Forest Policy Implications Research Articles

Public perceptions of using forests to fuel the European bioeconomy: Findings from eight university cities

The political project on bioeconomy strives to address multiple societal aspirations, namely combine economic growth with environmental sustainability in some socially acceptable manner. The contradictions between the goals and the concrete plans to increase production, processing, and consumption of forest biomass in Europe have however raised sustainability concerns within and beyond its borders. While political actors articulate such contradictions differently and compete for traction for their viewpoints in the public discourse, little is known about how citizens of urban areas perceive this discourse. Conceptualising perception as a multidimensional construct, data from eight European university cities (Bordeaux, Bratislava, Freiburg, Helsinki, Padua, St. Petersburg, Uppsala, Vienna) are statistically analysed to explore its dimensions, the communities of like-minded citizens forming across those dimensions, and the traits associating with membership in each such community. Five communities across six dimensions from biocentrism through distributional aspects to adherence to political goals are identified: adherent-environmentalist, adherent-governmentalist, critical-reformist, critical-agriculturalist, and indifferent. City of residence and perceived familiarity with bioeconomy clearly interact with perception. There is however considerable variation in communities within and across the eight cities, suggesting deeper social tension beyond the public discourse. Much of the within-community variation remains unexplained, though, calling for more work locally. Implications for forest policy are derived.

Economic and Ethical Motivations for Forest Restoration and Incentive Payments

Private forest owners are both the suppliers and consumers of forest ecosystem services which poses a unique challenge to using incentive-based strategies to encourage forest restoration. We used focus groups and deliberative monetary valuation (DMV) methods to understand the choices of forest owners in Mississippi and Florida. Participants acted as jurors and made judgements about what actions a hypothetical forest owner should make when offered compensation to enhance key ecosystem services. Fifteen major themes were identified via qualitative data analysis. Results support a proposed conceptual model that links perspectives toward forest management with the expression of cultural values and choice. Allocation of income to ecosystem improvements revealed that intentional forest owners seek to maximize utility through personal achievement benefits, rather than income generation alone. Findings have important implications for forest policy and program design by improving the design and efficiency of economic interventions.

Analysing patterns of forest cover change and related land uses in the Tano-Offin forest reserve in Ghana: Implications for forest policy and land management

Forest cover change is a major contributing factor to global environmental change. Whereas several studies have focused on the general land use and land cover dynamics, we focus on analysing forest cover change patterns in a protected landscape taking into consideration how other land categories are increasing at the expense of the forest. In this study, we analyse forest cover change patterns and associated proximate land use factors between 1987 and 2017 using Landsat images from the Tano-Offin Forest Reserve (TOFR) in Ghana. Using the Random Forest machine learning algorithm, we classified the images into forest, developed land, and agricultural land. The study finds that forest cover losses are 1.9 and 1.4 times the amount of forest cover gains in 1987–2002 and 2002–2017, respectively. We find that even though the forest cover is more likely to recover from the agricultural land, land developers mostly targeted the agricultural land. The focus of Ghana's Forest and Wildlife Policy and the underlying process of forest cover change in the TOFR suggest that a country's forest policy should focus on a combination of diverse and spatially explicit proximate factors that are likely to threaten the integrity of forests.

COVID-19-induced visitor boom reveals the importance of forests as critical infrastructure

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, countries around the globe have implemented a certain degree of lockdown, restricting citizens' freedom of movement and freedom of assembly. This article aims to illustrate the impact that the measures against the spread of COVID-19 have on forest recreation, building on a study in an urban context around Bonn (Germany) that was conducted between April 2019 and February 2020. The quantitative and qualitative data on urban forest visits from that study were supplemented with new census data supported by selected expert interviews. We found that visitor numbers since the inception of COVID-19 measures in March 2020 have more than doubled. Visitor patterns have drastically shifted, from an even distribution throughout the day with small peaks before and after office hours to a culmination in the late afternoon. Lastly, the interviewed forestry professionals have noted that a new set of visitors, i.e. young people, families with children and non-locals, has arrived to the forest. This influx of more and novice visitors poses challenges for forest managers and urban forest policy. It is, however, also a unique opportunity for a substantial engagement of forestry with society at large, that has implications for forest policy, especially in urban areas, possibly beyond the COVID-19 pandemic era.

