Sustainable Forest Management Plans Research Articles

Role of remote sensing and community forestry to manage forests for the effective implementation of REDD+ mechanism: a case study on Cambodia

In this study, we have shown the importance of remote sensing applications and community forestry for forest management, discussed as a case study on Cambodian forest management. Curbing deforestation is necessary for the effective implementation of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forests Degradation (REDD+) mechanism and management of forest resources to support sustainable forest management plans. The updated information of the forest cover and forest biomass using advanced remote sensing techniques can be useful for selecting the suitable sites for planned thinning, reforestation, community forestry, and concession land, which eventually will help in controlling the deforestation in Cambodia. To overcome the limitations of remote sensing, an integrated approach of remote sensing and community forestry to monitor forests from local to national level has also been discussed.

Consanguine Philosophies of Traditional Timber-Based and Contemporary Sustainability-Based Forest Resource Management Plans

The earliest American forest resource management plans date to the birth of the forestry profession around 1900. For the next half century, these management plans were essentially timber production management plans. Certainly, other forest values, especially watershed protection, were important parts of the planning. But not until the second half of the twentieth century did multiple-use and a wide array of forest values become normal components of a forest management plan. Within the last twenty-five years forest management plans have developed a forest stewardship or sustainable forest management foundation. That is, a forest resource management plan is now expected to consider an entire set of forest values, to have a long-term sustainability focus, and to meet a set of expected management and operational criteria. Often, the forest management plan is the basis of a forest certification scheme. The early forest management plans were primarily timber-based and thus had a commercial or financial focus. Today’s forest management plans are based on multiple forest values and may or may not have a financial focus. We contrast the traditional timber management plan with today’s sustainable forest management plan, realizing the basis of both plans is by definition the forest or the timber. Involving both timber harvesting activities and the operational foundation of the sustainable forest management plan is essentially a timber management plan. One cannot ignore the fact that all forest management plans accomplish silvicultural objectives via manipulation of timber density variables, like stocking and spacing. Management of a forest still involves timber harvests. Our discussion shows that the timber management plan is still very much alive and forms the basis of modern sustainable forest management plans.

Effects of “Grain for Green” reforestation program on rural sustainability in China: an AHP approach to peasant consensus of public land use policies

Climate change will affect the regional ability to achieve the poverty reduction and sustainable development (SD) objectives. Thus, any action plans to achieve these objectives should make climate change policies an integral part of the development planning process. The best practices and measures of climate change policies should be implemented to ensure regional or community sustainability. In this paper, a case study that promotes the integration of carbon sequestration into sustainable forest management and rural development plan with multi-stakeholders participation is introduced. To achieve SD goals, appropriate tools and methods are required to address impacts of alternative forest land uses on carbon sequestration and rural sustainability, and to prioritise land use options. A range of forest land use scenarios that address various aspects of the forest carbon sequestration rate and rural sustainability are evaluated against a SD indicator system. Planting vegetation is one of the practical approaches in mitigating global warming by sequestrating carbon from the atmosphere to plant matter and soil. In order to protect environment, reduce excessive soil erosion, and decrease the propensity and frequency of flooding and other natural disasters, China has initiated nationwide pivotal projects such as “Grain for Green” to mitigate exacerbated environmental deterioration and degradation. Such ecological programs may affect the socio-economic livelihoods of peasants and the economic activities of the whole region. The impact and economic uncertainty associated with such projects urge policy makers to include all stakeholders in the decision making process so that an agreeable solution towards sustainable rural development can be identified. This study uses Liping County in Guizhou province as a case study to identify a consensus among peasants regarding planting selected tree-species. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used as a multicriteria decision making tool to rank sustainability criteria and determine the priority of options. The method helps policy makers to understand what the peasants want to achieve by participating in a Grain for Green program and what their priorities are with respect to particular types of vegetation. The case study finds that economic and financial concerns are the most important drivers of the decision of which trees to plant among the peasants who took part in the implementation of the Grain for Green program. As a result of this, Gingko, redpine, and Chinese chestnut were the predominant trees planted under the program. The integrated assessment based on the AHP method provides an effective tool to help understand how economic, social and environmental factors are related to each other in affecting the nature of rural sustainability.

