable forest site types. We estimated differences in height and structure of stand canopy according to the gradients of height classes, which have an impact on forest management within the individual forest type.

Biometric Estimation of Carbon Storage in Hevea brasiliensis Planted in Different Densities

Carbon pool can be found in all four spheres of earth and the flux of carbon from one pool to another would result in climate change. An increased awareness to offset release of carbon in the atmosphere is emphasized in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change through Kyoto Protocol. The establishment of rubber forest for the purpose of reducing atmospheric carbon is one of the options to sequester carbon in addition to benefitting from timber harvests at the end of crop rotation. The study analysed carbon concentration and carbon content in all plant parts of eleven-years-old rubber clones; RRIM 2020 and RRIM 2025 planted in four planting densities; 500, 1000, 1500 and 2000 plants/ha. Carbon concentration was found the highest in leaf of RRIM 2020 at 500 plants/ha density (53.3% 0.2%). This could be explained by the presence of photosynthetic activity and the resulted high amount of lignin. Carbon content is found the highest in large branch of RRIM 2020 at 500 plants/ha density (93.04 ± 11.22 kg), because of the high biomass weight of large branch and the abundant amount of lignocellulosic material. Trend analysis of total carbon sequestered in plant parts with planting density was found to be in negative pattern; quadratic and cubic regression for RRIM 2020 and RRIM 2025, respectively. However when total carbon content per hectare was calculated it was found that carbon content was the highest at 1500 plants/ha density (140.355 ± 9888 kg, clone RRIM 2025). Even though high density planting gave higher carbon sequestration per hectare, planting at 500 plants/ha is still recommended as this gives more biomass weight to rubber plant parts and thus subsequently benefits the timber industry.

Organisation of procurement in wood supply chain: Improvement of possibilities in the South Morava Forest Area

The procurement process is of great importance for the business success of the company. The effectiveness of a business depends to a great extent on the ability to use the environment in the procurement of resources necessary for functioning. The aim of the research is to identify the main problems in forest management in the South Morava Forest Area (SMFA), in the production and sales of beech roundwood, as well as to determinate the characteristics of the companies and the organization of the raw materials procurement process. The data were collected in the period 2014- 2017, by surveying 13 representatives of small and medium enterprises and 1 large company and interviewing 5 employees of Forest Estate ?Vranje? (Public enterprise ?Srbijasume?). The current situation in the SMFA is characterized by an unfavourable structure of beech coppice forests, inadequate forest openness and low wood mobilization from private forests. Analyzed companies are, mostly, micro and small (79.0%), founded (64.3%) less than 10 years ago, and 50% of them are engaged in sawmill and wood processing. All companies purchase and use beech technical roundwood. Wood raw material is purchased from the public and private sectors. Transport of raw materials is carried out through intermediaries (92.9%) and on ?bad? and ?very bad? (71.0%) infrastructure. However, the majority (92.9%) of them are ?partially satisfied? and ?satisfied? with the quantity and quality of delivered raw materials. There is a significant presence (86.0%) of enterprises, which, in addition to technical roundwood, procure and use other wood products (fibreboards and other reproduction materials) from suppliers from other regions. Based on the analysis of all collected data, places for improvement of wood raw materials procurement and the weaknesses of existing supply chains have been defined, as well as the proposals for improving the organization of the procurement of wood raw materials at SMFA.

Katastrofalni ledolomi u istočnoj Srbiji - GIS analiza uslovljenosti orografskim karateristikama

