Timber Export Research Articles

Macroeconomic Change, Competitiveness and Timber Production: A Five-Country Comparison

Summary This study analyzes how long-run macroeconomic fluctuations have affected timber production levels in five tropical oil-producing countries: Gabon, Cameroon, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Venezuela, and Ecuador. The core hypothesis is that oil booms, foreign borrowing and other major foreign exchange inflows slow down timber harvesting. These inflows cause “Dutch Disease,” depressing the price competitiveness of timber exports and other trade-exposed sectors. A qualitative examination of long-run trends in the five countries is combined with simple econometrics. The findings confirm a strong impact of competitiveness on logging. Substantial real currency devaluation can greatly accelerate timber exports. Yet, in middle-income countries with strongly expanding domestic timber markets (Ecuador, Cameroon, Venezuela), home-market demand also rises much with urban incomes and population. When full or partial import protection occurs, this translates into rising domestic production. The relative weight of these two potentially significant factors varies widely, so policies to influence extraction levels need to be tailored accordingly.

The cultural context of forest degradation in adjacent Purépechan communities, Michoacán, Mexico

Recent changes in the cultural and forest landscapes of the Meseta Purépecha in Michoacán, Mexico as a result of forest degradation underscore the complexity of forest change processes in the tropical highlands of Latin America. Differences in community perception and forest structure and composition between the furniture‐making and lumber‐producing towns of Pichátaro and Sevina, Purépechan indigenous communities located amidst pine forests on Michoacán's volcanic plateau illustrate the dynamics of this process. We base our comparisons on interviews and field measures of forest structure. Our results show dramatic changes in the forests and cultural landscapes of both communities during the past decade. Following high regional timber exports during the early 1990s, Sevina shifted from a self‐sufficient to a timber importation community. By comparison, communal forests and individual parcels in Pichátaro continue to provide wood for approximately 300 wood shops. Field data and forest stand maps confirm the perception of forest degradation in both communities. While Pichátaro has maintained a larger and more diverse forest base to date, stand structure data indicate selective harvesting has led to a shift in dominance toward the less economically desirable pine species and oak. Deforestation and degradation of Sevina and Pichátaro's community forests are symptomatic of both the Meseta Purépecha and Mexico in general. Current forest conditions in both communities justify local, regional, and national concerns regarding declining biodiversity and sustainable economies.

The potential availability of plantation roundwood

Summary The history of plantation establishment in Australia is briefly reviewed, highlighting the rapid increase in establishment of hardwood plantations by the private sector over the past decade and the privatisation of some publicly owned softwood plantations. Data collected regionally for the National Plantation Inventory were used to prepare forecasts of future availability for two species groups (hardwood and softwood) and two product groups (pulpwood and sawlog), both groups being broadly defined. The paper draws on these detailed forecasts. The forecasts represent an amalgam of grower-supplied forecasts of availability and estimates based on average yield tables applied to the annual areas planted for the remaining growers. Two alternative scenarios were used to model future planting. ‘No New Planting’ assumed no additional area was planted after 2001. ‘New Planting’ assumed that additional areas were planted on cleared agricultural land until 2019, but not thereafter. The latter forecasts were based on Bureau of Rural Sciences medium projections of future planting rates. An irregular pattern of availability resulted, due to the fluctuations in past planting rates, and required smoothing to achieve a practicable pattern over time. The forecasts of availability represent approximations of future supply, assuming that all costs and technologies remain unchanged and that all volumes available will be sold at that time. Hardwood pulpwood availability will increase from 2.4 to 15.8 million m3 y−1 by 2015. The ‘New Planting’ scenario will provide even larger impacts after 2015. Australian exports of pulpwood products are likely to increase substantially. Most of the hardwoods are fast-growing eucalypts established for pulpwood production under short rotations (12–15 y). There is increasing interest in their potential to produce sawlogs and other high value products, but considerable uncertainty as to the outcomes and economics. While progressive modest increases in softwood sawlog availability will assist domestic industry to replace imports of sawn timber and ease the demands on native forests, they will not replace all imported and native appearance and specialty timbers, nor will they supplant entirely those native timbers with geographic advantages relative to local and regional markets. Hence exports of softwood sawlogs and/or timber are expected to increase. Softwood pulpwood availability changes little, but domestic processing is likely to utilise some present exports.