Service Effectiveness of the Nature Centers for Sustainability of Environmental Education and Forest Policy Implications

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between service effectiveness of the Nature Centers of Forest Bauru of Executive Yuan in Taiwan (Nature Centers) and sustainability of environmental education and forest policy implications. The (n = 1520) participants were selected through purposive and quota sampling, and the questionnaires were divided into four categories: Potential target customer groups, potential operators, the public, and website users from 1 July to 31 August 2017. Canonical correlation analyses were used to explore the relationship between two variables. The study results revealed the significant relationships between service effectiveness and forest policy implications, and two canonical factors were extracted. The first pair of canonical correlation analyses reveals that higher overall service effectiveness is more likely to catch the attentions of participants with the overall forest policy implications. The second canonical correlation analysis suggests that forest policy implications factors of protected coast forest, exotic species, green economy, forest resource management, and wood self-sufficiency ratio were positively associated with service effectiveness for natural resources and negatively associated with those of teaching quality. The implication for further research and practical applications in terms of cultural and creative research is suggested.

Fostering a flexible forest: Challenges and strategies in the advisory practice of a deregulated forest management system

In deregulated forest management systems, social norms, knowledge dissemination and communication are pivotal for guiding forest owners' actions. This presents a challenge to national forest agencies charged with the task of translating forest policy into practice. Drawing on interviews with forest consultants employed by the Swedish Forest Agency, this paper discusses the challenges present in everyday advisory practice, how they are dealt with, and possible implications for forest policy. Four main challenges are identified: climate change; the heterogeneity of forest owners; resource constraints and funding cutbacks; and competing and conflicting advice. The analysis finds that the forest consultants have developed the following professional capacities to meet these challenges: articulating uncertainties, advocating risk diversification, and using historical references to handle the long-term risk associated with climate change; contextualizing the advice to meet the needs of a heterogeneous group of forest owners; and organizational decoupling, whereby consultants prioritize advisory activities at the expense of other tasks. The study concludes by discussing the implications of these strategies for the forest consultants and forest policy but also what can be learned from the Swedish experience.

Evaluating the impacts of a carbon tax on imported forest products—evidence from Taiwan

Levying a carbon tax is one of the approaches used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) and has been adopted in a number of countries since the Kyoto Protocol. Applying such an approach in the forest sector may have important policy implications. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of a carbon tax on imported forest products using Taiwan as an example. Taiwan relies on foreign imported timber and such consumption of harvested wood products (HWPs) lengthens the storage of carbon beyond the life of the tree. This study investigates the impacts of implementing a carbon tax on seven types of HWPs by applying the ARDL approach to imported timber demand functions in Taiwan. The empirical results show that the volumes of imported HWPs as well as carbon dioxide are significantly reduced once a carbon tax is implemented. These empirical outcomes provide some important forest policy implications for countries importing wood products.

Can mixed species stands enhance arthropod diversity in plantation forests?

Tree species composition is a key driver of forest biodiversity, influencing structural components of the environment from soil and litter to vegetation layers and the canopy, and ecosystem processes, such as nutrient cycling. Single species stands, particularly intensively managed monoculture plantations, are typically more homogenous in habitat structure and the biotic communities supported, than mixed stands. Thus, international forest policy increasingly promotes the establishment of mixed stands as an alternative to enhance biodiversity in plantations. Forests represent around 10% of the land area of Ireland, with most being monocultures of non-native conifers. By contrast, natural forest cover, primarily comprised of deciduous species, is just 1%. In recent years there has been an increase in mixed plantations; however, optimum tree species combinations, which aim to promote biodiversity under sustainable forest management, have yet to be established. Arthropods (ground-dwelling spiders and Carabid beetles, and night-flying macrolepidoptera) were examined in twenty mixed and monoculture plantations in Ireland (Norway spruce–oak mix, Norway spruce–Scots pine mix, Norway spruce monoculture). Both oak and Scots pine were secondary mix components, comprising between 15% and 40% of stems. Spiders and Carabid beetles were sampled using pitfall traps during summer 2008 and moths using light traps during summer and autumn 2008 and spring 2009.There was no evidence for an influence of oak or Scots pine on the arthropod fauna when they were a secondary component in a mix. Overall, arthropod communities were similar in species richness, assemblage structure and habitat specialists among the forest types. Furthermore, the mixed stands exhibited similar environmental conditions to monocultures in terms of stand structure, vegetation and litter cover. This suggests that there is limited biodiversity value from an additional canopy species comprising 15–40% of the mix, at least for the taxa and tree species studied here. This has implications for forest policy, where recommendations are often based on the proportion of each mix component, at least in terms of the potential biodiversity value of additional canopy species. Further research is required to determine the proportion at which oak or Scots pine begin to influence the arthropod fauna.