Misinterpreting the Internal Rate of Return in Sustainable Forest Management Planning and Economic Analysis

Sustainable forest management planning includes accounting for revenues and costs that accrue throughout time. While debate continues as to the how to account for these cash flows, the most used techniques are net present value, benefit cost ratios, and internal rate of return (irr). Managing forests sustainably depends critically on interpreting the results and management implications of these techniques accurately. It is appealing to equate the irr with a market-derived rate of return given its definition. Unfortunately, its mathematical derivation does not support this interpretation and past use of irr often illustrates this confusion and misinterpretation. The irr only reflects the amount and timing of the net cash flows for a given venture and does not include any social, economic, or other external factors found in market-derived discount rates. Therefore, the irr does not reflect an appropriate rate of return or opportunity cost of capital for sustainable forest management. My purpose is to provide a theoretical argument that can be used to help correct this misinterpretation and stimulate discussions on the economics of sustainable forest management.

Incorporating Values into Community-Scale Sustainable Forest Management Plans: An Application of Q Methodology

Incorporating people’s values into forest management plans is an important component of sustainable forestry practice. Q methodology was used to identify perspectives on sustainable management of a community-owned forest reserve in a village in Puebla, Mexico. The study demonstrates the value of Q methodology in characterizing the views of citizens toward the forest and accommodating these views in a sustainable forest management plan. The plan we developed based on our research enjoyed widespread community support and far outdistanced its support of two alternative plans developed by outsiders. Our plan reflected the village’s strong preference for non-consumptive uses with regulated timber harvesting to sustain the ecological health of the forest and to provide short-term economic benefits.

Deforestation and Welfare: Evidence from Africa

This paper examines the effects of deforestation on the welfare of rural communities in the Congo Basin. Using moment conditions of agricultural and forest exploitations, findings indicate deforestation significantly improves welfare both at overall-rural and agricultural household per capita income levels. As a policy implication, in the process of forest exploitation a balanced approach is needed to take account of the interests of both rural communities, timber companies and international forest-sustainability standards. This should require among other things, the development and implementation of sustainable forest management plans by timber companies, exclusion from harvesting species that are important to local communities, compensation of timber companies for compliance with management plans as well as involvement of rural communities in monitoring the activities of timber companies.

Striving for Sustainability and Resilience in the Face of Unprecedented Change: The Case of the Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak in British Columbia

A massive insect outbreak in the public forests of central British Columbia (Canada) poses a serious challenge for sustainable forest management planning. Tree mortality caused by natural disturbances has always been a part of wild and managed forests, but climate change is accentuating the uncertainty around such losses. Policy responses to accelerate overall timber harvesting levels to prevent further tree mortality and to aggressively salvage value from dead wood before it deteriorates can be disruptive and even counter-productive in the long run. Current alternatives are to strategically redirect existing timber harvesting quotas to the most vulnerable areas, minimize overall uplifts in cutting activity, prolong the period over which harvested timber can be processed, avoid the harvesting of mixed species stands or those with good advance regeneration, employ more partial cutting or “selective logging” techniques, and relax standards for acceptable species and inter-tree spacing during post-disturbance stand recovery. At the same time, careful attention to species composition and evolving landscape risk profiles may facilitate adaptation to anticipated climate change and reduce vulnerability to future disturbances. Harvest levels must be set conservatively over the full planning horizon if it is important to assure continuity of the timber supply with few disruptions to regional socio-economics and less stress to ecosystems. Broader lessons in sustainability include the option to emphasize persistence, continuity and flexibility over the long term, though at the expense of maximized production and full resource utilization in the short term.

Trends in Population Growth and Forest Cover Change in Tanzania (From 1980 Until 2018)

This paper examines the effect of population growth on the size of Tanzania’s forest cover by assessing the extent to which the growing demand for forest goods and services from rapid expanding population lead to deforestation. Using long span of data, the paper predicts future demand of forest products, size of forest cover, and population in the next ten years (up to 2018). The statistical analysis of forecasting models estimated in the paper confirms that unprecedented growth in population of Tanzania accounts for the loss of forest cover in Tanzania. Considering the annual population growth rate of about 3%, the paper demonstrates that the population will reach 53.4 millions in the next ten years. Furthermore, the forecasting model estimates that forest cover will decline by 11%. The paper further shows that within a time span of ten years from 1990 to 2000 the forest cover changed by 10.8%. The aggregate forecasting results on forest cover change show that in a time span of 25 years, forest cover in the country will have declined by nearly a quarter. The paper concludes that a positive correlation between growth in population and use of forest products calls for an integration of population policies and programs with forest management strategies. Use of alternative resources such as LPG and natural gases to reduce pressure on wood fuel, tree planting, and sustainable forest management plans can potentially help to reduce pressure on the forest cover, thereby curbing deforestation in Tanzania that is fuelled by expanding needs of a growing population.