Structural adjustment programmes and the international tourism trade in Ghana, 1983-99: Some socio-spatial implications

Ghana has been undergoing a major economic restructuring programme over the past 16 years. Ghana, whose economy had teetered towards a complete collapse due to a multiplicity of factors, began to implement IMF/World Bank-sponsored economic restructuring programmes in 1983. Among other things, the restructuring programmes have not only sought to open up Ghana to globalization, but also to diversify the economy's dependence on the traditional exports of cocoa, timber and mineral resources. Given Ghana's rich historical and natural resources, tourism became one of the obvious areas targeted for improvement. While Ghana's tourism potential has long been known and exploited, a combination of factors has worked in concert to make it one of the most important tourist destination countries in sub-Saharan Africa. What are the socio-spatial implications of this boom in tourism? This paper examines the impact of economic restructuring on tourism in Ghana and some of the socio-spatial implications.

Selling Nature to save It? Biodiversity and Green Developmentalism

New supranational environmental institutions, including the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the ‘green’ World Bank, reflect attempts to regulate international flows of ‘natural capital’ by means of an approach I call ‘green developmentalism’. These institutions are sources of eco-development dollars and of a new ‘global’ discourse, a postneoliberal environmental-economic paradigm. By the logic of this paradigm, nature is constructed as a world currency and ecosystems arc recoded as warehouses of genetic resources for biotechnology industries. Nature would earn its own right to survive through international trade in ecosystem services and permits to pollute, access to tourism and research sites, and exports of timber, minerals, and intellectual property rights to traditional crop varieties and shamans' recipes. I contend that green developmentalism, with its promise of market solutions to environmental problems, is blunting the North-South disputes that have embroiled international environmental institutions. But by valuing local nature in relation to international markets—denominating diversity in dollars, euros, or yen—green developmentalism abstracts nature from its spatial and social contexts and reinforces the claims of global elites to the greatest share of the earth's biomass and all it contains. Meanwhile, the CBD has become a gathering ground for transnational coalitions of indigenous, peasant, and NGO opponents of ‘biopiracy’ and the patenting of living things, and advocates of international environmental justice. They have begun to put forward counterdiscourses and alternative practices to those of green developmentalism.

The Certification Model for Forestry in Bolivia

Abstract Bolivia, a landlocked country with high transportation costs, has embraced FSC certification as a way of boosting its timber exports, which often consist of species unfamiliar to buyers in the Northern Hemisphere. Certification costs have been largely institutionalized through aggressive policy and organizational reforms that impose similar technical standards on all forest products companies, certified or not, and recognize voluntary certification as a legitimate mechanism to evaluate concession compliance.

Forest Policy Reform and the Restructuring of the Forest Industry in Russia

The Russian forest is the last big wood basket of the international timber market and the conservation of the Russian forest is critical to protect global environment. There is a strong need to analyze present situation of forest policy and forest industry in Russia. The basic direction of forest policy reform of Russia is decentralization and introduction of market principles. However, the lack of specialists in forest policy in the regions and the conflict between central and regional governments has accelerated the confusion of forest policy. Forest management organizations cannot spare enough money for forest management because of the financial crisis of Russian government. Forest industry has also deteriorated. Although privatization of the forest industry was completed, it did not improve the management of enterprises and they could not survive the economic crisis. Output of the forest industry has decreased and most enterprises came close to bankruptcy. Under these circumstances, the former regional amalgamation of forest industry, which has accumulated hard currency earned by timber export, re-took control of the industry and tried to increase timber exports even more. However, logging enterprises, facing economic crises, cannot observe forest regulations and forest management organization cannot control these violations. A recovery of forest industry may accelerate the degradation of forest resources in Russia.