Attitudes towards various forest functions: A comparison between private forest owners and forest officers

In Sweden, privately owned forests provide timber as well as recreational opportunities and biodiversity. In general, forest officers from organizations, whose business is to serve private forest owners, manage these forests. Through survey data, this study compared the attitudes of private forest owners towards various forest functions to how forest officers understand these attitudes. The views of forest owners and forest officers did not always coincide, nor did the attitudes of forest owners in different regions of Sweden. Forest officers regarded timber production as more important than did forest owners. Forest owners considered recreational and environmental functions of the forest as more important to them than did forest officers. Possible explanations for these differences were discussed, along with forest policy implications.

Interrupting the Telos: Locating Subsistence in Contemporary US Forests

People continue to hunt, fish, trap, and gather for subsistence purposes in the contemporary United States. This fact has implications for forest policy, as suggested by an international convention on temperate and boreal forests, commonly known as the Montréal Process. Three canons of law provide a legal basis for subsistence activities by designated social groups in Alaska and Hawaii and by American Indians with treaty rights in the coterminous forty-eight states. A literature review also presents evidence of such practices by people from a variety of ethnic backgrounds throughout the nation. Teleological notions of development espoused by both neoliberal and Marxist scholars suggest that subsistence activities should not persist in a First World setting except as failures of the officially sanctioned economic system. However, alternative economic perspectives from peasant studies and economic geography offer a conceptual framework for viewing at least some subsistence activities as having a logic and values outside of, if articulated with, market structures. Meeting the Montréal Process goal of providing for subsistence use of forests will require research focused on local practices and terms of access to resources as well as their relationship to state and capital processes. We outline the basics of a research agenda on subsistence for an emerging First World political ecology.

Campesinos and Mexican Forest Policy During the Twentieth Century

In contrast to the rest of Latin America, where most forests belong to the state, in Mexico, village communities legally possess most of the country's remaining forests. Despite this, Mexican forest-management policies frequently empowered business interests and the state at the expense of rural communities. These policies marginalized campesinos and squandered opportunities for environmentally sound development. Nevertheless, following a fitful process of land reform, sporadic support for village communities from reformers in the agrarian reform and forestry departments, and the organized demands of villagers, Mexico now has the most advanced community forestry sector in Latin America. Today, hundreds of villages own and operate their own forest management businesses. They generate rural economic benefits while conserving forests, and they represent an important model for sustainable development in Latin America. In the 1990s, neoliberalism brought changes to agrarian and forestry law that initially benefited business interests while abandoning the forest communities best situated to integrate forest conservation and rural development. Campesino groups and their supporters, however, struggled to maintain and extend community forestry in Mexico, with some recent policy victories. Community forestry remains an important part of Mexican forest policy. Mexican forest conservation and the well-being of the campesinos who inhabit those forests depend on strengthening and extending the model, which has implications for forest policy elsewhere in Latin America.

Creating a forestry for the 21st century: the science of ecosystem management

Over the past decade, a sea change has occurred in the field of forestry. A vastly increased understanding of how ecological systems function has transformed the science from one focused on simplifying systems, producing wood, and managing at the stand-level to one concerned with understanding and managing complexity, providing a wide range of ecological goods and services, and managing across broad landscapes.Creating a Forestry for the 21st Century is an authoritative and multidisciplinary examination of the current state of forestry and its relation to the emergent field of ecosystem management. Drawing upon the expertise of top professionals in the field, it provides an up-to-date synthesis of principles of ecosystem management and their implications for forest policy. Leading scientists, including Malcolm Hunter, Jr., Bruce G. Marcot, James K. Agee, Thomas R. Crow, Robert J. Naiman, John C. Gordon, R.W. Behan, Steven L. Yaffee, and many others examine topics that are central to the future of forestry: new understandings of ecological processes and principles, from stand structure and function to disturbance processes and the movement of organisms across landscapes challenges to long-held assumptions: the rationale for clearcutting, the wisdom of short rotations, the exclusion of fire traditional tools in light of expanded goals for forest landscapes managing at larger spatial scales, including practical information and ideas for managing large landscapes over long time periods the economic, organizational, and political issues that are critical to implementing successful ecosystem management and developing institutions to transform knowledge into action Featuring a 16-page centersection with color photographs that illustrate some of the best on-the-ground examples of ecosystem management from around the world, Creating a Forestry for the 21st Century is the definitive text on managing ecosystems. It provides a compelling case for thinking creatively beyond the bounds of traditional forest resource management, and will be essential reading for students; scientists working in state, federal, and private research institutions; public and private forest managers; staff members of environmental/conservation organizations; and policymakers.