At the end of November/beginning of December 2014, an ice wave hit the whole of Eastern Serbia and caused extensive ice and snow breaks in the forest areas managed by SE `Srbijašume` - Forest Estates of Niš, Boljevac, Kruševac, Despotovac and Kučevo. The areas affected were determined by identifying all the affected units of forest division - with the lowest accuracy at the level of forest stands and, where possible by GPS recording in the field in order to ensure greater accuracy. The identified areas were presented in GIS mapping software. The total area affected by ice breaks amounted to 19,419.78 ha. It included 8,301.01 ha of high forests, 8,997.37 ha of coppice forests and 2,121.40 ha of artificially-established stands. Considering the size of the forest area affected by ice breaks on the one hand, and the huge environmental impact of forests on the other hand, this phenomenon may be considered a natural disaster. Having identified the affected forest areas, an analysis of the relationship between orographic characteristics and ice break occurrence was carried out with the use of GIS tools. The following orographic characteristics were studied: the elevation, the terrain aspect and the slope, all obtained from the digital elevation model (DEM) at a resolution of 1 arc-second. Elevation had the greatest influence on the occurrence of ice breaks. The largest area affected (ca.17,000 ha) was in the range from 600 to 900 m above sea level, i.e. in the belt of low-mountain relief. Regarding the aspect of the investigated terrain, the largest areas affected by ice breaks had northern (ca. 4,000 ha) and northeastern aspects (ca. 3,500 ha), while the remaining areas were equally distributed in all other aspects. The slope was not found to have any significant effects on the occurrence of ice breaks. This disaster brought about most severe and extensive consequences in broad-leaved and coniferous ecosystems and the environment in general, with long-term adverse effects such as changing soil water regimes, erosion, declining atmospheric oxygen levels and reduced carbon accumulated in biomass.

Case studies on causative factors for the establishment of hardwood or mixed forests in naturally regenerating Japanese larch stands.

Case studies on causative factors for the establishment of hardwood or mixed forests in naturally regenerating Japanese larch stands.

A participatory approach to elucidate the consequences of land invasions on REDD+ initiatives: A case study with Indigenous communities in Panama.

Land tenure and tenure security are among the most important factors determining the viability and success of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) initiatives. The premise of the present paper is that territorial conflicts lead to forest loss and compromise the successful implementation of REDD+. Within this context, the main objectives of this paper are to (i) document, relying on participatory methods, the extent to which land conflicts drive deforestation and (ii) reflect on the legal context of REDD+ examining if, from an Indigenous perspective, it offers tools to resolve such conflicts. We used the Upper Bayano Watershed in eastern Panama as a case study of complex land tenure dynamics, and their effects on forest conservation in the context of REDD+. Combining a range of participatory methods including participatory mapping and forest carbon stock assessment, we estimated the consequences of land invasions on forest carbon stocks. Our analysis shows that invasions of Indigenous territories amounted to 27.6% of the total deforestation for the period of 2001–2014. The situation is of paramount concern in the Embera territory of Majé where 95.4% of total deforestation was caused by colonist invaders. Using and validating the maps made freely available by the Global Forest Change initiative of the University of Maryland, we then developed a reference level for the watershed and carried out a back of the envelop estimation of likely REDD+ revenue, showing its potential to bring much needed income to Indigenous communities striving to protect their forest estate. Our analysis of current legislation in Panama highlights confusion and important legal voids and emphasizes the strong links between land tenure, carbon ownership, and territorial invasions. The options and shortcoming of implementing REDD+ in Indigenous territories is discussed in the conclusion taking our legal review into account.

A simulation-based approach to assess forest policy options under biotic and abiotic climate change impacts: A case study on Scotland's National Forest Estate

The future provision of forest goods and ecosystem services is dependent, among other factors, on climate change impacts, forest management, and response to forest policies. To assess policy implementation targets for Scotland's National Forest Estate under climate change, we simulated forest growth through the 21st century - with and without the abiotic impacts of climate change, and with and without the biotic impacts of an important fungal disease. Eight different forest management trajectories were simulated under a climate projection, to assess the future provision of forest ecosystem goods and services. Climate change was represented by the IPCC RCP 4.5 projection, and the biotic impact of Dothistroma needle blight was predicted using a new vulnerability matrix. Indicators of three important goods and services: timber production, standing biomass, and biodiversity were measured in the simulation of forest growth and reported at decadal intervals using dynamically linked forest models. We found that both a broadleaved species trajectory and a Forest Enterprise Scotland selected species trajectory would improve standing biomass and biodiversity, but slightly reduce timber volume. Dothistroma needle blight could reduce standing biomass (by up to 3tha−1) and timber volume (by up to 5m3ha−1), but the predicted impact is dependent on the type of forest management trajectory. Our findings show opportunities for diversifying forest management and tree species – and at the same time supporting forest policy to improve forest resilience under uncertain climate change and Dothistroma impacts. The forest simulation has been used to demonstrate and evaluate national strategic delivery of multi-purpose forest benefits in Scotland, and how species and management might be targeted regionally in Forest Districts, to maintain achievable national targets for timber production, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity under climate change.