Trade and Environmental Diplomacy: Strategic Options for ASEAN

I NJUNE 1992, the Austrian parliament passed a law requiring mandatory labelling of tropical timber imports. This legislation required that imported timber commodities be certified as having been produced under sustainable forest conditions. In ajoint communique issued inJuly 1992, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) reiterated that and development are mutually interrelated and mutually reinforcing. The right to development is a fundamental right of all peoples and measures for the protection of the environment should support economic growth and sustainable development. The Foreign Ministers reaffirmed that ASEAN should strengthen joint actions in countering the anti-tropical timber campaign in the major developed countries.' Malaysia elevated the case to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in November 1992. However, before a GATT ruling could be obtained, the tropical timber countries threatened to ban all Austrian imports. In March 1993, Austria repealed its legislation. This case illustrates the advanced perception among ASEAN countries regarding the impact of environmental issues in the development process. Their suspicion and resistance against proposed restrictions against the timber trade emanate from the central role these countries ascribe to export capability in the development effort. Among the members of ASEAN, Thailand and the Philippines have lost the capacity to export tropical hardwood and are now net importers of wood. Indonesia, on the other hand, has expressed no strong objections to the eco-labelling of tropical timber exports. ASEAN was able to arrive at a common stance on the timber trade issue based on a shared antipathy against the protectionist policies of industrial economies. In 1992, after several unsuccessful attempts to deepen their economic linkages, the ASEAN countries announced the formation of an ASEAN Free Trade Area

Evaluating biodiversity: the Batu Apoi experience : I. Das, Ambio, 23(4–5), 1994, pp 238–242

Batu Apoi, a dipterocarp forest in Brunei Darussalam is being developed into the country's first National Park. Universiti Brunei Darussalam-Royal Geographical Society ran a rainforest expedition at the site in order to document the great biological diversity of the reserve, beginning in 1991. This 14-month project and subsequent research have resulted in the collection of many species of plants and animals, indicating that Batu Apoi is richer in species than might be expected from its size. New species of virtually every group of plants and animals have been identified. Many of the plant and animal species are used by the Iban tribesmen, who, thanks to an enactment that prohibits guns in Brunei, hunt employing traditional methods such as traps, snares and spears. A variety of plants are purported to possess pharmaceutical properties, according to local beliefs, many of which do not have botanical names. With revenue generated from overseas investments, besides oil and gas production at home, Brunei Darussalam is in an enviable position in being perhaps one of few countries that has relatively large areas under rainforest cover, but does not need to exploit its forest for timber export. However, immense opportunities that remain in studying and eventually utilizing these forest resources sustainably will be a challenge for the country in the years to come.

Modelling Economy-Environment Interactions in a General Equilibrium Framework

This paper reports the results of a study that employs a computable general equilibrium model to trace the economy-wide effects of environmental policy shocks - a carbon tax and a timber export tax. The results indicate that the policies have contractionary effects on the economy. The paper discusses ways in which the model could be modified to account for the use of environmental inputs in consumption and production activities.

Ind

Being concerned with forest resources sustainability due to its extraction speed, Indonesia government tried to restrict forest products export by export bans during 1970s until the midle of 1980s, and by raising of export taxes since the end of 1980s. Export tax is one of government revenue sources. Indonesia government revenue from export tax is relatively small, it only accounts for 0,04% of the total government revenue , or 0,07% of the total revenue out of oil and gas. The more the development of the country, the higher thr governmnet’s revenue from income tax, firm tax, wage tax, and value added tax, and the more the government’s dependency on domestic sources. On the other hand, presently export tax revenue is relatively low. Indonesia government revenue from export tax is important, because the revenue from other taxes is small relatively. The higher the export tax rate, it will impose more restriction of forest products export flow. Statistically, at 99% confidence level, the increase of sawn timber export tax at the end of 1989 has given significant influence on the decrease of sawn timber export volume. Taxation policy is an effective instrument for allocation of forest product resources. Forest product export ban is one of non-tariff barrier, in which repleased by export tax policy is in accordance with GATT agreement. Levying of forest product export tax is a real measures of Indonesia government in executing sustainable development. As a tariff barier, axercising forest product export tax is a real measures of Indonesia government in executing sustainable development. As a tariff barier, exercising forest product export tax is not contrary to the consensus in international trading order.