Registered Michigan Off-Road Vehicle Use and Users: Forest Policy Implications

Abstract From 1975, the number and diversity of off-road vehicles (ORVs) registered in Michigan has grown as have concerns over ORV use and safety. To better understand the situation, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) Forest Management Division commissioned a study of Michigan ORV registrants. The study's objectives were to profile registered ORV users and to identify their use of ORVs in Michigan and their preferences for state policy. A mail questionnaire was sent to a stratified, random sample of 1,200 registrants. Most respondents were male, with higher income and education levels than most Michiganians. Off-road use in Michigan was estimated to be 1.2 million 12 hr recreation days in a 12 month period of 1987-1988. Most use was not on a designated ORV trail, route, or area. Most ORVs were driven by more than the registrant, with many drivers under 16 yr of age. ORV registrants preferred forest roads over other riding situations, and most desired managers to provide more places to ride legally. Following MDNRs public release of this research, the author was invited to testify at legislative hearings reviewing the Michigan ORV statute. Subsequently, the testimony was used as partial basis for revising the ORV law to provide for more designated trails, a "closed unless posted open" rule for state forest ORV use, and restrictions on ORV use by youth. North. J. Appl. For. 13(2):84-88.

Role of tree improvement in intensive forest management

The historical beginnings of forest genetics and the rapid rise of tree improvement as a world-wide movement are briefly sketched. The technological nature, scientific bases and technical methods of tree improvement are broadly reviewed, with major emphasis on boreal and temperate conifers which, historically, have been the main focus of research and practice. Tree improvement is rationalized within the broader forestry milieu, including: supply and demand for forest resources; goals and policies of forest management; concepts and systems of forest production; and potentials and constraints of intensive management. The need to increase forest productivity to meet rising world-wide demands for forest products is driving forestry toward major technological change. Foresters and land managers are embracing concepts of intensive management and applied genetics that profoundly challenge traditional forestry principles and conventional practices. Tree improvement technology is a versatile tool that can be used in various management settings, but it is particularly appropriate and potent when applied within the context of intensive forestry. Impressive results can be expected from the integration of advanced breeding and intensive silvicultural technologies. Modern agricultural crop production exemplifies gains that can accrue from such management intensification. But the agricultural yield strategy — based on cultural enhancement of growing sites and genetic tailoring of crops to improved cultural conditions — poses real and imagined problems for forestry. Aggressive breeding for responsiveness to enhanced cultural conditions will eventually lead to development of trees that are essentially domesticated. The forest manager and tree breeder must carefully consider the possibility of domestication, as a planned or unplanned result of current breeding strategies. The strategy of replacing natural forests on a vast scale with plantations of improved trees — basically a matter of economics — has far-ranging forest policy implications that cannot be ignored in the quest for greater forest productivity. We must strive to increase wood production without jeopardizing the long-term future of the basic forest resource or impairing its ability to supply the other needs of society. By intensifying management on the most productive forest lands, wood production might be concentrated on a smaller land base, thus permitting the much larger remaining areas to be managed more flexibly toward other objectives. Tree improvement provides the means for greatly increasing the benefits flowing from intensive management programs. The tree breeder can mold the genetic potential of production populations to nake the most of silvicultural investments by increasing the quantity and quality of wood produced.

The Prospects for Wood Pulping Capacity in the U.K. and the Implications for Forest Policy

Journal Article The Prospects for Wood Pulping Capacity in the U.K. and the Implications for Forest Policy Get access M.J. BIRCHMORE M.J. BIRCHMORE 92 fox Road, Wigginton, Nr Tring, Herts Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research, Volume 52, Issue 1, 1979, Pages 67–81, https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/52.1.67 Published: 01 April 1979