Análise da estrutura de comunidades arbóreas de uma floresta amazônica de Terra Firme aplicada ao manejo florestal

Este trabalho teve o objetivo de identificar e descrever a estrutura das comunidades arbóreas de uma floresta de terra firme sob regime de manejo na Amazônia Oriental, localizada no município de Almeirim, Pará, Brasil. O levantamento florístico foi realizado em 1.400,30 ha de uma Unidade de Produção Anual (UPA), do Plano de Manejo Florestal da empresa ORSA Florestal. Todos os indivíduos com DAP > 30 cm foram inventariados, registrando-se 77.834 árvores distribuídas em 57 famílias, 229 gêneros e 556 espécies. Oito comunidades foram identificadas por meio de uma analise de agrupamento, apresentando alta diversidade e equibilidade florística (H" médio = 4,25 e J" médio = 0,75). As comunidades apresentaram 138 espécies comuns, 119 espécies de ocorrência exclusiva e 377 espécies raras, representadas por apenas um indivíduo. As espécies que mais se destacaram foram: Dinizia excelsa, Vouacapoua americana, Goupia glabra, Mouriri brachyanthera, Parinari excelsa, Manilkara bidentada, Tachigalia mymecophyla e Licania micrantha. Algumas espécies de valor comercial apresentaram variações importantes na densidade, sugerindo risco de extinção em comunidades onde as espécies apresentam densidade muito baixa. Sugerimos que os planos de manejo considerem as várias comunidades ecológicas encontradas nas UPAs evitando assim variações significativas, causadas pela exploração e seus impactos, na composição florística e estrutura das comunidades existentes.

Climate change adaptation and regional forest planning in southern Yukon, Canada

Recent interest in sustainable forest management planning in the Yukon has coincided with growing public awareness of climate change, providing an opportunity to explore how forestry plans are incorporating climate change. In this paper, the Strategic Forest Management Plans for the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations Traditional Territory (CATT) and the Teslin Tlingit Traditional Territory (TTTT) are examined for evidence of adaptation to climate change. For each plan, management policies and practices that are also recognized as ways to adapt to climate change are identified to provide information on the incremental costs and benefits of additional adaptation efforts. A typology for classifying sustainable forest management plans according to how they address climate change is proposed and applied to the CATT and TTTT plans. This typology, which may be useful to any future retrospective assessments on how successful these or other sustainable forest management plans have been in addressing and managing the risks posed by climate change, consists of a matrix that categorizes plans into one of four types; (1) proactive-direct, (2) proactive-indirect, (3) reactive-direct, and (4) reactive-indirect. Neither of the plans available for the southern Yukon explicitly identifies climate change vulnerabilities and actions that will be taken to reduce those vulnerabilities and manage risks. However, both plans have incorporated some examples of ‘best management practices’ for sustainable forest management that are also consistent with appropriate climate adaptation responses. Even in a jurisdiction facing rapid ecological changes driven by climate change, where there is a relatively high level of awareness of climate change and its implications, forestry planning processes have yet to grapple directly with the risks that climate change may pose to the ability of forest managers to achieve the stated goals and objectives of sustainable forest management plans.

Would harmonizing public land forest policies, Criteria and Indicators, and certification improve progress towards Sustainable Forest Management?: A case study in Alberta, Canada

As the concept of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) has evolved, governments and other stakeholders have pursued three important frameworks for defining and pursuing SFM: public land forest policies, Criteria and Indicators and certification. In Canada, these three approaches frequently operate simultaneously as policy frameworks for private firms managing forests on public lands. Harmonization of these three frameworks could create potential benefits by simplifying a complicated array of sometimes conflicting forest management standards. But there are also potential costs of harmonization that could arise out of the diverse conditions that embody SFM. The diversity of social values and ecological conditions associated with forests creates difficulties in designing processes that are representative of stakeholders' interests. Moreover, this variety poses challenges to designing standards that are sufficiently flexible to address local conditions, yet useful in contributing to SFM planning and reporting at regional, provincial and national scales. Within this context, we suggest that the diversity inherent in SFM will continue to be accommodated by multiple management frameworks, unless a single framework arises that shows itself capable of being trusted by stakeholders and of being sufficiently flexible to accommodate various definitions of Sustainable Forest Management. Key words: Sustainable Forest Management, forest certification, Criteria and Indicators, public forest policy, harmonization of Sustainable Forest Management frameworks, case study, Canada, Alberta

Assessment of sustainable forest management in New Zealand indigenous forest

Abstract: There has been considerable international progress towards sustainable forest management (SFM) of temperate and boreal forest. However, the effectiveness of SFM legislation in providing for the protection of natural forest values has been largely undemonstrated. In this study, all the SFM Plans in the North Island, New Zealand, approved under the Forests Amendment Act (1993) are assessed. It is concluded that the requirements in the plans for assessing, monitoring and maintaining natural values are inadequate with the lack of public participation, and associated appeal rights over decisions, viewed as the key gap in the legislation.