Forest history, peatland development and mid- to late Holocene environmental change in the southern taiga forest of central European Russia

AbstractUnderstanding the long-term ecological dynamics of boreal forests is essential for assessment of the possible responses and feedbacks of forest ecosystems to climate change. New data on past forest dynamics and peatland development were obtained from a peat sequence in the southern Valdai Hills (European Russia) based on pollen, plant macrofossil, micro-charcoal, peat humification, and testate amoeba analyses. The results demonstrate a dominance of broadleaved forests in the study area from 7000–4000 cal yr BP. Picea was initially a minor component of this forest but increased in cover rapidly with climatic cooling beginning at 4000 cal yr BP, becoming the dominant species. Broadleaved species persisted until 900 cal yr BP, with evidence for intensified felling and forest management over recent centuries. Over the last four hundred years there is evidence for widespread paludification and the establishment of Picea-Sphagnum forests. These data demonstrate how modern wet woodlands have been shaped by a combination of climatic and anthropogenic factors over several millennia. The results also demonstrate the value of a multiproxy approach in understanding long-term forest ecology.

The comparatively examination on some bio-ecological properties of two scot pine forests on Koyulhisar, Sivas

Scots pine forest properties will help us in obtaining information about how to use the forests within the system and about their capacity, as well as learning their bio-ecological features. Such information will support the knowledge about their protection and use conditions. This study aims to reveal the bio-ecological characteristics of the Igdırdag and Sisorta scots pine forests in Koyulhisar. Also, to compare two scots pine forests in terms of their characteristics. Five stations were determined in each forest. The geographic position was determined with GPS and 15 scots pines were randomly selected for each station. The age, the bark thickness, the tree height and the diameter were measured. The amount of accumulated litter on the soil surface and the physical properties of soil were also determined in the laboratory. Sisorta scots pine forest had higher elevation and lower slope, and also, scots pine tree in Sisorta has larger diamter. In terms of soil properties, the soil of Igdırdag scots pine forest had higher lime content than Sisorta scots pine forest. Aspect of each station in two forests is different from each other. The two forests had similar properties for scots pine properties except diameter. Similarly, soil properties except lime content show homogeneity. Aspect and slope of each station could be cause those differences. The more researcher stated that shading aspect is positively effect on site index for different species. In conclusion, Koyulhisar scots pine forests is healty. The increasing human population has a negative impact on the forest and the establishment of new forests is unavoidable.

13,000 years of forest history in the Río Manso Inferior Valley, Northern Patagonia. Fire-vegetation-humans links

Paleoenvironmental studies provide both climate and habitat scenarios for Archeology. The archaeological background of the Argentine Patagonian forest environments is still not well-known. However, thanks to the undertaken palaeoenvironmental studies some processes are now much better understood. This paper focus on the forest history of Río Manso valley during the last 13,000years, with special reference to the dynamics of humid forest structure and composition, depicted from pollen and charcoal analyses. Subsequently, the archaeological records are considered to investigate the human occupation of the valley. Our evidences showed that during Late-Glacial and Early Holocene a highly diverse humid Nothofagus forest was frequently disturbed by high severity fires. The change to a closed forest with a reduced understory began at ca. 10,600calyrBP under less severity fires. The expansion of Austrocedrus chilensis with the establishment of the mixed forest under a regime of more frequent fires occurred at ca. 3500calyrBP. Scrubland expanded favored by frequent and high severity fires dramatically changing the landscape appearance by ca. 750calyrBP. Although archaeological data indicate human presence in the valley since ca. 8200calyrBP it is not until Late Holocene that a clear occupation is detected. Groups of hunter-gatherers with high mobility started a more intense use of the forest at ca.1700calyrBP. Throughout the Holocene the forest appears to be sensitive to fire perturbations, making it difficult to discern between climatic or anthropic causes. Therefore, the influence of native people in the vegetation dynamic of the Río Manso valley is still under debate. Clear evidence of human impact is observed later on, when European colonization started at the end of 19th century.