Timber-labelling scheme to encourage the achievement of tropical-forest sustainability

The excessive greenhouse effect due to air-borne pollution, is of increasing concern, and the importance of reducing emissions to minimise the likelihood of further atmospheric degradation is recognised universally. One of the contributory phenomena, namely, the adverse influence of deforestation, is considered in this paper. Some of the tropical countries' timber exports should be decreased if sustainability of the diversity of timber species is to be ensured. To attempt to achieve this, a scheme is proposed which takes into account (i) deforestation (and the burning of timber, whether in situ in the forest or removed for later combustion elsewhere); (ii) the negative effects of population growth; and (iii) haulage distances from the country of the timber's origin to the UK, the latter resulting in the consumption of fossil fuels, which are themselve becoming increasingly scare resources. The devised multi-criteria assessment procedure, though only a crade first step, indicates which timber imports, from which countries, to the UK should be reduced or prohibited. This assessment should be updated annually. Implementation of analogous procedures by all the timber-importing countries would ensure the necessary reafforestation and encourage the sustainable management of forests worldwide.

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The objective of this study is to estimate the impact of tax rate on rental price of capital and demand for capital in sawn timbel industry. Sawn timber industry analysed is limited to the sawmills belong to the forest conccession. The study used secondary data. Data analysed are time-series data of interest rate, depreciation, tax rate, and price index of investment, sawn timber production and price. The result of analysis shows that the increase of sawn timber export tax rate at the end of 1989 has caused a rental price of capital increase by approxincalely 4 times, and there was a decrease in the use of capital stock. Demand for equilibrium capital stock of sawn timber industry decreased by Rp 5.077 million (constant price 1983 ) and Rp 5.395 million (constant price 1983) in 1990 and 1991,respectively,or about 50%. it shows that there was a stagnation in the growth of sawn timber industry

Ind

The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of sawn timber export tax increase on investment in sawn timber industry. Sawn timber industry analyzed is limited to the sawmill belongs to the forest concession. The demond function for investment in sawn timber industry are evaluated as basis for impact estimation, using time series analysis, to estimate demand function for net investment (in(t)) in sawn timber industry. A distributed lag model was used. The result of the distributed lag model shows that the sawn timber export tax policy caused this industry adjust their investment in 1.3 years. The increase of sawn timber export tax rate to 78.3% at the and of 1989 had caused a decrease demand for net investment of sawn timber industry about Rp 222.970 billion (constant price 1983) and Rp 132,798 billion (constant price 1983) in 1990 and 1991, or about 50% respectively. The imposition of high sawn timber export tax rate as an effort to the development of wood finished product export, has not effective . sawn timber export tax policy hance have to be reviewed. International market for wood finished product, furniture in particular, is very competitive, consequently, for the success of finished product export, a strong marketing network, high quality product, and a better knowledge about market characteristic are needed in this regard the government support to wood finish product export should focuse on human resource development i.e providing skill labor in processing and marketing of wood finished product.

Integrated Timber Allocation and Transportation Planning in Ireland

Coillte Teoranta, the Irish Forestry Board, was established as a forestry company in 1989, with a mandate to operate in forestry and related activities in a commercial manner. The company took over the assets of the state Forest Service and now owns and manages approximately 400,000 ha of forest. Coillte harvests and sells timber to the private wood processing industries in Ireland. Coillte harvested approximately 1.4 million m3 of timber in 1990. By 2010 this annual harvest volume will increase to 3.5 million m3. In order to manage the harvesting and transportation operations efficiently, a national timber sales allocation procedure was developed by the Forestry Department of University College, Dublin. The procedure uses Coillte's databases on harvest volumes, subdivided into supply categories; on mill demands, specified by demand categories; and on the national transportation network, including road, rail and water transport modes. The developed operational procedure was used as a decision-making tool during the allocation of the 1991 sales volumes. A comparison of the actual versus the optimized 1990 allocation strategy identified opportunities for large-scale savings. In addition to its main function as a decision-making tool for the annual sales allocation, the model has been used for other strategic and tactical planning analyses, such as the influence of new mill location on transport costs, the impacts of a timber processing industry rationalization programme on the industry as a whole and on individual mills, the feasibility of timber transport by rail, the selection of suitable ports for timber export, and the impact of road construction and improvement programmes on national timber transport strategies. The model has been successfully linked with the company's ARC/ INFO Geographic Information System which extends the post-allocation analysis and interpretation capabilities, and combines the output with existing information systems. A further integration of the procedure in the management decision-making processes in the company will result in increased cost saving opportunities.