Response of tree growth to a changing climate in boreal central Canada: A comparison of empirical, process-based, and hybrid modelling approaches

The impact of 2 × CO 2 driven climate change on radial growth of boreal tree species Pinus banksiana Lamb., Populus tremuloides Michx. and Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP growing in the Duck Mountain Provincial Forest of Manitoba (DMPF), Canada, is simulated using empirical and process-based model approaches. First, empirical relationships between growth and climate are developed. Stepwise multiple-regression models are conducted between tree-ring growth increments (TRGI) and monthly drought, precipitation and temperature series. Predictive skills are tested using a calibration–verification scheme. The established relationships are then transferred to climates driven by 1× and 2 × CO 2 scenarios using outputs from the Canadian second-generation coupled global climate model. Second, empirical results are contrasted with process-based projections of net primary productivity allocated to stem development (NPP s). At the finest scale, a leaf-level model of photosynthesis is used to simulate canopy properties per species and their interaction with the variability in radiation, temperature and vapour pressure deficit. Then, a top-down plot-level model of forest productivity is used to simulate landscape-level productivity by capturing the between-stand variability in forest cover. Results show that the predicted TRGI from the empirical models account for up to 56.3% of the variance in the observed TRGI over the period 1912–1999. Under a 2 × CO 2 scenario, the predicted impact of climate change is a radial growth decline for all three species under study . However, projections obtained from the process-based model suggest that an increasing growing season length in a changing climate could counteract and potentially overwhelm the negative influence of increased drought stress. The divergence between TRGI and NPP s simulations likely resulted, among others, from assumptions about soil water holding capacity and from calibration of variables affecting gross primary productivity. An attempt was therefore made to bridge the gap between the two modelling approaches by using physiological variables as TRGI predictors. Results obtained in this manner are similar to those obtained using climate variables, and suggest that the positive effect of increasing growing season length would be counteracted by increasing summer temperatures. Notwithstanding uncertainties in these simulations (CO 2 fertilization effect, feedback from disturbance regimes, phenology of species, and uncertainties in future CO 2 emissions), a decrease in forest productivity with climate change should be considered as a plausible scenario in sustainable forest management planning of the DMPF.

Crossing Scales and Disciplines to Achieve Forest Sustainability

Forest land managers are faced with unprecedented global pressures to produce resources for human consumption (e.g., Liu and Diamond 2005), while still maintaining essential ecosystem services benefiting society at multiple spatial scales (Costanza et al. 1997). These global pressures alone present daunting challenges to sustainable forest management (SFM) worldwide (Lunnan et al. 2004, Essman et al. 2007), but they are occurring in the context of an unprecedented rate of climate change (Solomon et al. 2007) that is anticipated to have drastic effects on forest ecosystem productivity and function (Melillo et al. 1993, Dale et al. 2001, Garcia-Gonzalo et al. 2007). The rate and scale of these social, economic, and environmental changes facing forestry worldwide underscores an urgent need to understand their multiscale interactions and use that insight to guide SFM planning efforts into an uncertain future (Innes and Hickey 2006).

Trade-off analysis for decision making in natural resources: Where we are and where we are headed

Forest management involves making trade-offs to balance social, ecological, and economic objectives of the forest. In the past this decision making was primarily done by trained professionals. Forest certification requires a greater involvement by the public, and has created a need for formal methods to make trade-offs in a transparent and balanced manner. This paper explores the nature of trade-offs in the historical context of forest management in British Columbia. It describes the development of forest management in the context of ecosystem and intergenerational trade-offs that have been made which are often in conflict with the public's value system. The difficulties in using public preferences to make decisions are discussed, and the available methods used for conducting trade-off analysis in forest management are critically reviewed. The author recommends a set of guidelines for public participation that are learning-based and designed to build public confidence in the decision-making process. A continuous improvement approach for implementing management decisions is also recommended. Research needs to provide supporting tools for sustainable forest management planning are described.