Human-environment interaction during the Mesolithic- Neolithic transition in the NE Iberian Peninsula. Vegetation history, climate change and human impact during the Early-Middle Holocene in the Eastern Pre-Pyrenees

The synthetic analysis of several pollen records from sub-Mediterranean lowland Pre-Pyrenean regions evidences expansion of forests during the Early Holocene in Northeastern Iberia and the establishment of dense deciduous broadleaf forests during the Holocene Climate Optimum. Pollen records show the broadleaf deciduous forests resilience against cooling phases during the Mid-Holocene period, with slight regressions of oak woodlands and expansion of conifers or xerophytic taxa contemporary to some cooling episodes (i.e. 8.2 and 7.2 kyr cal. BP). Major vegetation changes influenced by climate change occurred in the transition to the Late Holocene, in terms of the start of a succession from broadleaf deciduous forests to evergreen sclerophyllous woodlands.The lack of evidence of previous occupation seems to support the Neolithisation of the NE Iberian Peninsula as a result of a process of migration of farming populations to uninhabited or sparsely inhabited territories. In that context, remarkable changes in vegetation were recorded from 7.3 kyr cal. BP onwards in the Lake Banyoles area, where the establishment of permanent farming settlements caused the deforestation of oak woodlands. In La Garrotxa region, short deforestation episodes affecting broadleaf deciduous forests, together with expansion of grasslands and presence of Cerealia-t were documented in the period 7.4–6.0 kyr cal. BP. Finally, in the coastal area, where less evidence of Early Neolithic occupations is recorded, evidence of Neolithic impact is reflected in the presence of Cerealia-t in 6.5–6.2 kyr cal. BP, but no strong human transformation of landscape was carried out until more recent chronologies.

SITE CLASSIFICATION FOR EUCALYPT STANDS USING ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK BASED ON ENVIRONMENTAL AND MANAGEMENT FEATURES

ABSTRACT Several methods have been proposed to perform site classification for timber production. However, there is frequent need to assess site productive capacity before forest establishment. This has motivated the application of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) for site classification. Hereby, the traditional guide curve (GC) procedure was compared to the ANN with no stand measures as input. In addition, different ANN settings were tested to assess the best setting. The variables used to train the ANN were: climatic variables, soil types, spacing and genetic material. The results from the ANN and the GC methods were compared to the observed classes, which were defined using the observed dominant high at the age of seven years. The comparison was performed using the Kappa coefficient (K) and descriptive analysis. The results showed that the cost function “Cross Entropy” and the output activation function “Softmax” were the best for this purpose. The ANN classification resulted in substantial agreement with the observed indices against a moderate agreement of the GC procedure. The change in growth patterns throughout the rotation may have hindered the proper classification by the CG method, which does not happen with the ANN. Moreover, the GC method shows efficiency on classification in cases which data from stands at the age close to the reference age are available. Also, it could be possible to improve its accuracy if another advanced regression techniques were applied. However, the ANN method presented here is not sensible to growth instability and allows classifying sites with no plantation history.

Did Sea-Level Changes Affect the Brazilian Amazon Forest during the Holocene?

ABSTRACTIn order to contribute to the discussion of Holocene climate changes, four sediment cores were collected from the northern Brazilian Amazonia lowland. These cores were studied through pollen analysis and sedimentary features, and the results were discussed within a chronological framework provided by radiocarbon dating. The cores were sampled from fluvial terraces representative of channel, floodplain/lake and crevasse splay deposits formed since the mid-Holocene. The pollen samples derive from floodplain/lake deposits and the pollen grains are mainly composed by families Moraceae, Euphorbiaceae, Caesalpiniaceae, Fabaceae, Rubiaceae, Melastomataceae, Combretaceae, Sapindaceae, Poaceae, Cyperaceae, Aizoaceae, Apiaceae and genusSebastiana. The pollen data suggest no significant vegetation changes in the study area for the past 4808–4886 cal yr BP. This led to proposing stable climatic conditions since at least the middle Holocene. Such a finding is contrary to the occurrence of a dry period during the middle Holocene. The stabilization of the relative sea level about 6000 cal yr BP along the northern Brazilian littoral may have influenced the water table, and favored the establishment and maintenance of Amazonian lowland forest during the mid- and late Holocene. In addition, this process may have attenuated the impact of that dry period in areas under most fluvial influence.