The Role of Foreign Debt in Deforestation in Latin America

Much current controversy exists about the role that foreign debt plays in deforestation in Latin America. In an attempt to familiarize concerned biologists with this issue, we present an overview of the proposed positive and negative effects that foreign debt has had on neotropical forest loss. From the literature, we identify three main hypotheses as to how the large external debts of developing Latin American countries may contribute to deforestation. We find that (1) countries have not increased exports of tropical timber and beef in response to rising debt; (2) external debts have contributed to economic stagnation and an associated increase in poverty in Latin America, which in turn has caused the degradation of marginal lands, but the role of debt in this process cannot be isolated from other important contributing factors; and (3) while debt payments have probably led to governmental budget cutbacks in environmental spending, historically spending in these areas has not been high. On the positive side, we found that (1) innovative debt‐for‐nature swaps have traded devalued debt for a commitment and funds to create and protect nature reserves; and (2) debt could be exchanged for forestry and agricultural sectoral reform, which would have very large positive effects on the conservation and management of forests.

Taming the Robber Barons? The Reform of Forestry Legislation in Papua New Guinea

The Independent State of Papua New Guinea lies in the Pacific Ocean to the north of Australia and east of Indonesia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, the islands of New Britain, New Ireland and Bougainville, as well as numerous smaller islands. Papua New Guinea has a population of 3.9 million people and a land area of 462,840 square kilometres. Of this area, approximately 77% is forested. The forestry industry contributes 4.6% of the gross domestic produce of Papua New Guinea and timber exports represent 8.5% of the total value of exports. Around 95% of timber exports are in the form of logs and in recent years there has been a decline in onshore timber processing. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the recent history of the regulation of the forestry industry in Papua New Guinea and to critically examine the impact of the Forestry Act 1991.

Through a Concave Mirror: A Deconstruction of the American Myth of Japan

Japan is America's current obsession. On the surface, the American preoccupation with Japan is economic—a trade deficit—but our obsession with Japan is not limited to statistical analyses of American timber exports and Japanese automobile imports. The Japanese are a socio-cultural other as much as they are an economic competitor. Americans view Japanese economic success as a threat to the primacy of the American way of life—America as the victor of the Cold War and as the lone superpower. The economic power and success of Japan is the result of a Japanese social and historical experience that seems anomalous to many Americans. Japan is the symbol of a fate which permits and sustains the economic and social ills of American society.

Samlarmani eller samhällsansvar?

Summary A mania for collecting or a service to the community? Countess von Hallwyl and her cultural achievement Countess Wilhelmina von Hallwyl (1844–1930) was the only child of Wilhelm Kempe, a merchant engaged in trading activities and timber exports in the north of Sweden. Over the years he accumulated a great fortune, which Wilhelmina inherited. She married the German‐Romanic Count Walther von Hallwyl, who was of Swiss descent. Together they built a home in Stockholm. The actual building was erected by Isak Gustaf Clason and ranks as one of the most significant private dwellings he produced. In 1920 the couple donated their home and its collections to the Swedish nation. The purpose of the gift was to provide, in all perpetuity, a museum for scholars and other persons interested in arts and crafts. Wilhelmina was a passionate collector. The purpose of her collecting activity was to reflect, not only that of her own age but also the culture of previous periods, and she tried to assemble as abundant and...

Timber Inspection and the State: The Tasmanian Experience

C'~'1aveat emptorlet the buyer beware! The ancient ? legal maxim works well enough when buyers can pick over goods to see their quality, but not for timber shipped to distant ports. Timber importers cannot inspect every piece in a shipload. When a single load is made up by several producers, which is the usual case, the consumer cannot relate defective pieces to particular producers even by inspection. Importers must depend on the reputation of an entire area for shipping high-quality timber. But how are producers to guard the reputation of their area against an unscrupulous few who ship bad timber? This age-old problem has led to inspection and grading systems operated sometimes by trade associations and sometimes by the state. This article is a case history of timber inspection in Australia's island state of Tasmania. The case is small and simple, but it illustrates both the usefulness and the limitations of state intervention in timber export.