A Toolkit Modeling Approach for Sustainable Forest Management Planning: Achieving Balance between Science and Local Needs

Sturtevant, B. R., A. Fall, D. D. Kneeshaw, N. P. P. Simon, M. J. Papaik, K. Berninger, F. Doyon, D. G. Morgan, and C. Messier. 2007. A toolkit modeling approach for sustainable forest management planning: achieving balance between science and local needs. Ecology and Society 12(2): 7. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-02102-120207

THE ART AND SCIENCE OF SUSTAINABLE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLANNING SCIENCE FORUM PROCEEDINGS

What can be more challenging and rewarding than contributing knowledge or developing plans for the management of British Columbia’s natural resources? How can you consider and manage for achieving objectives at various scales and for different values? How can managers combine what they learn from the latest science and indigenous knowledge with the tools and knowledge acquired through years of experience? Why is it important to consider both art and science in developing sustainable resource management plans? How can scientists best contribute their knowledge to sustainability solutions?Forrex, in partnership with the Forest Investment Account–Forest Science Program (fia–fsp), hosted this Science Forum to support exploration of the art and science of sustainable forest management planning. The Forum aimed to:• increase awareness of the challenges, the art, and thescience of sustainable forest management planning;• increase awareness of current projects and initiativesthat are contributing knowledge to improve scienceand knowledge-based resource managementplanning; and• stimulate dialogue between resource professionalsengaged in science and resource managementplanning.Forrex and fia–fsp appreciate the contributions of presenters and registrants, of session Chairs, and of the Forum organizing committee. We are pleased to present the following package of Popular Summaries from some of the presentations and posters as an enduring record of the Forum’s dialogue. Due to certain constraints, not all summaries are presented here. We encourage readers to contact authors of those presentations for more information.

Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Program – Monitoring Effectiveness of Sustainable Forest Management Planning

A conceptual model of sustainable forest management is described based on three connected and necessary components: Policy/Strategic Planning, Operational Planning, and Effectiveness Monitoring/Science. Alberta's proposed Forest Management Planning Standard is described as an example of operational planning. The standard utilizes coarse and fine filter approaches to conserving biodiversity and sets requirements for implementation monitoring. The Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Program (ABMP) is described as an example of effectiveness monitoring supporting Operational Planning. The ABMP is a rigorous science-based initiative that is being developed to monitor and report on biodiversity status and trends throughout the province of Alberta, Canada. The basic survey design consists of 1656 sites, 20 km apart, evenly spaced on a grid pattern across Alberta. Sites will be sampled over a five-year period at a rate of 350 sites/year. Standardized sampling protocols will be used to cover a broad range of species and habitat elements within terrestrial and aquatic environments, as well as broader landscape-level features. Trends and associations detected by ABMP products will be validated through cause-effect research. ABMP focuses research on critical issues and informs both operational planning and the development of policy and strategic-level plans. The Alberta Forest Management Planning Standard and the ABMP are described as key components to implementing resource planning based on ecosystem management principles.

“ProgettoBosco”: un sistema di supporto alle decisioni per la stesura di piani di gestione forestale quale strumento di sussidio all’attività didattica

Abstract: The Decision Support System called “ProgettoBosco”, build up for preparing sustainable forest management plans, has been tested as an educational tool at the university level in Italy. This software was succesfully tested with the collaboration of 120 students from the Forestry Faculties of Turin and Tuscia (Viterbo). We show here that using this software students were able to organize effectively data, that have been used to compile, in a rather short time (one week), two forest managent plans, having an extension of 250 and 100 ha.

Arrow IFPA Series: Note 2 of 8: Developing criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management in the Arrow Forest District

This extension note is the second in a series of eight that describes a set of tools and processes developed to support sustainable forest management (SFM) planning and its pilot application in the Arrow Timber Supply Area (TSA). It outlines the development of criteria and indicators (C&I), which focus on explicitly defined goals and an objective means of determining success in meeting these goals. Criteria and indicators are used to evaluate the long-term sustainability of forest management through decision support in planning processes and through monitoring and adaptive management activities. The C&I for the Arrow TSA were based on the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers framework and were refined to address specific local issues through an iterative process that included input and review by professionals, academics, and forestry practitioners, and evaluation by stakeholders. The development process was guided by two directives: that performance-based indicators be emphasized and that these indicators should be credible, measurable, cost-effective, and connected to forestry. The resulting C&I are preliminary—their evolution is shaped by testing and application in forest management planning, and by continuing public review.