The last glacial termination on the eastern flank of the central Patagonian Andes (47 ° S)

Abstract. Few studies have examined in detail the sequence of events during the last glacial termination (T1) in the core sector of the Patagonian Ice Sheet (PIS), the largest ice mass in the Southern Hemisphere outside of Antarctica. Here we report results from Lago Edita (47°8′ S, 72°25′ W, 570 m a.s.l.), a small closed-basin lake located in a valley overridden by eastward-flowing Andean glaciers during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The Lago Edita record shows glaciolacustrine sedimentation until 19 400 yr BP, followed by organic sedimentation in a closed-basin lake and a mosaic of cold-resistant hygrophilous conifers and rainforest trees, along with alpine herbs between 19 400 and 11 000 yr BP. Our data suggest that the PIS retreated at least ∼ 90 km from its LGM limit between ∼ 21 000 and 19 400 yr BP and that scattered, low-density populations of cold-resistant hygrophilous conifers, rainforest trees, high-Andean and steppe herbs thrived east of the Andes during the LGM and T1, implying high precipitation levels and southern westerly wind (SWW) influence at 47° S. The conifer Podocarpus nubigena increased between 14 500 and 13 000 yr BP, suggesting even stronger SWW influence during the Antarctic Cold Reversal, after which it declined and persisted until 11 000 yr BP. Large increases in arboreal pollen at ∼ 13 000 and ∼ 11 000 yr BP led to the establishment of forests near Lago Edita between 10 000 and 9000 yr BP, suggesting a rise in the regional tree line along the eastern Andean slopes driven by warming pulses at ∼ 13 000 and ∼ 11 000 yr BP and a subsequent decline in SWW influence at ∼ 11 000 yr BP. We propose that the PIS imposed a regional cooling signal along its eastern, downwind margin through T1 that lasted until the separation of the northern and southern Patagonian ice fields along the Andes during the Younger Dryas period. We posit that the withdrawal of glacial and associated glaciolacustrine environments through T1 provided a route for the dispersal of hygrophilous trees and herbs from the eastern flank of the central Patagonian Andes, contributing to the afforestation of the western Andean slopes and pacific coasts of central Patagonia during T1.

Reforestation in Nigeria: History, current practice and future perspectives

Nigeria, a country in West Africa, sits on the Atlantic coast with a land area of approximately 90 million hectares and a population of more than 140 million people. The southern part of the country falls within the tropical rainforest which has now been largely depleted and is in dire need of reforestation. About 10 percent of the land area was constituted into forest reserves for purposes of conservation but this has suffered perturbations over the years to the extent that what remains of the constituted forest reserves currently is less than 4 percent of the country land area. As at today about 382,000 ha have been reforested with indigenous and exotic species representing about 4 percent of the remaining forest estate. Regrettably, funding of the Forestry sector in Nigeria has been critically low, rendering reforestation programme near impossible, especially in the last two decades. To revive the forestry sector government at all levels must re-strategize and involve the local communities as co-managers of the forest estates in order to create mutual dependence and interaction in resource conservation.

General over-view of forest establishment in Turkey

Turkey has 9.64 million hectares of unproductive forests 43% of the total forest area according, to 2016’ forest inventory. Forest establishment including afforestation, reforestation, rehabilitation and private plantation is the most important method to convert unproductive forest into productive ones, and also to increase present productivity of product forest by improved seed and seedling materials. Turkish forest establishment is examined based on past, present, and future perspectives according to forest inventory from 1946 to 2015 in the present study to contribute present and future establishment.